Get With The Times

Ya know, we sports fans tend to be quite…extreme…in our opinions. It takes less than 5 seconds after a play or an important call for us to either celebrate and defend it with the passion of a thousand suns or bemoan and deride it as though we just lost our first born child. There are times where this attribute is quite useful, but more times than not it really undercuts our credibility. It is with this consideration that I am intentionally late in presenting my opinion on the Armando Galarraga Perfect Game/Jim Joyce Blown Call fiasco. Yep, not even 24 hours after the instantly infamous call and I’m probably one of the last few people to give my two cents on the matter. The minute Jim Joyce incorrectly called Jason Donald, the 27^th batter, safe at first, sports fans everywhere let the barbs fly with no regard. I’ve read and heard everything from Joyce being called a “douchebag” to a fan saying that he believes Joyce wanted to ruin the perfect game so that Roy Halladay (who threw a perfect game of his own only a few days ago) would have more time in the spotlight… *face palm*.

It’s obvious that the runner was out, by a full step even. The fact that Joyce missed the call is really inexcusable considering he had an ideal perspective to make the correct decision. Despite that, he messed up and made the wrong call. Does that make him a terrible person, a douchebag, a human pile of shit, as some have said? No it doesn’t, and it’s incredibly wrong and immature to say such things about him. Jim Joyce has been widely regarded throughout his career to be one of the best umpires in the game. Unlike Joe West, he does his job well and, until now, remains invisible from the game just like umpires should. He didn’t make the call on purpose out of some misplaced sense of spite or anger, he genuinely messed up. After the game he said, “It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the shit out of it…I just cost that kid a perfect game.” If anyone should be outraged at Joyce it is Galarraga, who has already forgiven Joyce for his error. During today’s Tigers/Indians game Galarraga brought the Tigers lineup card out to Joyce, the home plate umpire for the day, who was wiping away tears.

The perfect game was ruined and because of Bud Selig’s trademark old school, hard headed nature, the call will stand for all-time preventing the perfect game from being marked in the record books. But, from the worst call in regular season baseball history, we have been given great examples of good sportsmanship and respect for which we should constantly strive to achieve. Unfortunately, Galarraga and Joyce are both victims of an illogical system that does not allow umpires (the only ones with the responsibility to make the correct call) to utilize a tool that everyone except them has easy access to – instant replay.

Not long after anger over the blown call began to settle, the cacophony of screams for instituting replay in baseball began to dominate the conversation. The knock against replay has always been that it would lengthen the games and take away from the “human element” that makes baseball so special. First of all, the only people that complain about long games are journalists and Joe West; I guess long games cause them to lose precious minutes of much needed beauty sleep. Fans (at least the ones I know) love longer games because they get more bang for their buck. Franchises and television stations also love longer games as they mean more revenue from concessions sales and commercial breaks. Aside from the financial positives of longer games, there’s the logical fact that replays insure the integrity of the game. I love baseball as much as anyone, but it becomes awfully hard to watch and accept outcomes when vital rulings are blown by the umpires, changing the outcome of the game. Getting the call right is the most important thing. Like my 3^rd grade English teacher Ms. Hopper told my class, “quality over quantity.” It’s not about how fast you can get a game in, it’s about making sure the game is called the right way. If replays create a longer game then that’s just something we will have to live with. Baseball’s highest priority should be presenting a legitimate and virtuous game to its fans, particularly coming out of the steroid era. I’d rather have peace of mind knowing that the outcome of the game was the correct one than leave 10 minutes early.

The other 3 major sports have all incorporated official replays into their games and overturn incorrect calls when necessary. In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Kendrick Perkins of the Boston Celtics was incorrectly charged with a technical foul. The next day, the NBA league office revoked the technical. Last night in the 2^nd game of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers appeared to have scored the game winning goal in overtime. The officials looked at the replay, saw that the puck never fully crossed the goal line, and reversed the call. No harm, no foul.

For those who expected baseball to follow suit today and reverse the blown call, their bad news was delivered when Bud Selig stated that he would not do so. The frustrating thing is that there is historical precedent within baseball for reversing calls. In what is known as the “Pine Tar Game”, George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit a go ahead home run against the New York Yankees in the top of the ninth. Yankees manager Billy Martin requested that the umpires take a look at Brett’s bat because he believed Brett put too much pine tar on it. The rules of baseball state that “a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle.” The umpires decided that Brett violated the rule and called him out, striking the home run off the board. The Royals protested the game and American League President Lee MacPhail overruled the decision, stating that the intent of the rule had not been violated, and restored Brett’s home run.

