I honestly feel a little bad writing this. I mean I haven't watched a baseball game in about five years. That is a far cry from where I started as a baseball fan. When I was a kid, my buddy and I would take the El Train to Wrigley Field about 10 times a summer. And When I say "kid" I mean when we were about 11 years old. That's what it was like back in my day, two 11 year olds could take a train, transfer, walk up to Wrigley, but a ticket and then sit in the best empty seats we could find. And I HATED the Cubs. I would root against them and my buddy every time we went. I even bought a scorecard for a buck and kept score every game and would shove it in my friend's face on the train ride home.
Not the actual robot ump...yet.
Then when I was teenager, I spent my entire savings on season tickets for the White Sox. And then the next day Robin Ventura suffered one of the most brutal injuries ever and the hopes for a special season was over. Although I never bought season tickets again, I religiously attended at least 10 games per year. And then Baseball started to change. Steroids happened. Sammy Sosa happened (yuck). The all or nothing swing happened. And the game began to slow to a crawl. Then they introduced replay and I nearly lost my mind. How can you use replay on a trapped fly in the outfield? On a fly, if the Ump says the ball dropped, all the runners have to scramble to get to the next base. But if they scramble and then they review the play, where do they go? Replay makes sense when a ball is dead... but in baseball it is almost never dead. It really slowed things down and made it hard to watch. Then the White Sox hired Tony Larussa as manager and I was officially done. They clearly did not want my money or my attention so I just stopped giving either of those to baseball.
But today, Major League baseball just confirmed that I am not the kind of fan they want. Today they said they are going to use a robot umpire for balls and strikes... but only if a team challenges a call. And they are only allowed two challenges each.
Oh my god! This is going to slow down the game even more! I am actually fine with robot umps. I absolutely despise many baseball umpires. So many of them think that they are the show. They think that they are bigger than the game and can show up whoever they like. They almost take joy in making bad calls knowing that nothing will be done about it. The problem is the challenge aspect. I am so sick of not being able to enjoy sports in the moment. It has now become impossible to lose my mind and cheer on an NFL touchdown... because they are all reviewed. Why would I get emotional when it could all be taken away 32 minutes later after they get done looking at the replay.
If you are going to use a robot up... just freaking use it! That way everyone would instantly know if it were a ball or a strike so you can cheer a bases loaded walk or strikeout depending on who you are rooting for. But now you may get that exciting result... and then have to wait for it to be replayed. I understand gambling is a big part of the game. I understand gamblers want all the calls to be correct so they don't lose money on a bad call... so just use the freaking technology!
I simply don't get it. If the robot ump is accurate enough to base a challenge on it, then why not just use it all the time?
