The Worst.com

Posted by admin on October 29th, 2009 in Sports | Printer Friendly

Yeah, you just have to be a complete idiot to think that it isn’t important to get calls right – plain and simple. Don’t give me Bud Selig’s BS that it affects the “pace of the game”. After all, doesn’t a player or manager arguing a call for several minutes affect the pace of the game? In any case, the overwhelming majority of calls could be gotten right in less than 30-seconds – certainly less time than it takes a manager to even get to the offending ump.

Personally, I think even balls & strikes should be determined automatically; however, who can argue that there aren’t several instances that umpires simply have no ability to make the right calls on a consistent basis.

• Check Swings: It is literally impossible for the ump behind the plate to see both the location of the pitch and whether the batter swung the bat. Likewise, it is unlikely that the umpires down the line have as good a view as the overhead camera. Why not just appeal to an ump sitting in front of an overhead monitor?
• Tagging Up: As demonstrated this post season with the atrocious Nick Swisher ALCS call, it is simply impossible for the ump to see the runner’s foot on the bag and the ball in the fielder’s glove simultaneously.
• Trapped Catches: Come on, how long does it take for replay to get something like this right? Tonight’s call in the 7th is a perfect example of an umpire’s refusal to use common sense in determining the correct call. If Ryan Howard actually thought he caught the ball on a fly, would he have thrown to second or just stepped on the bag for the inning ending double play? What a huge blown call by the ump – instead of bases loaded with 1-out and Teixeira & A-Rod coming up, the inning was over.
• Safe/Out on the Bases: How often are the umpires blocked or just plain wrong? Whether a tag-out on a pickoff or a close play at first (like in tonight’s top of the 8th inning-ending double play).

In a recent interview MLB commissioner Bud Selig stated:

  “Affecting the game on the field is not something I really want to do.”
Grow a pair, you’re the freaking commissioner! I guess he just prefers to have the umpires affect the game with horrendous calls.

  “I do like the human element and I think the human element for the last 130 years has worked pretty well.”
Are you kidding me! The human element? What the hell are the players for? By that rational, we can replace the players with robots and keep the umps therefore maintaining the human element. Also, it really drives me nuts when people use the rational of ‘well, it worked for ___ years, so…’ I mean, blood letting worked for several hundred years and, come to think of it, human sacrifice did as well!

I would love for someone to comment on this post and offer up a rational reason for not implementing technology that will allow MLB to get as many calls as possible correct. After all, isn’t the integrity of the game paramount?