The PED scandal is one more blow to MLB’s credibility

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Major League Baseball has umpires with impaired eyesight refusing to use instant replay.  Even when they do they get the call wrong.  Now the league faces the biggest drug scandal in its history.

 

The league is being run more by the umpire and players’ unions than by team ownership.  Every time the owners have an issue they hide behind the unions as the excuse for not being able to change things.

 

The current collective bargaining agreement provides some fairly stiff penalties for use of PEDs.  However, the league needs to regain the confidence of the public.  The only way to do that is to give the player a 100 game penalty for the first time he fails a test.  The second time he should be banned from the game for life.  That should also prevent him from being considered for the Hall of Fame.

 

The issue of inconsistent umpiring is different.  The line setters can adjust to players being suspended for PED use.  However, they cannot adjust for wildly inconsistent calling of the game.  The interest in any sport is in part due to gambling by the fans.  The first indication of the impact of bad umpiring … Read more at FryingPanSports

Umpires Leave With More Cash in Their Tennis Bag Than the Tennis Players

Money for NothingSome major athletes have made millions by showcasing their talent in public arenas, leaving matches stuffing loads of cash into their tennis bags. Roger Federer, for instance, is the top paid tennis competitor with about 41.8 million in prize winnings.  Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and the Williams sisters have also made a pretty penny  by playing in some of the world’s most prestigious tennis tournaments.  Although the lucky few earn a living that would be hard to spend in a lifetime, the payoff for some athletes is surprisingly small. At Futures tennis events, for example, the players may leave with less than the chair umpires.

The USTA Pro Circuit can easily be compared to the minor leagues of tennis. The circuit is composed of 88 events; “Futures” events with the prize money totaling around $10,000 to $15,000 and “Challenger” events with the total prize money running in the $50,000 to $100,000 range.

Recently, in Vero Beach, Fla. there was a $10,000 futures event where Australian player, John-Patrick Smith won the title over Brazilian, Pedro Zerbini. The crowd consisted of more than 300 tennis fans that each paid either $10 or $20 for their seat.

Smith`s prize money … Read more at FryingPanSports

Major League Baseball shoots itself in the foot again.

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It’s bad enough if you shoot your friend in the foot. When you intentionally shoot yourself in the foot, you deserve whatever pain results. That is exactly what the pinhead owners of MLB did in signing a new contract with the Umpire’s union without mandating more use of technology for calling balls and strikes.

Until a couple of years ago, the fans were convinced that the umps were blind but recent developments in TV coverage have removed all doubt. Fox and other networks provide a pitch by pitch analysis of the missed calls using computer technology. We can clearly see a ball that is way low being called a strike and a ball just below the letters being called a ball. The union has run the game for years. They have prevented any use of instant replay or other technology that has even been instituted in college football. The reason is simple. The union does not want to allow their dues paying members to look as bad as they are.

The problem is that it doesn’t matter how good the players are, it will be the umpires and their bad calls that will determine as many games in 2010 as … Read more at FryingPanSports