Astros hit with 1-year suspensions for manager, GM, and heavy draft penalties UPDATE: Sox fire Cora

It depends how you ask the question. Put it that way and they will probably say no. Ask them if they want baseball to make sure it gets the calls right and the answer is going to change for many fans.

 

His son caught the last pitch of a World Series!

 

This is the crux of the problem. Pitchers groove mistakes. Batters strike out looking on cripples. Fielders boot popups. This is accepted because we know they're imperfect. But umps, who bat one hell of a lot higher than Ted Williams dreamed of, are supposed to be perfect. They're athletes, and athletes make errors. Ask fans the question this way. Would you rather watch a good rhubarb with an infuriated manager and an ump or a bunch of umps watching TV?

 

I don't want a rhubarb, and I don't want a bang bang play at first, followed by 20 seconds of everybody standing around, as the manager debates whether to challenge the call. Then the dummy umps go to the headsets. Then a call 2 minutes later.

Make a call, and lets all get on with our lives.

Part of the thrill of sports, maybe the main thrill, is the immediate exhilaration when your team scores a touchdown, or a goal, or turns that close double play to end the game. That all is now fucking gone, due to replay. Gone. We are now all in a state of flux for minutes as the call has to be challenged, or reviewed, or confirmed. The thrill is gone. Fuck that.

 

What's really amazing is that these morons didn't think they'd get caught when one of the players went to a different team. It was inevitable.

Reminds me of this conspiracy theory about the Pats (I know, surprise). The theory goes that Brady has a shock/stimulator in his sock and whenever he's about to get hit from the blind side, a coach tips him off by buzzing his sock. My nephew floated that last week, said he'd heard it suggested as an explanation for why Brady never gets hit from the blind side. I'm like the only way that could possibly work is if maybe only two or three people knew about it: Brady, the guy buzzing him, and maybe Belichick. Even then, it's outlandish. But, it being the Patriots, I at least gave it a few moments thought.

 

Among the hundreds of aggravations that have come with replay review is the long run followed by a tackle at the one, and the runner falls into the end zone. TOUCHDOWN!
We have seen these runs/catch and runs all our lives. Yeah, team! The crowd is going wild.

Now here comes the review. And it is determined that in fact, the knee was down 6 inches from the goal line. That touchdown run you've seen all your life? Not a touchdown. All the cheering you were doing? It was for (practically) nothing. Now probably it is going to be run in the next couple of downs. But that long TD run? Forget it, it never existed.

VAR in soccer has been a disaster. In couple times, the crowd is waiting 90 minutes for literally a couple times a game to let out a thunderous cheer. But wait. Has to go through VAR. And VAR may find some offside or some other goal canceller you never knew existed. Or, the goal is upheld, but the boner is already going down (metaphorically speaking).

 

Rhubarb sucks.

 

I'd argue major league umpires are far more skilled than NFL officials.

 

They're also much more prone to making themselves part of the game. Joe West, Angel Hernandez, etc.

 

Joe West tries to inject himself. Angel Hernandez only gets injected because of his consistent incompetence.

 

I want a game decided by the competitors. The umpires are not the competitors. Their mistakes should not be determining the outcome of the competition.