Fall of the Umpires

Instant replay is destroying sports.  There is no beating around the bush on this one.  I know that everyone wants to see the right calls, but it takes away the human element of the game.  Right now, the sports world is up in a tizzy over last night's Cleveland/New York game in which a Yankee outfielder dove into the stands and came up with his glove as if he had the ball for the final out of an inning.  The umpire called the out only to find out after the game that the player didn't have the ball and it ended up in the stands.  Two things needed to happen on that play.  The ump needed to check the player's glove for the ball.  He said it himself.  After the game, he admitted it.  The other thing that happened was the player should have been honest.  He acted like he made the catch, held his glove up, and ran into the dugout.  Two people are at fault because the smaller things didn't happen.  So because of this, there is major outcry for expanded replay.  There should be an outcry for players to be more honest, but that won't happen.

I like the human element of the officials in the sport.  It gives something for fans to rally against.  Everyone hates umpires/refs.  Their calls give fans something to argue about.  And yes, instant replay can quell arguments, but isn't that what sports is all about?  Imagine if the 'Immaculate Reception' never happened because it was overturned by instant replay.  That catch is on every highlight reel when it comes to great plays or crazy plays.  Harris had a Hall of Fame career regardless of that catch, but when you say his name, you think of that play.  A couple of years ago, you would not have found anyone screaming louder or with more expletives for instant replay when Jim Joyce blew the Armando Galarraga perfect game*.  After simmering down, I knew that if they had used instant replay would take away the umpires' credibility.  Another thing that allowed me get away from plotting the demise of Joyce was the professionalism of all parties involved.  Galarraga especially.  I may get chastised by other Tigers fans, but I am a fan of the sport as well.  Not just a team.  

I know most everyone would have agreed with the overturning of that particular call if they had used instant replay, but what about those who want the human element to stay in the game?  The human element is part of the game.  Instant replay is a slippery slope.  Eventually the home plate ump is going to be replaced by a machine that calls balls and strikes.  We already have it with different television stations having their strike zones or K zones they show on each pitch.  What's to stop Major League Baseball from implementing that technology into the game?  They can just have a mini strike zone screen that the players can see to keep track of the count.  There won't be anymore 'painting the corner' for pitches.  No more home calls.  No more different size strike zones from ump to ump.

The umpires give us a reason to really watch the game.  They give us a reason to yell at the television in a drunken rage.  Umpires and refs are the supporting cast to the game.  There aren't many times you will find me siding with the establishment, but this is one of those times.

Who am I?

Next week, I have some training for work.  It's a 'get to know your peers' type of training.  The kind that no one ever looks forward to.  It's suppose to make us closer as a group and all that HR bullshit.  I say that if you want to get to know the people you work with, get to know them over a glass of beer, but that's just me.  One thing that we are suppose to do is bring something that makes us us.  Anything from a book or a movie to, I don't know, your stuffed teddy bear you had as a kid.  Something that is significant to your life.  So what possession do you bring to this training if you have nothing that really makes you, you?

That's not to say there aren't things in my life that have made me who I am, but these things aren't material possessions.  Sure, I could bring in the Star Wars trilogy and say that these movies made me love science fiction and are some of my favorite movies of all time.  But how does that make me the way I am?  I didn't become some sort of astronomer or astronaut because of them.  I could bring in The Catcher in the Rye because it's my favorite book.  But that doesn't make me a spoiled rich kid with first world problems.  Multimedia doesn't make us who we are as a person.  Unless you are freaking crazy.  Who lets a movie or book define who they are?  They may have an impact on your outlook of life and the world, but that is just one small part of who you are.

I don't have anything from my childhood or even early adulthood that has shaped who I am.  There is no heirloom that has been passed down to me that has a great story of my family.   Even if I did have something, it creates a story, not a person.  Heirlooms passed down tell great stories of hardship and perseverance and can really put you in your place if you don't appreciate what others have gone through to get where they are today.  Whether it is a pocket watch or jewelry brought over from the old country it shows family pride, but doesn't make you the person that you are.

What makes me who I am can't be found in books or movies or any other material possession.  What makes me who I am is found in the morals that have been passed down to me by my family.  Having strong family ties builds a better person I believe.  So, unless I can bag up my entire family and bring them into work next Monday, I suppose a family picture will do.  Preferably one where we don't all have beers in our hands.  Or not.  

Social Media Compliments and Complaints

After getting a Facebook account, I thought that it would be the only social media that I would use.  After MySpace faded into oblivion (does it even exist anymore?), Facebook was the end all be all for connecting with people.  It was a great way to keep in touch with friends and family living in different parts of the country and sometimes world.  With picture updates, you got to go on vacations vicariously with them.  Then, shit got weird.

