Comment & Debate
Mark Coatney. “The Greatness and Perfection of Missing the Call.” Newsweek. June 3, 2010: “There’s a huge argument to be made against instant replay in all sports, and it’s this: the essence of sport is the pursuit of transcending imperfection. Why we play, why we watch, is for that one-in-a-million chance that something goes incredibly, impossibly right. If we want perfect-every-time scripting, we’d go to the theater. Yes, this is coming from a fan of a Kansas City Royals team that won its only World Series, in part, because an umpire blew the call, but that’s just the point: sometimes that happens. Sometimes the stupid kid catches a ball for a home run right over the head of the right fielder ready to make the out. Sometimes your throw kills the seagull. Sometimes disco demolition night goes horribly, horribly wrong. It doesn’t matter.”