MLB wants faster baseball. I was under the impression that baseball was supposed to be a slow game. You know, summertime. The dog days and lemonade. Get home when the street lights come on. Hot dogs, beer, crackerjacks and baseball. Not in a hurry to be anywhere. Some sports where meant to be fast. Ice hockey comes to mind, basketball, football is supposed to take an hour but it takes 6. Thank God they have instant replay to speed up that game!
Instant replay will ruin the 'Grand Old Game' in a way that steroids never could or will. When you give the decision on a disputed call to some yoyo in a satellite truck in the parking lot, you take away a huge part of what makes those whoopsies baseball. Managers running onto the field to defend their player. Spitting out their tobacco or bubblegum to better pronounciate the second name of the umpires' "mother". Kicking dirt and throwing bases. Some of my fondest memories are of managers doing just this. Then there are the bench clearing brawls that can bring a nun running from the bathroom with her knickers around her ankles.
They want instant replay only for blown calls on home runs. Does anyone seriously believe that it will begin and end there? We will have to stop and go to the video tape every other pitch because it was too high to be a strike or too far outside or he didn't touch the bag or, or, or!
You can't put toothpaste back in the tube. If instant replay is allowed in baseball, we will be telling our children about "this game they used play called baseball, sorta like this game but not really". It won't be the same. We will have lost that part of the sport that keeps us true and dear fans coming back for more.
The title of this post is a quote from Erma Bombeck, baseball fan and writer. If you have never heard of her, Google. She was brilliant.
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