The Unfolding Tragedy of the Blown Call

The Call Everyone is Talking About gives us a perfect example to talk about a weird quirk of American sports culture. There are lots of inexplicable things about American sports -- like how league structures here prove how socialism works great for rich people -- but in particular, we still hold a naive and weird understanding of officiating.

Somehow, somewhere, we developed a bizarre positivist sense of what an umpire or ref is supposed to do: that they are in the same category as doctors and scientists in determining Right and Wrong on the fly. This is childish, and an unreasonable expectation

This is one of the hang-ups I think Americans have towards "soccer" -- that it requires a more sophisticated sense of reality. In soccer, you have two side judges who solely monitor offsides and boundary violations -- just because the one referee can't see the angles. And everything else is handled by one fellow who is huffing and puffing up and down the field all match like everyone else, watching for fouls, keeping the official time. And he doesn't see everything, and trying to fool him is part of the game (thus, the much derided on this side of the Atlantic art of flopping).

But we insist on Truth, and that if the human factor can't solve it video replay should. Which raises logical questions about why not just install a ball and strike machine to make the calls -- the technology exists after all (as Slate explains). Why shouldn't we do it? because the human factor is important. The size of a strike zone, how it changes from game to game, pitch to pitch -- these are the things that make baseball interesting and not just an elaborate math problem.

Which brings us to what happened in Detroit. Obviously, by that point in the game, umpire Jim Joyce should have been incredibly prejudiced to give Armando Galaragga the benefit of any doubt, no matter how small. That would be the human thing to do. The fact that he didn't is the big mistake. If he had erred in calling him out -- even by a good few feet, no one would be freaking out right now. That's the game.