Maybe weird isn't the right word, but it has gotten to the point where it is mostly filled with personal problems and drama.  It's like high school for the twenty first century.  For the longest time, Facebook was fun because people's statuses were for the most part entertaining to read and comment on.  Then you get people typing up statuses fishing for sympathy or wanting to get tons of comments.  I'm not saying that I will stop using Facebook or delete a ton of people (again), it's just not as great as I thought it once was.  It's all the tweeking and tinkering that they do to improve the site.  Yes, some things have made it better and easier to work with and see what is going on.  But there are times when these improvements don't do jack and we are all left wondering what the point of it was. 

I know it isn't any better, but Twitter has come around and it just seems so much more simple and fun that Facebook.  The best thing that it has going for it is the one hundred and forty character limit.  You only have a little bit of space to air out dirty laundry or personal drama.  It's great.  You don't find yourself scrolling through an album of two hundred pictures of a trip that a friend took.  A tweet consists of one picture unless they feel like tweeting two hundred times, which is possible I suppose.  I have gotten to a point where Twitter is the first thing I check these days and not Facebook.

These social media sites fine, but they never replace talking with friends face to face.  How much better is it to go out and grab a beer with a friend than it is to chat with them online?  You hear their laughter, see their reactions to stories about what is going on in your life, and can know that the conversation is engaging.  Catching up with friends in person leaves you feeling reconnected.  Ending a conversation online is just another moment on the internet.

Rules of the Road

While driving back from vacation last weekend, I started to think of the rules by which to travel by.  How to survive a ten hour car ride by yourself and keep sane.  It has been about seven years since I have taken a long road trip by myself.  And by long road trip, I'm talking four plus hours in the car by yourself.  It's a lot easier when you have someone in the car with you.  Someone to talk with, someone to share the drive with, someone to keep you focused.  By yourself, you find your mind wandering every once in a while.  At least I do.  I want to watch the scenery go by.  I want to look into the fields and watch the countryside.  With someone else in the car, you can stay focused on driving and not hitting a car or being hit because you start to swerve. 

Music is key for a trip.  With the right music, your road trip goes by quicker.  It doesn't even have to be music.  When I left the Soo, I listened to Colin Cowherd's show, The Herd until the station went out.  I've enjoyed his show for the past couple of years and find myself agreeing with him on many levels.  The times I don't agree with him, well that's okay because that's part of talk shows.  I found myself talking back to him on the points I agreed with and the points I didn't.  Once I got going with my music, the car went from quiet to quite loud.  Loud music keeps me focused and singing doesn't hurt.  Who doesn't sing in the car?  I was Jack White, Iggy Pop, Johnny Cash, and the Beastie Boys all in the span of two hours. 

Another element that helps with the road trip is the weather.  I've driven in pouring down rain in Kansas as well as straight line winds.  Heavy snow was an oft occurrence going back and forth in Michigan during college.  There was one trip after Thanksgiving that there was a pile up on the highway and our three hour trip turned into six hours.  It was horrible.  I was tense the entire time and in a bad mood because of it.  When we left Minnesota, we drove through two hours of rain.  It makes me tense up because the road conditions are affected, but some drivers don't take that into consideration.  Either that or drivers take too much precaution when driving on wet roads.  Once we got ahead of the rain, it was smooth sailing.  Coming back, there was no rain, no wind, and just enough cloud cover to keep from squinting for ten hours.  Without the sun beating down on the car, there wasn't any need for the A/C, which is nice because it cools you down, then you get too cold, turn it off, and then it warm again.  It's a mess. 

The best way to keep fresh when driving by yourself is stopping.  Can I power straight through for six hours without stopping?  Yes.  How do I feel at the end of those six hours?  Horrible.  I tried to break  up the trip into three to four hour blocks.  It worked out just about perfectly.  Every town I got to, I kept looking at the one past it to see how many miles it was and thought about skipping it for the next one.  There's a decent size town in Wisconsin about every fifty miles along the route I take.  I found myself breaking down the trip into these small gaps as opposed to saying I was going to be on the road for ten hours.  It worked.  Going from point A to point B is only fifty miles, for example.  After point B is point C and that is sixty miles.  I'll stop there.  All of a sudden, you have over one hundred miles under your belt.  It sounds a lot better than 'I only have nine more hours in the car.'  Stopping when you are tired is the best gauge for anyone.  Either that or when your back really starts to hurt.  

The biggest mistake I started to make half way through the trip was watching the time.  It's best to not pay any attention to it.  Judge your trip by the mileage and count down.  Seeing the clock go from three in the afternoon to five o'clock goes by slower if you keep checking the clock every ten to twenty minutes.