Are Bad Calls Good for Sports? - rudyjuly2's Blog

rudyjuly2's Blog

Are Bad Calls Good for Sports?

Posted on October 7, 2010 at 10:02 AM.

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I like instant replay. I hate seeing bad umpires or referees blow calls and ultimately games. There was a bad call in the ninth inning of the Yankee game last night where the outfielder, Greg Golston, made a shoe string catch that was ruled a trap. It didn�t cost the Yankees the game but it could have. There is an outcry for expanded instant replay in baseball. But how far do you go? Does that include challenges on balls and strikes the way tennis has for line calls? How much human element is good?

In today�s NFL most calls can be reviewed and fixed. The game is quite clinical that way but has it lost its great stories? The Franco Harris Immaculate Reception has been debated for years. Armando Galarraga may be more famous now, after having a perfect game taken away due to a bad call, than if he actually pitched a perfect game. It�s often the blown calls or bad plays that create memorable moments. Bill Buckner has almost 3000 hits in his career and batted .289 over 22 seasons but people only remember him for letting that ball go between his legs.

Maybe it�s not so great to have such a clinical game where the players and umpires are perfect or expected to be perfect. Bad plays and calls have always had a place in sports history and maybe we shouldn�t be so quick to dismiss the human element of sports.