US wins while another country gets totally screwed (baseball, not politics)
American ump, Bob Davidson, almost caused an international incident on Sunday, when he made a blatantly incorrect call during a US-Japan WBC game. The call erased a legitimate run by Japan, and left the game tied. US eventually triumphed with a 4-3 final score.
Japan's manager, the famous Sadaharu Oh, argued the call, and was understandably upset after the game. Lee Jenkins, from the NY Times sports pages, covers the story in much more detail.
I feel like a greater effort should've been made to ensure the impartiality of the umpires. I most certainly don't intend to question anyone's ethics, but seeing how this is an international competition, I think that everyone would feel a lot better if there wasn't such a direct national affiliation between the umps and the teams involved. For example, if one team's manager needs an interpreter to argue with the umpire, maybe that's a sign that something isn't quite fair.
Also, this should be a great boost for those crazy instant-replay advocates.
10 Comments:
irina, i think this VICTORY is more embarrasing for the us than the LOSS to canada.
if they had instant replay all of this would be moot! :)
yes, why must they be luddites? what is the argument against this technology?
my argument is that it'll make the game soooooooooo much longer. it works in games with a time limit, but not in something like baseball.
Well, I've been talking about this a lot. I really feel that instant replay will not work well in baseball. The anonymous comment above alludes partially to what I mean. The game is already very long, and adding instant replay will prolong it to the point where the attention span of the average American will no longer be able to tolerate it. Also, there are so many close calls in baseball, I imagine at least a dozen challenges during every regular season game. And forget the important games, the ones that really count. I think that would detract greatly from the momentum. Another argument has to do with the number of games played. In football, for example, instant replay makes sense. There is only one game, and it really matters. In baseball, there are enough statistical data points to adjust for the umpire's errors.
But that's just me.
I see your point, especially about the abundance of stat data points. But think back for a moment to one of those devastating crucial plays. The one where the call was never reversed, and your team got eliminated. I mean it makes sense for big games. I tihnk it makes sense.
Irina and Kevin - very good points. It seems like some sort of medium could be implemented so you can avoid a dozen challenges in every game and avoid the familiar situation of every person watching it on tv having a better idea about a close call than the umpires. However, I must admit that even though I am a total techie and it has enraged me on a few occasions, I kinda admire the seemingly egregious disregard for technology.
Kev, I absolutely see where you are coming from. But I feel like you are missing the big picture. You have to think of how this will change the sport.
I think that Anonymous (the second one) is certainly on to something. And I too have considered this elusive medium as a remedy for the situation. Perhaps something where each team is issued a certain (small) number of challenges that they can use during a game. Or perhaps a penalty for each incorrect challenge. Either way, this seems like quite a bit of work, and would really require a whole new rule book. I think that baseball has plenty of other, more pressing problems to deal with. And again, I think the frequency of games/at-bats really makes everything fair at the end.
Well, sort of.
This should be a separate post. Please send me the link, if anyone writes on this topic further.
> This should be a separate post.
Irina, I nominate you. And I do agree with you. Baseball has too many other problems to deal with right now to worry about instant replay. this isnt like football where you lose one game and you are out.
> this isnt like football where you lose one game and you are out.
Unless it's a playoff game, or a World Series game, etc etc. Don't mean to pick on you, but you see my point, I hope. There are plenty of very important games where every play counts. But I don't think that saying "we'll use instant replay just for these special games" will make much sense.
Uh oh. I forgot what side I was arguing for.
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