Do We Really All Need To Argue Like That?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Yesterday in the great spirit of Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver, we saw two MLB managers defend their players by going nose to nose with MLB umps. It was classic theater for the fans. An old gruff manager like Jim Leyland standing up for his players who were first thrown at after Miguel Cabrera mashed another home run. He was nose to nose with some young ump who could smell tobacco with every swear word Leyland could muster. Then later last night we saw young manager Mike Matheny rip into an even younger ump for showing up one of his young players. He got right in his face and told him what a jerk of a showman he was.

Now I've been in some dandy debates in my lifetime and I've even had to jaw with Vikings fans at Lambeau Field as we again had to end the conversation with "how many Super Bowls have you guys won again?" But NEVER have I gone nose to nose with another man (or woman for that matter) to make my point. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any other man do that outside of the tough guy at 2 am outside a bar whose blood/alcohol level was above 0.25. Men don't need to get that close to each other to make their point, do they?

It's showmanship and it's stupid. As long as we're cleaning up the game from PEDs, can we also clean it up from bad calls, stupid theater like this and managers having any importance on who gets thrown out of a game or not? I mean, seriously, we don't need to see this.

Here's one way to stop these dramatics. USE INSTANT REPLAY!! Did anyone watch Wimbledon? Tennis has the coolest instant replay system in the world and it makes line calls instantaneously and down to the last blade of grass. The players watch the replay on the big screen on the court and everyone knows the call is right in a matter of seconds. There are no more John McEnroe outbursts or controversies. The best players win. Why the hell can't baseball do that for home runs, foul balls and even bang-bang plays at home play. Bryce Harper clearly scored last night against Philadelphia and the call was wrong in the first inning of a big, big game. I understand we want the human element, but in less than one minute that call could have been corrected and the Nats would have been ahead 1-0. Would the umpire have his feelings hurt? Sure, but not any more than the Wimbledon line judge who had his/her call reversed in public.

Baseball takes way too long for instant replays and the NFL is monetizing its instant replays. Ridiculous. Kudos to tennis. And when calls are wrong, what do we get in baseball? Grown men nose to nose hollering at each other for 10 minutes. Hell, tennis would get 4 more games in during that time thanks to instant replay.

I love baseball, but change is tough for this sport. Heck, just ask the Cubs' owners who are trying to spice up that park with a new scoreboard. Blasphemy some purists say. Keep the old one. Sorry, I was just at Wrigley and I said to Tom "doesn't it feel weird not to see instant replay at a ballpark?" I vote for the new scoreboard and make a museum for the old one. But that's just me.

I'm sure if we debated about the Cubs' new scoreboard, we'd do it civilly and not nose-to-nose. Although it sure would be good theater for the fans if we did it that way. I just don't ever remember fighting that way, do you?

[Glenneration X]

I don't know Greg. I've witnessed a couple nose to nose debates on these boards. And if we want to include the football boards in this discussion, well Earl Weaver and Billy Martin have nothing on those boys.

[Outlaw]

Great analogy on the tennis replay system.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I don't know Greg. I've witnessed a couple nose to nose debates on these boards. And if we want to include the football boards in this discussion, well Earl Weaver and Billy Martin have nothing on those boys.

Yeah, but get those folks away from the computer and I trust they'd be quiet as mouses. It's easy to talk tough behind a keyboard. Hell, look at me!!

Weaver and Martin and Piniella were great showmen and it looked like they stood up for their players. Not only that, they probably had a reason to bitch about the calls. Mistakes are made all the time. What I'm saying is that with today's technology we can avoid most of that. And even if we can't, does a grown man really need to come face-to-face with another man the way they do in Major League Baseball? At least fight like they do in hockey!!

I'd like to see the East Coast gang go at it like this. Mikey and Dobies nose-to-nose, you and Jupinka (that's about the right size, isn't it?), Childs and RT. Now that would be some fun.

[Quahogs]

I'd like to see the East Coast gang go at it like this. Mikey and Dobies nose-to-nose, you and Jupinka (that's about the right size, isn't it?),.

C'mon Greg really ?? in reality here's Lowry and I below. I um, have the ball. Well briefly...

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'd like to see the East Coast gang go at it like this. Mikey and Dobies nose-to-nose, you and Jupinka (that's about the right size, isn't it?),.

C'mon Greg really ?? in reality here's Lowry and I below. I um, have the ball. Well briefly...

Which one are you again? I'm not sure who has the "upper hand" if you will!!

Kind of looks like me during Iola noon hour hoops. We have a lot of old man grabbing in that league, too.

The Mikey-Dobies staredown would be priceless, nose-to-nose.

[Glenneration X]

I'd like to see the East Coast gang go at it like this. Mikey and Dobies nose-to-nose, you and Jupinka (that's about the right size, isn't it?), Childs and RT. Now that would be some fun.

While those examples would be fun to watch, I think a mismatch might prove to be even a bit more interesting....


Greg trying to explain to Dobies about the quirk in live scoring last night.

[ToddZ]

I'd take on Sack -- though I'm not sure how close we can get our noses.

Will belly to belly work?

[Billyhaze]

just what we need docile chip and dale fans ,managers and Umpires

chipand dales.jpg (9.09 KiB) Viewed 2850 times

[Walla Walla]

Greg,
You're talking about the only job managers have!! Don't take their jobs away. Aside from filling the lineup card which takes 5 minutes they have no use. Well sometimes they override their coaches and mess things up. But really that's their job!
Go into the game scream at the ump and go home early. Pretty good gig.