However, there are more situations in baseball’s history where incorrect calls have been allowed to stand rather than be overturned. Exhibit A: Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, “The Call”. The first base umpire in the game was the well-respected Don Denkinger. With the St. Louis Cardinals leading the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in the series and 1-0 in the game, Jorge Orta of the Royals lead off the 9^th inning with a ground ball to the first baseman who tossed it to the pitcher covering first base. Denkinger ruled Orta safe, but replays showed him to be out. The Royals went on to win the game and the series. In the aftermath Denkinger received hate mail and death threats for over two years and is forever known as the umpire who robbed the Cardinals of the championship. What does it say about a sport that its rulers will allow an incorrect call to be the deciding factor in a championship series?

It’s up to Bud Selig to decide what the course of action will be in the wake of this event. He’s already refused to change the ruling, but the least he can do is give serious consideration to expanding the use of replay to all important calls. Keeping replay out of the game for the sake of preserving the “human element” is like having to drive across the country in 5 days, but using a Segway because you enjoy being a smug jackass. The only reason replay was absent before is because the proper technology did not exist; now it does. If baseball wants to ensure that its games contain integrity and that fans aren’t robbed of historic moments like Galarraga’s perfect game, then replay will be instituted in a concerted manner. It’s a shame that on a night where baseball should be celebrated, with Ken Griffey, Jr. retiring and what in actuality is a 3^rd perfect game in less than a month (when there have only been 20 in the 140+ year history of the game), we are now focusing on the game’s flaws. Enough is enough and the time has long since passed, for if this situation doesn’t usher in a legitimate replay system in baseball, nothing will. It’s freaking 2010, get with the times already!
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Now playing: David Bowie – Under Pressure
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Tiger Tiger Woods, Y’all

So in my last post I totally gushed over the Yankees and how Spring officially marked the beginning of baseball and yada, yada, yada. Well, Spring also brings another sporting event of which I look forward to year round – The Masters. You see, I’m a golfer, and a pretty darn good one if I don’t say so myself. I started playing when I was 5-years old, playing on the county team and competing in tournaments throughout my youth. If you think my “baseball teaches life lessons” jive was a bit much, well you certainly don’t wanna hear my thoughts on golf. I’ll just say that I consider golf to be the most difficult, rewarding and humbling sport (yes, sport..screw you) there is. The Masters is the first of four major tournaments to be played during the golf season and it is the only one that takes place at the same course every year. Augusta National is so incredibly gorgeous it’s hard to believe anyone but Jesus himself designed it.

This year, there’s a bit more attention being paid to The Masters than in past years. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Tiger Woods is making his return to competitive golf at the tournament. After suffering one of the longest and most embarrassing falls from grace of any athlete, ever, Tiger Woods is making one of the most difficult tournaments of the year his first of the season. Now, before this little occurrence, if you were to assert that someone could win The Masters playing it as their first tournament of the year, you’d get laughed off the planet. It’s a ludicrous thought, and anyone would be insane to even attempt to do so…but this is Tiger Woods.

Let’s get one thing straight, because it needs to be said: I don’t care what you think about his long list of well documented infidelities. It was damn wrong of him do what he did. He embarrassed himself, his family, his friends, and more than tarnished the once stellar reputation that he had. There is no excusing his actions, end of story. However, for those of you who feel that he owed you an apology simply because you purchased his products based on his endorsement, I ask you this question – Did you stop buying Michael Jordan’s products (Hanes underwear, Nike athletics, Gatorade, McDonald’s, etc.) when his many troubling character flaws were revealed? He was and is a role model to many children, playing the game of basketball in a way no one had before. His passion for the game is legendary, his competitive fire so great that the Chicago Bulls did not lose 3 games in a row for a mind-boggling 9 consecutive seasons (626 games). Yet, Jordan’s transgressions are widely known. He cheated on his wife repeatedly, has a terrible gambling problem, and recently showed in his Hall of Fame speech that he can really hold a grudge. Now, I don’t remember any 24/7 news service covering these issues for a 5-month long span, do you? This nation has a selective memory when it comes to history, and the media operates in a hair-trigger, knee-jerk kind of fashion now more than ever before…but it doesn’t make it right. Tiger Woods did not violate the rules of his sport and he didn’t commit a crime. He did something that, albeit in a rather extreme manner, about 25 percent of married men do (give or take a few depending on the source). No matter how much the media and the public put him on a pedestal, failing to realize that he is still a human being who makes mistakes is just not a mature way to look at the situation.

