Mine might be a distinctly minority opinion on this, but a couple of incidents in our little town the past couple of weeks have underlined one of the reasons why I think the age of replay — though flawed, for sure, and in need of improvement and revision in almost every one of its incarnations across the board — is a good thing.
And that’s this:
We are almost done with the extended era of the infantile temper tantrum.
A couple of weeks ago, it was Aaron Boone taking exception with a young umpire named Nic Lentz, arguing with such ferocity that the bill of his cap touched Lentz’s (earning an automatic suspension) but then, for extra comic relief, squatting a couple of times as a catcher might to illustrate the depths of his unhappiness with Lentz’s strike zone.
Last week, of course, it was Serena Williams acting like a 2-year-old whose toys were taken away from her in berating a chair umpire named Carlos Ramos during the U.S. Open finals, after Ramos assessed her three different code violations that cost her a warning, a point, a game and, ultimately, whatever remained of her composure and professionalism.
It’s interesting that both outbursts were the product of situations that happen to currently fall outside their sports’ replay realms. Balls and strikes are still off-limits from the baseball appellate court in Chelsea, so they remain the strictly subjective domain of home-plate umpires. Managers may not like it when calls are overturned on video review, but there is little sense arguing the verdicts, so they almost never do.
And tennis owns what may be the best replay system in any sport: the players have come to universally accept that the electronic review is incapable of lying, and abide by whatever it reveals. Ramos, of course, entered the last existing corridor allowing an umpire’s iron fist: He spotted Williams’ coach coaching, which is against the rules, and he determined that Williams’ harangues warranted the misconduct penalty.
So in both situations, Boone and Williams had license to let fly, and did.
And there were some who found the eruptions refreshing: those who miss Billy Martin kicking dirt on Ron Luciano and Earl Weaver arguing with his cap backwards; those who miss Bob Knight flinging folding chairs across basketball courts; those who miss John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors or Ilie Nastase losing their minds in front of 12,000 people.
(Last December, Jim Boeheim reacted to a call that went against his team at the end of a game by hurling his clipboard like Al Oerter and his discus, which is the kind of thing you do, I guess, when the reality that you’re losing to St. Bonaventure for the first time in 36 years begins to sink in …)
And yes, there’s a part of that behavior that’s a little funny, I guess.
But mostly it’s embarrassing. And mostly, those incidents have been permanently been put out to pasture because when you see evidence that you really weren’t hosed by a call — or, better, that the video confirms you were right — there’s no reason to blow a gasket. That may be bad news for someone like Wally Backman, whose popularity as a manager through the years has been at least a little helped along by his occasional diatribes that are caught by someone’s cell phone and offered up as proof of his fiery genius.
But it’s music to everyone else’s ears. And Boone’s and Williams’ outbursts seem to be absolute outliers. I suspect Boone himself probably wishes he could have a do-over on the more extreme highlights of his argument (though his pops, Bob, probably beamed with pride at his excellent technique). And whether Williams has regrets about hers or not is irrelevant — even if Ramos overreacted in handing down his indictments (which is a fair argument) what isn’t debatable is that Williams’ fury was uncomfortable to watch, at best, and abjectly unprofessional, at worst.
Replay hasn’t been perfect. But we almost never get these ridiculous scenes anymore. And that puts it way ahead on this scorecard.
Vac’s Whacks
The relationship between PR man and newspaper columnist is, by definition, always going to be a contentious one. But I have never encountered a person in that job as decent and gentle and humble as the Mets’ Jay Horwitz in 30 years. We’ve had out battles. I’ve gotten my share of pocket dials. I’ll cherish the friendship always.
Speaking of Jay, if he asked me my $.02 on the matter of retiring Mets numbers in his new job as the team’s alumni dircector, I’d schedule it this way: Jerry Koosman’s No. 36 next year to celebrate the golden anniversary of the ’69 Mets; Keith Hernandez’s No. 17 in 2021 for the 35th anniversary of the ’86 Mets; then David Wright’s No. 5 at any point thereafter (and invite Davey Johnson that day, since he wore 5 with distinction, too).
There is confidence, there is supreme confidence, and then there is 85-year-old Hubie Brown signing a new multi-year deal with ESPN. Which is awesome, because Hubie is still the best of the best and hasn’t lost an inch on his fastball.
I wish I was breaking news here, but clearly I am just hopping on a crowded bandwagon: “Jack Ryan” on Amazon Prime is some superb, elite-level TV.
Whack Back at Vac
Jay Cummings: As an avid life-long Giants fan, it’s depressing to know they’re in a must-win game Sunday night also that the Browns have a better record. Let’s go Rangers!
Vac: There have been teams that have dusted themselves off after 0-2. I don’t suspect this team would be one of them.
Metiner Kimel: David Wright reminds me of Don Mattingly as to how a physical infirmity affected his career, but I don’t think there is anyone who has been a better player at third for the period of time that he did it than Wright.
Vac: On a lot of levels — most positive, some positively melancholy — that comparison is dead on. Though Wright did get those five games in the World Series that Donnie Baseball never did.
@louisvcristan: Gotta say, “Rock Fight” has to be the best description of a football game like the one the Giants and Jags played [last] Sunday.
@MikeVacc: Let’s just say that after watching that, I’m not optimistic for Coach Coughlin’s lads when they square off with the mighty Pats on Sunday.
Peter Drago: When I watched the Jets win the Super Bowl, our daughter was sleeping in her crib. She will turn 50 this December. I don’t know if I will see the Jets in another Super Bowl in my lifetime, but thanks to this year’s opener at least I’ll have the memory of Bizzaro Monday!
Vac: Every now and again as a fan you get three hours that actually seem to make all the other Stuff worth it.
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