Saturday, July 7, 2007

Today the Umpire is -- Johnny Five

Was watching tennis from Wimbleton today. At one point the judge called a ball "out" and gave the point to the defender.  The server appealed the decision.

A computer then displayed the shot, in slow motion, tracking the flight of the ball, and showing that the ball actually touched the chalk line.  The decision was reversed..and the server got the point.

Wow.  I have seen football games delayed while referees viewed a slow motion replay, and have seen critical callss reversed.  But in tennis, that was new to me.

I can hardly wait until big league umpires are replaced by computer and video cameras and the balls and strikes are called automatically and incontrovertably. 

Pity the poor manager whose heavy hitter has been called "out" on strikes, and who has no umpire whose shoes he can spit on.  The manager who used to bait the umpire and get thrown out of the game in order to excite and inspire his players is out of luck. 

Fans will no longer shout "kill the umpire".  All they can do is whimper a plaintive "reprogram the computer...it needs new glasses."

It will take some of the romance out of going to a ball game, but so did the "designated hitter" rule.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WimbleDon, you nitwit.  Not Wimbleton.... and I was looking right at the television when I wrote it..wrong.
Chuck

Anonymous said...

Chuck it's Wimbleton, you're right.  I'm with you on baseball, I root for the Braves now, was a Cincinnati Reds fan for years, but moved south the living is slower and warmer, I half way watched the All Star Game, I did so want the National League to win. gg/Jackie from Do You Remember.