There are a lot of things the World Series needs.

Like earlier start times.

Like better umpiring.

Like no more stupid playoff beards.

What it doesn’t need is infrared cameras.

Really? This is what baseball coverage has come to? A camera that reminds me of airport security?

But, that’s the big innovation for this World Series — a camera that shows us a toe lighting up like Rudolph’s nose when a baseball is fouled off of it.

Television has encroached on just about every sport over the years, some for the better and some for the worse.

But I think the infrared camera takes the cake for dumb ideas.

Here is a list of some of the best (and some of the worst) innovations in sports coverage.

Best Innovations

•

The first down line. It was one of those things that the instant it appeared for the first time, fans wondered, “How did we watch football games without it?”ESPN used it for the first time on its Sunday Night Football broadcasts in 1998.Thanks to that innovation, no one watching an NFL game, no matter what time and what day it is on, has to wonder if his or her favorite player is close to picking up that pesky first down.•

The perpetual score box. While the FOX network has had many foibles when it comes to sports coverage, like the infrared camera (and more to come later), it did bless us with the FOX Box.FOX was the first network to display the score of a game, in this case baseball, at all times on the screen.No more turning on the TV in the middle of a sporting event and watching for several minutes, or longer, to find out who is winning.Worst Innovations•

Sideline reporters. What do they add, other than someone for a drunk Joe Namath to hit on?Very few of them have been tolerable. Many have been downright awful. Think Eric Dickerson. Think Melissa Stark. Think Jeff Verszyla (how a weather man became a sideline reporter for a football game is anyone’s guess).In fairness, the job they have is nearly impossible to do well.Howard Cosell would have failed at it.The worst part of the job is the hurried interview with a coach as he is running off/on the field after the first half or before the second half.Inevitably, the interview goes like this:Sideline Reporter: “Coach, your team is down by 35 at the half. How do you get back in this game?”Coach (with an annoyed look on his face at A, having to answer questions to begin with, and B, having to answer such a stupid one): I don’t know? Play better and score more points, maybe?•

The glowing hockey puck. FOX pulled this one out of its back of bad ideas in 1996. It drew instant ridicule.The infrared camera is right up there. Maybe if they made an infrared puck ...

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.