Baseball

[Eric]

Man, something about that bothers me. We have technology and we don't use it because something is "part of the game". Well, what does that even mean? Seriously? The severity is different, but that's like saying we've developed a cure for polio but disease is a part of life so we should just deal with it. It's basically the same principle.

[Spence]

Man, something about that bothers me. We have technology and we don't use it because something is "part of the game". Well, what does that even mean? Seriously? The severity is different, but that's like saying we've developed a cure for polio but disease is a part of life so we should just deal with it. It's basically the same principle.

We have the technology to play all the games virtually. So we shouldn't use athletes either. It is cheaper and all penalties would be correctly called. Actually we could make it so there was no penalties. Part of what makes these games fun is the fact that people make mistakes. Players don't run the correct routes, run through the right hole, or block the right man. The officials are the same. They should do everything they can to make sure the officials are well trained and very good, but I see no reason to take the human element out of it..........even if we could.

[Eric]

Ask Arkansas how "fun" bad officiating can be!

The whole point is that referees need to make better calls. I'm not asking them to be perfect, but if mistakes are limited, then I see no issue with it. The whole point of playing games is because the variance in performance of the athletes, so I don't know if your argument addresses my point. The refs are just there to make sure the game is played fairly and correctly. It's different when you compare refereeing to actually participating in the game.

[Spence]

I not sure it is different. I agree that the refs should do a better job. I also think replay has made them worse not better.

[WoVeU]

Man, something about that bothers me. We have technology and we don't use it because something is "part of the game". Well, what does that even mean? Seriously? The severity is different, but that's like saying we've developed a cure for polio but disease is a part of life so we should just deal with it. It's basically the same principle.

Technology is not the answer for everything...not even in close. I work a bit in the area and what wears me out is the continual desire from white shirts to make the technology we employee idiot proof or at least pert near dummiable. It is ridiculous.

Look at twitter and all the rest. Or message boards (my limit)...how about going out and really doing something.

Officials are important in all games. In football I'll take all the replay I don't have to watch. If they can review it between plays...by all means. (Less talk about waiting on that would be nice.)

In baseball, the officials are integral. This keeps much of the art in the game. A strike is a strike because of what it looks like...nothing else! The very staple of baseball means we need the human eye.

[Dossenator]

(http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=j ... &type=lgns)

On a side note...anyone watch (ex Razorback) Cliff Lee dominate game 1 of the world series: 10 SO's, 0 Walks, 1 run given up (came in the 9th inning), his post season ERA is around .052 (that is the lowest in post season history for a pitcher with at least 3 starts), and did you see that behind the back catch he made.

[Eric]

Technology is not the answer for everything.

True; it's the answer for 99% of our problems

I don't want to suggest that you're an old fogey ( ), but technology helps out society immensely. There's some kind of anti-technology bias floating out there that never seems to go away. It's like the old argument that "machines are going to put people out of work!" Maybe temporarily, but it becomes cheaper for businesses to operate, somebody has to produce the machines which create jobs, and the displaced workers find other jobs or find ways to reapply their skills. It's all part of a cycle and we're all here thanks to technology

[WoVeU]

Technology is not the answer for everything.

True; it's the answer for 99% of our problems

I don't want to suggest that you're an old fogey ( ), but technology helps out society immensely. There's some kind of anti-technology bias floating out there that never seems to go away. It's like the old argument that "machines are going to put people out of work!" Maybe temporarily, but it becomes cheaper for businesses to operate, somebody has to produce the machines which create jobs, and the displaced workers find other jobs or find ways to reapply their skills. It's all part of a cycle and we're all here thanks to technology

I 'm an Electrical Engineer and I have worked in several areas. Technology is great...it doesn't always solve problems...it gives tooling to help solve problems and directly solves some...while creating a new set. All the time I see situations where education, integrity, morals, ethics, and work ethics would work much better. And several where one human walking over and talking to another would have prevented a catastrophe!

[Eric]

I know you've mentioned here that you've been an electrical engineer for some time, so I wasn't going to question your knowledge on the subject material , I just think that you can't blame technology for communication errors and a lack of mechanical ethics.

[WoVeU]

I've been an engineer just long enough to figure out I don't know anything!

In tonight's WVU and USF game 2 bad calls. 1 each way and replay fixed neither. One was not subject to replay.

[donovan]

There is a basic problem in this country. Technology...and in a different form I have worked with technology all my life too...technology has been artificially accelerated in this country through taxation. The space program is a good example.

The problem with this is our morals and ethics not only have not kept pace with the technology, but I think a case can be made the seduction of technology has made us abandoned them and as bad as imorality is, we plummented into amorality.

Examples of my position are plentiful and the medical field leads the disciplines...but I will stick with football..or sports..

We have people on this message board that justify injuring players as "legal hits." We know the consequences of head injuries and those in authority fail to use technology and morality to do all they can to stop it.

Technology will never work if we do not utilize morals and commons sense.

Last night in the Game between Virginia Tech and South Florida there was a play, shown several times when four (4) VT linesmen went after one (1) South Florida lineman. He was injured, not as bad as could have been. I want to know who will tell me they think that is all right. All the technology in the world will not solve the problems of amorality.

[WoVeU]

Last night in the Game between Virginia Tech and South Florida there was a play, shown several times when four (4) VT linesmen went after one (1) South Florida lineman. He was injured, not as bad as could have been. I want to know who will tell me they think that is all right. All the technology in the world will not solve the problems of amorality.

Do you mean the WVU game? When USF brought for guys against the Nose Guard, Neild.

I know the dude is tough but come on...4 guys. Yeah, I think there was intent to injure.

[donovan]

Sorry I got the teams wrong...yes...that was what I meant, and I agree.

[WoVeU]

Football is the one area where I could use some work on morality. I was taught the game like it was war without the killing. I believe in hitting a guy as hard as you absolutely can. And I extended the thought...if you can hit him with a couple of guys you can beat the game out of them. But I believe I have found that if you go out of your way and send multiple men at one time for the sole purpose of drilling a guy...yeah, that is wrong.

Donovan has convinced me that this is not really in-line with the game.
And that the contact for blocking and tackling is one thing within the normal game strategy of traversing the field to score the ball or stop the opponent from doing so, another intent is something all together different.

I had always extended the physical contact along with the context of it being "legal"...to the point that...pounding a guy is good strategy! No, there is no honor in that!
Thanks Donovan! (But if you put me on a field tomorrow I would still try to pound the guy across from me into oblivion.)

[Dossenator]

Game 5 of the World Series pits two Arkansas boys pitching against one another: Cliff Lee (from Benton, Arkansas and ex Razorback) and AJ Burnett (from Little Rock, Arkansas). Come on Cliff Lee!