Yeah...That joker is a big reason why....Bud suffers from permanent, cranial, anal, insertion...
And lately these guys haven't been helping much lately either...The Joyce call wasn't the only bad one this season...Hell it wasn't the only bad one that night...This season has been full of bad calls, and pissy umps tossing people at the drop of a hat...
The reason for this blog, well it all started with Umpire, Jim Joyce being a dolt...Followed by Bud Selig being a dolt, which Bud being a dolt is par for the course...I have read countless blogs, and articles on the blown call...I have disagreed with many, and voiced it on many...Fell free to check out some great blogs at YouGabSports ...(shameless plug)
So I thought I should take some time and let my temper cool down, and then post my thoughts...
Baseball is something very special to many Americans...Hell I would even say that's true of myself...There's something about Fathers and Sons, and Baseball...Learning other sports is easy compared to learning Baseball...It's just different...As Tom Hanks said in "A League of Their Own"..."If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
But now it seems we have less and less kids interested in Baseball...Hell, we have less and less adults interested in Baseball...There are numerous reasons...We live in a 24/7 instant media world...We get everything quick...Baseball is slow...In general, we have gotten lazier...There are more and more kids growing up without fathers, or at least growing up in a household without two parents there...TV and Video Games are the babysitter too often...Kids don't get outside and play like they use to...When I was a kid, the whole damn block was warming up in front of our houses, then we'd all head to the park and play for hours...F**k now you gotta get a permit from the city...'screw it will play the video game instead of the real thing.'
But it's not just social issue, or an economic issue...Major League Baseball hasn't done much to help itself...And these people that call themselves Baseball Purists, they need to get the hell out of the way...They fight everything that could make the game better...They fought against the wild card...Holy shit, the wild card has made baseball so much better...It actually keeps a few more teams in the hunt, and gives the playoffs a little more excitement...They hate the DH...Well many of us hate pitchers going up there and swinging like Nancie's...(yes there are some that can hit a little, but not many)
Now the big fight is against Instant Replay...It's being used in limited, home run situations...But after the Joyce blown call, many people, like myself, want replay to be able to be used in close plays...The purists hate that...Them, along with Selig, are in love with "The Human Element"...If you can fix the mistakes from "The Human Element", why not use that technology...It makes the players and fans happier...Why wouldn't we want that? Every other sport has replay...Why is it so hard for baseball...This is just another thing for baseball to drag it's feet on...You could limit it like they do in Football...You could add another ump to the crews rotation, and each night there's an ump in the booth that handles the replay...That way the umps aren't losing any of their power, and it's not some suit looking over their shoulders...But the purists just want to stay in the dark ages...
After Joyce's blown call, that cost Armando Galarraga a Perfect Game, there was an outcry for Selig to change the ruling...Of course he said NO...And the Purists didn't want it changed either...It would open a can of worms...Then people would want them to go back and change a bunch of old blown calls, and that can't happen...Oh, except it did...Did you know at one time, there were 48 perfect games in the MLB record books...But then e=they went through with a fine tooth comb, and overturned more then half of them...Right or wrong, they did it...So let's stop acting like overruling a umps shitty call would be the end of the world...
I have a friend, a fellow blogger, who is a teacher, when writing about the Joyce call, explained how he used the incident in the classroom to teach the students some life lessons...I thought that was very cool, even though I didn't agree with all his points...His final point was this..."It doesn't really matter if Joyce called him safe. It doesn't matter if it isn't in the record books either."
I 100% disagree with that...Baseball has always put so much stock into it's numbers, and it's record books, that has been what they have always prided themselves on...So there is no way, that it doesn't matter to a pitcher who just got screwed out of a perfect game...And it should matter to us as fans too...Players get their accolades and get into the Hall of Fame based on their numbers, and what's in the record books...So it's only okay to change the books sometimes?
Do mistakes happen...Yes, in Baseball and Life...If we have a chance to fix mistakes in Life, we take it...Baseball should do the same...If for no other reason, then to save Baseball...Because Bud, and tight ass purists, are holding it back, and pushing people away...Baseball lost it's purity long, long, ago.
That all said, I can't wait to watch Strasburg strike out 20 Indians on Sunday!
Now before I say goodbye, look at this deliciousness...
Later, The Beeze.
4 comments:
If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.
One of my all time favorite sports movie quotes.
