The human element....and other stupid things

  MLB instant replay made it's debut this season and there is a massive divide between the fans who absolutely hate it and the fans who accept it as a necessary part of the game that has come long past its time.  I had some degree a skepticism on the idea at first, I wanted to see how the reviews fell into the flow of the game but after a season of watching, I'm all in.  Get the calls right!  If replay existed in the past Armando Galarraga would have his perfect game,  Joe Mauer's foul ball in the '09 ALDS in the 11th would have been fair, 1991 Ron Gant isn't call out at first in Game 2 after being wrestled off the bag, would any of us know Jeffery Maier?  Would Don Denkinger be known for something other than his call in Game 6 of the '85 Series?  Just a handful of moments of baseball history where the "human element" rewrote baseball history with incorrect events that we live with to this very day as "facts".  Any argument made against replay can never live up to the undeniable fact that it is very necessary to the integrity of the sport.

  Many of the arguments against replay that I have been reading all seem to boil down to two things....either this "human element" we all seem to love so much or how long games are taking or the pause in game flow because of the replay.  Let's realistically look at each point, eh?  The "human element".....I just don't get the human element.  When we have the human element in our lives it results in us getting cheese when we didn't ask for it, receiving incorrect change and arguing with a cashier or having a dented front bumper because some idiot didn't apply his parking break.  The human element  essentially boils down the charm of having umpires make incorrect calls.....do you hear yourselves?  How is that good?  Do you honestly think the umpires enjoy having a Buckner like stigma follow their career because their "human element" cost a guy a perfect game or a team a World Series game?  Instant replay maintains the human element but also affords a safety net for when it fails because to err is human but the video never lies.  Now let's talk about how MLB baseball, in attempting to make the right calls has so immensely inconvenienced your life with a few extra minutes of baseball.  Let's go pure apples to apples here....video review vs. what managers used to do.  Sure it had it's charm and the crowds loved it but what did Bobby Cox and Billy Martin ever actually accomplish by running out on the field, screaming themselves blue in the face as the jumbo screen clearly showed the umpire blow a call as the crowd went bananas.  When it was all said and done, we wasted 4 minutes of game time, your bench coach is now the manager and the officials were powerless to change the incorrect call anyway.  How is this a good use of time again?  If it takes 5 minutes to review it and your manager doesn't get tossed, the call gets right and the ump takes a mia culpa for his "human element" acting up again, I fail to see the issue?  Does looking at the tape in NY while the lead umpire wears a headset and awaits word really interrupt more that a manager with his cap backwards, kicking dirt and making a fool of himself in front of 40,000 people and a national TV audience?  Those questions are pretty much rhetorical because there is only one sane answer.  

  I think what bugs me most is "the games are too long" complaint.  If it's that painful to watch three hours and nine minutes of baseball as opposed to the three hours and three minutes you so happily sat through last year, watch something else.   This isn't new...the game didn't go from 2:23 to 3:09 from 2013 to 2014.  No!  We added TV breaks, pregame shows, mid inning pitching changes, defensive shifting, arguing managers, mound visits by the pitching coach, stepping out of the box to make sure your cup fits "just so", checking the runner at 1st 9x in an at bat, bench clearing brawls and a hundred other things that adds a minute here and a minute there that bring much less value to the game as instant replay and getting calls correct.

Seriously, if you like baseball but your attention span won't accommodate the game to be played in a way that allows for correct calls, I have your solution.  Buy an XBox, get MLB the Show, plug in the players and stats and simulate a season.  You should be able to knock out Spring Training, Regular Season and Playoffs in a single afternoon.  That way the sport won't be wasting any more of you precious time with it's efforts to give the fans a more genuine and accurate product that fits with 21st century technology.  While you're at it, don't get pissed at the kid at Gamestop who gave you change of a twenty for that MLB the Show when you paid with a hundred.....it's the human element ; ) 

12,949 days wasn't enough yet it was perfect

I lost my father on September 1^st.  Having him for 12,949 days was just not enough, frankly a million days wouldn’t have but I don’t feel cheated in the least.  Over thirty-five years there is nothing a father and son could have done that I missed out on.  His name was my first word, we toasted beers, we watched games on TV and listened to games on the radio before everything was televised.  He coached my little league team and watch as I coached my oldest son in tee ball.  We made trips to Yankee Stadium,  we smoked cigars when he retired.  He was front row at my weeding and my birth as well as the birth of my three boys.   I grew up in his home and I am now raising my sons in the same home.  He’s been my co-worker and my neighbor.  Above all, there was barely a day I didn't have (and appreciate) the pleasure of either seeing or at least speaking to the man who I still want to grow up to be just like.  It certainly isn’t the number of years you’re given with the most important people in your life but what you do with those years and that you realize who those important people are before they've left you.  Keeping that in mind, I believe this is why I have been smiling much more than crying over these past few days.  35+ years and not a sentence uttered in regret, not a sentiment left unsaid and not an experience unexperienced. 

  As life went on, I only looked up to and admired the man more.  Certainly as a boy you look at your father like a superhero, not seeing a single flaw in the man.  As I grew up and had a family of my own I realized this perception of flawlessness was more real than ever.   There are certainly times as a father I have doubts in my abilities to provide, understand, parent, discipline, etc…  I suppose that’s only natural.  Especially during a period of time I spent as a stay home parent, I felt a major divide between the standard of fathering I wanted to provide my children and what I was actually delivering.  Then there was a day I took my boys to my front porch where my father was sitting just next door on his porch and I flashed back to my youth when I would sit on that very porch with my dad….my grandfather on the porch my father now occupied and everything fell in place for me.  I can’t tell you what I received for Christmas when I was 6 or 10 or 16 but I can name the menu of food served at my grandparent’s home every Christmas Eve.  I can’t tell you the brand name of the spikes or gloves I wore in little league but I remember my dad taking me out to practice pop ups, just the two of us.  So many of these examples where what he gave me didn’t matter in the least, what I hold on to is the warmth, patients and understanding with which he gave to me.  Some of the best memories of my life took place in front of our family homes with my brothers, baby sister who I love best of all, my mom and dad, my grandparents and extended family.  None of it cost a dime; we weren't doing anything terribly exciting, just enjoying each other’s company but I cherish and remember it so vividly.  I realize I have been blessed with an amazing opportunity to give my sons these exact same gifts.  The gifts my father game to me that didn’t cost a thing because they are too valuable to have a price attached.  My only chance to pay him back is to do for my sons as he did for us and as a father, all I can ask in return from them is the same. 

  I am going to miss my dad every day for as long as I live, I loved him very much.  Yet I will do so with a smile and full heart knowing he gave me everything I will ever need to be a good man, husband and father.  I will never hold a candle to the bar he set but if I give it my best effort I know he’ll look on me with the same pride and love he showed me in life.  What more could a person want?