To Replay Or Not To Replay

Poor Philly: The Phillies are feeling victimized by the lack of replay in baseball, while across the parking lot the 76ers are burned by the presence of replay.

Ira Newble Is Fragile

Somebody named Ira Newble, who is paid $3.4 million a year to play basketball, refused to take the floor in the last minute of Cleveland's game on Christmas. Why? Well, he didn't want to get a boo-boo:

"Regardless on how much time is on the clock, I'm going 100 percent every time I step on the court," Newble said, according to the Plain Dealer. "Not being loose enough, you could possibly pull something."

Ira has never averaged more than 8.0 points or 5.3 rebounds a game - both in his career year 2001-02 - so you'd think he would be happy to run up and down the floor a few times. You know, to earn his $3.4 million.

And how out of whack are the economics of the NBA that Ira is paid $3.4 million? Who, if anybody, is the equivalent in baseball? I'm not asking about bad contracts necessarily; I'm asking who in baseball is paid something comparable even though he has never had a good year.

Are Dem Governors Better At Sports?

The governor of Colorado (his name is Bill Ritter, for those of you - OK, everyone outside of Colorado - who don't know) has concluded that ... well, I'm not sure what he's concluded.

I'll let him explain:

"Of the eight Major League Baseball teams in the playoffs, seven come from states with Democratic governors," said Ritter, a Democrat. "Only California has a Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he's not really a Republican."

Well, then. So, Democrats are winners? Or does that tell us that there are more Democratic governors? Or are states with large metropolitan areas with baseball teams more apt to elect Democratic governors? Or is it simply a fluke that Ritter has noticed (seems his staff may have a little too much time on its hands)?

But since he brought it up, let's see how his little game of reflected glory translates to the rest of the sports world. A look back over the last 12 months, starting with the 2006 World Series, tells a different story:

2006 World Series - St. Louis Cardinals, (Gov. Matt Blunt, Republican) defeated Detroit Tigers (Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who is actually a Canadian).

2006(7) NCAA Football - Florida Gators (Gov. Charlie Crist, Republican) defeated Ohio State (Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat who was sworn in on the day the Buckeyes lost to the Gators. Tough break, Gov. Ted.).

2007 Super Bowl - Indianapolis Colts (Gov. Mitch Daniels, Republican) defeated Chicago Bears (Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Democrat).

2007 NCAA Basketball - Florida Gators (Gov. Charlie Crist, Republican) defeated Ohio State (Gov. Ted Strickland, Democrat, again).

2007 Stanley Cup - Anaheim Ducks (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican) defeated Ottawa Senators. Push.

2007 NBA - San Antonio Spurs (Gov. Rick Perry, Republican) defeated Cleveland Cavaliers (Gov. Ted Strickland, Democrat, for the dubious three-peat).

Strangely, Gov. Ritter didn't alert the media to all of these exciting developments. But we look forward to his insightful and trenchant sports commentary in the years to come.

Also, I hope the Denver Post plans to do a followup after the original odd story.