Monday, June 28, 2010

The Human Element

It is completely ludicrous that the WorldCup is seen by more people in the world than any other sporting event, the only ones apparently not watching are the ones who decide the outcome.
I can't say I'm the first person to rant about this and I'm sure as hell not going to be the last but is there anything dumber in this world than the fact that in 2010 there still are sports which refuse to embrace technology.    I am so sick and tired of watching a perfectly well played game get decided because of some god-damn referee making some bone-head move.
Last month Armando Galarraga got denied a perfect game because some fat ump who can't even run down the first baseline had a brain-fart.    Baseball purists pointed to the human element one of the dumbest concepts in the history of the game.    Maybe 100 years ago before the game was televised this was an excuse or better yet a reason why it couldn't be any different but in 2010 when every person in the stadium has a smart-phone able to stream an instant replay it is ridiculous that the umpire can't possibly be asked for the same thing.
But as backwards as baseball is with this, futball is worse.    They have so many completely convoluted rules you could write a book, and maybe they have.    Futball is so ass-backwards that they don't even have the clock tick down like any normal sport, they have it ticking up.   They have extra-time but nobody knows how much time it will be because the clock is kept on the field.   This is like having two boxers fight it out with no idea how far into a round they are.   Their is so much crying during a match that it makes an afternoon soap-opera look like you are watching Conan the Barbarian but the worst thing is the referees.
This World-Cup which has been great will be remembered for those stupid kazoo's and the total amount of blown calls by the refs.     The futball purists keep throwing the human element at us which is an argument you only make when you have no argument to make.    Why can't they review a goal?   How many huge matches have to be decided by 'human error'   Whether it's the 'hand of god', the Hand of Henry or the Hand of Job somebody has to kick some reason into FIFA..  How many times do you need your biggest games decided by the worst calls?    Just yesterday two games had crucial goals taken off the board because of  calls that were so blatantly bad they could have been correctly made by Ray Charles.
If Futbal has learned anything it is that on their biggest stage their refereeing system is the laughing stock of the world.   I don't care how many years you have played without replay it is time to join the 21st century, any jackass that still claims the human-element adds something to the game is living in a time when balls where still square.

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