Back From Hiatus

I know I've been away for a while. It's to be expected. All government officials take breaks in the summer. Here are some quick hit thoughts on the past month in sports. Or at least, as best as I can remember them.

The NFL Media Has Spoken: Barry Bonds Should Be a First Ballot Hall of Famer

The most bizarre story to come out of the fact that last year's Defensive Rookie of the Year failed a drug test was that the NFL writers had a re-vote fir DROY... and Cushing won again. The re-vote was done to, apparently, punish Cushing, yet he was left on the ballot. The NFL writers made it clear, by voting for him again, that they don't care too much about PEDs in their sport and, really, neither do we. So why the double standard? Why do NFL players get free passes for PEDs while MLB players get branded with a scarlet "S"? They shouldn't. The punishment, or lack thereof should be even handed. So MLB players who've come under PED suspicion should be judged by their numbers alone. PEDs could be mentioned of their Hall plaques, but they should not be unofficially banned.

Jim Joyce Was the Best Thing That Could Happen to MLB, and Armondo Gallaraga

The fact that a blatantly obvious call on replay was missed by an umpire on the last batter of a perfect game, put into public awareness an issue in baseball much more serious than PEDs: The need to keep an important game being blown by a missed call, While a perfect game seems important, it's not in the grand scheme of things. It's an individual achievement and as such is not more important than any other regular season game. So the issue was brought to the forefront by what seemed to be a vital moment without actutally being so. So it didn't tarnish the season.

MLB needs replay. Okay, not necessarily replay per se, but a way to utilize modern technology to improve the game. It's not really complicated. You take balls and strikes decisions away from the umpires and hand it over to a QuesTech type program, This is monitored by an umpire in a booth who instantly buzzes the result down to the home plate ump to make the call. The rest of the game is also watched by the ump in the booth who can buzz down anytime a call needs to be overturned. This keeps umps from having to huddle, then disappearing into the clubhouse for a few minutes, then coming out and explaining to everyone what happened. A replay official will also all but eliminate arguments., thus helping speed up the game. More on that below.

As for the man that seems to have been screwed by the call, this could not have worked out better. By the end of next season I'll wager most people won't remember that Dallas Braden threw a perfect game. They might remember that Halladay did. Everyone will remember Gallaraga.

A perfect game is an individual achievement. So it doesn't matter if it's acknowledged, as long as the person who did it knows what hed did. It's like this: Say I'm playing baseball at Lincoln Park and Alex Rodriguez happens to walk by and asks to have an at bat. I'm on the mound and a friend pulls out his cell phone to record the event. I go on to strike out Rodriguez on three pitches. Now, none of this officially happened, but are you going to try to convince me that I didn't actually strike A Rod out because it's not official? Obscure example, I know, but I just wanted to fit in a way to strike out a great player. It's my blog, my rules.

So there.

Anyway, Gallaraga knows he threw a perfect game, everyone knows he threw a perfect game and really that's all that matters. Still, he's getting more publicity than any perfect game hurler I can remember.

Can Joe West Remind Me How Pathetic Yankees- Red Sox Games Are?

If you recall, the ump bashed Yanks=Sox games for their length. It's a legit beef, but there;s a reason why those games run so long.First, the games are usually exremely important so the pitchers agonize over every pitch, as the managers agonize over every move. Second, they're usually national games so the commercial breaks are longer. Third, and most important, both teams are built around high OBP and running up pitch counts. Add it all up. More pitches= more agonizing= more pitching changes= equal more extended commercial breaks= longer games.

Still, West's crew had taken their mission of shortening untimed games to absurd levels. Last week, Angel Hernandez, who made a statement in the season opening series by refusing to grant time to batters, did so again. Only this time it was a 1-2 count in the top of the ninth with the road team down. Carlos Pena raised an arm asking for time. Hernandez did nothing. The closer, seeing this, pumped a fastball down the middle for a called third strike. This was just the worst of the multiple horrible decisions made by West's crew in the past week. Those umps want to enjoy as much face time as the players.

Wanting to speed up the game is fine, but influencing the game to do so is ridiculous. How much faster will the game be is you keep people from stepping out? Five minutes? Ten minutes maybe? If you want to do anything, put a clock on the pitcher. Outside of that there's nothing you can do. You can't put milk back in the udder.

It's ABout Time

The NFL did absolutely the right thing awarding the New Giants Stadium a Super Bowl. Now I'm not thrilled of having to deal with tons of traffic, rushes, and media ripping New Jersey. Didn't want a Super Super Bowl there, but it's about time we get a chance a cold weather Super Bowl. The elements are a great part of the game and it's a shame that we try to eliminate them for out ultimate showdown. Chicago and Green Bay deserve Super Bowls. Every city should het one.Media members just cry about it because they don't want to go somewhere cold for there annual vacation.

That's it for now.

Peace