Digital Umpiring & An Old School Vote
As I write this I am watching a Major League baseball playoff game and will later be watching the NFL Monday night game. I watch these games on my flat screen television with all the accompanying remote control devices nearby. To those of you who are middle age like me I’m sure you remember the days when we actually had to walk to our television sets to change the channel. And I wonder why I have trouble managing my waistline these days.
While enjoying the technology that is bringing the games to my family room it has occurred to me how much technology has changed the games themselves. In the baseball game a simulated “box” that indicates each batter’s strike zone can be superimposed on the screen as well as the actual location of the pitch when it crosses the plate. In all honesty I doubt that any human being can be that accurate. Would this be a better way to call balls and strikes or would we suffer by removing the human element from the game?
Baseball has not resorted to instant replay quite yet (except on disputed home runs) but we could obviously get more accurate calls with slow motion replays of close plays at the bases as well as diving catches, trapped balls, etc. Again, would this improve the game or just slow it down even more? With football I must admit to loving some of the new technology. The instant replay is slow and cumbersome but seems to be absolutely necessary in a sport that features such big and fast athletes. The outcome of major games is now decided correctly (you would hope) by the use of this technology. Personally, I would like to see it used in even more situations such as pass interference and other “judgment” calls. I hate to see a great play “ruined” by a bad call. As a viewer, I can’t imagine watching a football game any longer without the line of scrimmage and first down lines that are shown on the screen of just about every broadcast. Could technology be developed to help actually spot the football more accurately, even at the bottom of a pile of bodies? It wouldn’t seem possible but I think that we’ve learned to never say never. Overall, I believe the new technology to be a real asset to most, if not all sports but the big question is exactly where should we draw the line? What are your thoughts on the subject?
