"Human Element"

So this is NOT a sports blog per se, and I'm not trying to make it one. I apologize if I'm alienating my non-sports loving reader(s), but this is where I am right now.

Late Tuesday night, the Phillies lost a game that they would have won if the 1st base ump would have made the correct (and not terribly difficult!) call on what was, in fact although not in history, a double-play ball hit by Carlos Lee. The correct call would have effectively ended the game right that very instant, Phils win. Instead, the tying run was allowed to score, and we lose in extra innings. I don't want to come off as TOO whiny -- we still had plenty of chances to win that we didn't cash in on -- but nonetheless, a blatant bad call opened a door that never should have existed. And of course I hate it, and of course my manager got thrown out arguing.

Here's the deal, though -- afterwards, he said one of my most hated sports "maxims" -- that he still opposes use of replay, because it takes out the "human element."

Let me say that I LOVE the "human element" of sports. This drama is real, kids! Those players are out there living out the culmination of years of blood, sweat, and tears; dreams, challenges, and victories. But there they are RIGHT NOW -- living in the moment with no idea what may be about to befall them, before thousands of people in the building, millions via television, and now the untold billions throughout history with the advent of youtube. The tears are real, the heartbreak is real, the triumph is real. The game is meaningless in and of itself, but it has been invested with omni-importance, and there will be one who rises above and another who crumbles. On occasion, BOTH will rise to the challenge, but even then there can be only one (unless it's something lame like Olympic swimming -- ohh, they tied so there are TWO gold medals!). THAT, to me, is the "human element." Officiating blunders and screw ups -- how does THAT qualify as the "human element?" Isn't it more of the "random screw-up that can completely reverse a noble and just outcome element?" Honestly, who can really be FOR that?

Look, I'm not trying to blame the ump -- he screwed up. It happens. But don't all REAL fans just want the call to be right? Or how about this -- click here and read about Stanley Cup winning goals that occurred with illegal skates in the crease (that's what we call "hockey" in the Great White North, Nick), helmets being mistaken for footballs on fourth down at the goal line (a coach probably lost his job because of that one!), and even fifth down being mistaken for fourth down on the last play of a game! Really, when the wrong team wins, how can we applaud the random screw-up element that makes it possible?

Hmm. What if the next time there's a mistaken identity or a racially-motivated police shooting it was just chalked up to the "human element" and the newspapers would have to find a different ax to grind? How about if the mail just randomly mis-delivered or lost sight of a handful of packages on occasion? Let's have them KEEP doing it -- it adds that "human element" to walking to my mailbox. Or -- most incredulous of all -- what if our presidential elections kept re-counting and coming up with different numbers. Oh my, could you imagine the uproar that would be silenced by simply applying the "human element" logic to such a situation!