There are those who say that they don’t think Tiger will ever be the same, that his aura is gone. Well, let me tell you a story about a man named Kobe Bryant. Before Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant was the poster boy for hugely-successful-athlete-who-stupidly-cheated-on-his-amazingly-gorgeous-wife. In the summer of 2003, Bryant had sex with a 19-year old hotel clerk in Eagle, Colorado (which is really one of the last places a Black man wants to go on trial and be judged by a jury of his “peers”), and the popular sentiment at the time was that he had ruined his career and would never get back to where he once was. Fast forward seven years to now: Kobe Bryant is a member of the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and holds the top spot for best-selling NBA jersey. What amazing bit of magic did Kobe use to get from where he was 7 years ago to where he is today? He won, simple as that. Sure, he became a nicer, more lovable Kobe, but without winning none of that would have mattered. Kobe Bryant is arguably the best player in the league today and no one has said a word of what he did in Eagle, Colorado in a long, long time. The same recipe holds true for Tiger Woods. He has already pledged to be nicer, more accessible to fans, and more respectful of the game. All of that is well and good, but the only thing that can and will return Tiger Woods to and beyond his previous legendary status is winning.

So, on the eve of the first round I ask: What happens if Tiger Woods walks in off the street after 5 months of not playing competitive golf and actually wins The Masters? Like I said before, it’s a ludicrous thought, and up until last month you would’ve been thrown into a mental hospital and put on a combination of Ritalin, Percocet, and Viagra in a desperate attempt by doctors to cure your mysterious ailment. But this is Tiger Woods we’re talking about. The man who won The Masters by a record 12 strokes in only his second year as a professional. The man who once won all 4 major tournaments in a row. The man who basically won the 2008 U.S. Open on one leg, suffering from a torn ACL and taking 5 days to secure victory as it required an 18-hole playoff on Monday. Golf is the craziest, most nonsensical, most difficult sport to play, and Tiger Woods is better at it than you will be at anything in your entire life. You can write him off, but you do so at your own peril. He will win again, he will return to his previous form, and in due time people will realize just how silly all of this overblown coverage really was. But if Tiger Woods wins The Masters this weekend, well, I don’t know what will happen. Here’s to hoping we find out.
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Now playing: Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
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The Annual New Beginning

Taken by me at the first ever game played at the new stadium. Click and enjoy.

OMFG it’s Spring!! While people around the country are excited about the warm weather, trees blooming and longer days, I only care about one thing: Yankees baseball. That’s right, I’m one of those guys. The guy who goes to a game and gets pissed at people for doing the wave. The guy who sees a girl wearing a pink Yankees hat and pelts my Dippin’ Dots cup straight at her face. I take my Yankees seriously and do not appreciate half-hearted attempts at fandom. Either you’re on the wagon from game 1 or you’re not, and if you’re not then I better not catch you celebrating when we win it all in October or I will knock you straight on your ass. My Church is Yankee Stadium. My God is Mariano Rivera. My Pope is Derek Jeter. My Saints are Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neil, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. George Steinbrenner speaks the Gospel and winning is what we do. Yes, I take my Yankees seriously.

Though my love and devotion to the Yankees is great, Spring represents more than just the beginning of baseball; it marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life. The baseball season is such a marathon (162 games in the regular season) that by the time it comes to an end there are areas of my life which will have changed significantly. I have no idea what these changes will be, but I do know that the one constant over the next six months will be Yankees baseball. I will have good days and I will most certainly have bad days, but just about every day I can count on a Yankee game for me to watch and enjoy. A win puts me in a fantastic mood and a loss, while it tends to put me in a sour mood, makes me look forward to the next day that much more. No matter how badly we lose, there is always another game tomorrow.

The beauty of baseball is that the game is not measured by time, but by success and failure. There’s no time limit. Momentum dictates the pace of the game. Every inning, every at-bat, every pitch represents an opportunity for something great to happen. And so it is with the beginning of the 2010 baseball season that I will be presented with new opportunities in my life. By the time November rolls around who knows what experiences I will have had, how many new people I will have met, or new places I’ll have visited? There are numerous things that I don’t know about the coming months, but I do know that the Yankees will be there the entire time. No doubt this is going to be one wild and exciting ride…WHO’S READY FOR SOME PIE?!

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Now playing: Metallica – Enter Sandman
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