Safe?

By now if you follow sports you know all about the call at 1st that cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Instant replay clearly showed that the ball hit the glove well before the runner made it to 1st, however Jim Joyce called the runner safe. It seems to me every year a controversial play leads to the public outcry of instant replay being a full time part of sports, and in my opinion the fact this is even up for debate is ridiculous.

Sports in America (I'm looking at you MLB & NFL) see themselves as almost religious institutions. Ballparks are referred to as cathedrals and the media and fans wax poetically about the halcyon days of the past. Sports figures are revered as saints, there deeds retold from generations to generation. The purity and sanctity of the games most be upheld at all costs! Enough is enough!

I understand that from the beginning of time umpires and refs were given supreme rule over the sporting arena, but times change. You can't honestly believe that to uphold the purity of the game is to have an umpire blow an obvious call and maintain that call even though seconds after it is made the entire stadium and nation were clearly able to see he was wrong. Football has instituted a two challenge rule that I'd explain in detail if it wasn't for the fact that I'm sure you all know what it is, and baseball now does it for controversial HR calls, but why stop there?

I understand that instituting across the board instant replay would slow down the pace of the game, but getting the call right is more important and it isn't like every call would need to be reviewed. It is re-donk-ulous to use the length of game argument, because it is an argument that goes out the window when your team loses a game because the refs and umps blow a controversial call.

I'm a Yankee fan and I realize that with across the board instant replay the phantom Jeter homerun might have changed Yankee lore forever if they were able to check the tape and see that Jeffrey Maier interfered with that play. It has come to the point where it isn't about individual teams but about the sport in general. Times change and sports need to change with them.