I agree with you on replay, there should be an NFL style replay system where managers are given 2 challenges per game on safe/out or fair/foul calls (NO ball/strike replay - that should be left to the umpires, IMO) and a video official can relay signal to the crew chief with the right call. Also, add the clause that if a pitch has been thrown after the play in question with no challenge flag, then tough shit - just like in the NFL when you have to challenge before the next snap.
It won't slow the game down as much as people think it will, and it would put an end to a lot of teams and players getting unrightfully screwed - and more importantly, baseball will get things RIGHT for a change.
The one thing I don't agree with you on, though, is the DH. I hate the DH rule, and it's the main reason why I prefer NL style baseball.
The pitcher is a fielder, he should also be a hitter. The fact that they can't hit is their own fault, and they should spend some time in the batting cage if they want to learn how to hit.
One of the things that's lost with the DH is the strategy of the double switch. It adds another aspect to the game when the manager has to decide when to do it, and who to switch out, and what pitcher to use ... to me, that makes the game more exciting than seeing a guy who is paid millions of dollars to do nothing but hit 3-4 times a game.
I know the DH rule creates jobs, but come on - if you can't do anything but DH, should you really still be in the majors?
Another thing about the DH: To me, it ends the headhunting that goes on in the AL, because if you notice that shit doesn't happen in the NL because the pitcher knows he has to step up to the plate eventually, and most pitchers don't want a 95 mph fastball zipping by their temple, so the Joba-esque bitch move of throwing at a batter's head doesn't happen in the NL that often.
But you summed up the entire problem with baseball with the first picture in your post - Bud Selig is what's wrong with baseball, and until he's replaced with someone who has more than 3 active brain cells, the game won't improve.
How to improve baseball? B-Dub's 5 easy step plan...
1. Make me commissioner.
2. Add instant replay.
3. Eliminate the DH.
4. Get rid of the stupid rules in the All-Star Game where the winning league gets home field advantage in the WS.
5. Move one team from the NL Central (probably Houston) to the AL West, and have 15 teams in each league with three 5-team divisions. Change the interleague rules to where there is only one league, and have an NFL type schedule in place that ensures every team plays each other at least one series in the season, with division matchups getting more games than others. I'm tired of seeing Red Sox/Yankees and Braves/Phillies 18 times per year, when the Sox could play the Phillies and Mets 3 games each instead of the Yankees, and the Braves could play the Sox and Yankees instead of the Phillies. 12 games for a division matchup is plenty, especially when other exciting matchups could be played.
(Sorry the comment is so long, but you know how I can ramble...)
No need to apologize B-Dub...I hoped to spark a bit of talk!
I understand people not liking the DH, and how there is more strategy in the NL...But I like hitters who can hit, and I think that if you can stiil hit over .300 and knock in a good number of RBI Then I have no problem with your no glove having ass, playing the DH role!
I hate the All-star game crap, and Bud is Killing the game...Bud sucks...And put Pete Rose in teh Hall!
Thanks!
And put Pete Rose in the hall...
I couldn't agree with you more. It's a shame that the all time leader in hits isn't in the hall of fame. The gambling shit was bad, I get it - but he did that while he was a manager, not while he was a player. As a player he deserves to be enshrined in the hall, because his stats sure as hell warrant his induction, and it's a damn shame that Bud can't see that and reinstate him so he can get in the hall before he croaks.
The thing I hate most about the All Star Game is that it has the potential to screw over teams' chance at home field advantage. If I'm the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Dodgers, etc., I don't want home field advantage in the World Series hanging on the shoulders of the Pirates SS with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 9th inning of the All Star Game.
Baseball needs to do like other sports and give home field to the team with the best record, or alternate it every other year like they used to do before Bud instituted the "this one counts" horse shit.
I like hitters who can hit too, but I grew up in a NL market (Atlanta) and grew up loving the NL way of playing baseball without the DH - I guess I can't help it, lol.
I think my biggest beef with the DH rule is that it's only in the AL. I think if they're going to keep it then the NL should use it too, that way at least the two leagues are playing by the same rules. I would rather see the NL use the DH than to keep the current system as is with only the AL using it. (Of course I would prefer just eliminating it altogether, but beggars can't be choosers.)
Damnit, one day us beggars wiil be choosers...
I can't stand anything about the All-star game...The "it Counts" is crap...But really I think the whole game is dumb!
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