Manny Ramirez takes a lot of flack from the media and I think a lot of it is unnecessary. Yeah, the guy’s a goof and a little absent-minded, but so am I. And I haven’t heard his name mentioned in relation to the steroids scandal yet. He seems to enjoy the game for what it is – a game that’s supposed to be fun for player and fan alike and he makes it fun to watch. His recent fracas with teammate Kevin Youkilis actually demonstrated that pretty clearly. Seems Youk’ was whining about the strike zone a little too much and Manny got tired of it. As someone who hates whiners, I say “Go Manny!” Are the strike zones always perfect? Of course not, but that’s baseball and you live with it. And while we’re on that topic, I am completely opposed to the introduction of instant replay to baseball, something that has been bantered about recently. Arguing with the umpire is a time-honored tradition in baseball. Do we really want to give up the opportunity to see some manager kicking dirt onto home plate, an act of pure, unadulterated spite that is also just plain silly?
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Quantum Moxie 
As a former baseball player (long ago), I strongly favor not only instant reply, but laser/video defined strike zones and automatic calling of balls and strikes. I was a pitcher and I always thought an impartial, objective way to call balls and strikes would have been great. I’m OK with instand reply as well, but it would need to be something that was available for each temm only a couple of times per game or the games would end up being too long — not so with automatic pitch calls.
As a former baseball player (long ago), I strongly favor not only instant replays, but laser/video defined strike zones and automatic calling of balls and strikes. I was a pitcher and I always thought an impartial, objective way to call balls and strikes would have been great. I’m OK with instant replays as well, but it would need to be something that was available for each temm only a couple of times per game or the games would end up being too long — not so with automatic pitch calls.
Interesting. I used to play too (a long time ago) but I was a second baseman so I guess I didn’t experience the bias as directly. I just worry it would take some of the tradition out of the game (I’m a bit of a purist). But it certainly would make it more fair. I would agree with your instant replay idea – something similar to what they do in the NFL where there’s a limited number of times a team can use it in a game. It would preserve at least a bit of the tradition (and not completely eliminate umpires).
BTW, I’ve been meaning to ask: are you any relation to Dave “The Quantum Pontiff” Bacon?
You’re not the first to ask if I’m related to Dave Bacon. My stock answer is no — I don’t sky well enough to be related 🙂
Of course, I meant “ski” — I don’t spell well enough to be related either 🙂
Haha, well I’m not much of a skier either. Nor am I related to The Pontiff. :))