"it's an a bomb from a-rod"... or maybe not

a-rod was the third person this week to be victimized by errant calls from the umpires regarding home runs. i was at the mets/yankees game this past sunday night when carlos delgado lost a 3-run hr to a blown call. it took my fifteen seconds to phone a friend and have him tell me that the replay showed it was a home run. it took the umps over five minutes to make the call, reverse the call, bring all the players back on the field, listen to willie randolph bitch and then proceed to throw out the mets bench coach.

the arguments have been made... human error is part of the game, it takes too long, it slows down the game, it's not perfect, etc. etc. they're all pretty dumb if you ask me.

human error is only part of the game because we had no choice. we rely on humans to ref a game or ump a game because back in 1932 we had no other option. today, we do. let's name the sports that have implemented some form of instant replay: football (both nfl and college), nhl (on goals scored), nba (on quarter ending plays), tennis (on line calls). i'm sure there are more. what's common among all these sports is that instant replay has actually benefited the game. and with the exception of the nfl, instant replay doesn't make the game unbearably longer.

it's insane to me that people don't want to make progress. we have the technology to get calls right and to make the game more fair. the rules state that a ball that clears the outfield fence should be called a homerun. the umpires are the ones who should enforce the rules not decide them. it won't take any longer and the ONLY thing it will do is make sure we get fair outcomes. who really doesn't want that?