The Harm of Progress

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game

Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle

-George Carlin

I have forever been an advocate of instant replay. Not just in football, but in all sports. When a Ray Allen jump shot is changed from a two-pointer to a three-pointer minutes after it goes through the hoop, I'm glad they got it right. Replay has completely changed the NFL, so much so that teams hire guys whose only job is to watch every play from the booth to decide whether or not the coach should throw the red flag.

So, like most of the sports world, I too have been clamoring for baseball to adopt more replays. And now after the Armando Galarraga/Jim Joyce fiasco, the voices are louder than ever in favor of not just home runs being reviewed, but safe calls, fair and foul balls, etc. Last October, I even proposed a way for balls and strikes to be called from a booth.

I think I was wrong. When it comes to discussing the idea of progression, whether it's social, political or in the realm of sports, it is very easy to become hypocritical or lose sight of what really matters. I consider myself a very progressive person. I am pro-drugs, pro-gay, anti-war, etc. In other words, I am young. But while I value evolution, I also understand that sometimes, the unfair, old-school ways are sometimes the best ways to garner results.

For example, I hold a philosophy that is unpopular with about 99% of the people I know. I believe that the Feminist Movement of the 1950s and 60s hurt America. Let me explain.

Do I believe that women should be seen as equal to men? Absolutely. Do I believe women can and should hold the same jobs as men and be paid the same? Of course. But that doesn't necessarily mean that a coed working society breeds the best kind of people. You look at children today, and they are being raised by housekeepers, babysitters and daycare centers, not their parents. This is because both parents work. There isn't any time to actually raise their kids. And don't tell me both parents work because they have to financially. While true, that is a product of a flooded job market that is a result from twice as many people working than there used to be.

With that being said, I don't think we should strip women, or men for that matter, the right to work. It's simply not fair. But fair doesn't always lead to a desirable outcome. You see, a woman's role in early America was to raise the children, keep the house in order, cook the food, etc. Are those not needs anymore? That job is nearly extinct, yet the demand for those services is still as high as what it once was. So we are left without those services, which is crippling.

Women needed to be granted the right to earn their keep, but the Feminist Movement convinced everyone that a women should want to work, and that being a homemaker wasn't important. This is why are kids grow up in households without the sensitive, loving parent at home, and the dominant, disciplinary figure out in the work force. The cat's out of the bag, there is no turning back now.

So what does this have to do with instant replay? The cry for more replays in baseball is the MLB's Feminist Movement. Does it promote fairness? Yes. Is it an act of progression that future generations might laugh at because we didn't have it sooner? Yes. But will it turn out to hurt the game? Probably.

We simply do not have to be progressive about everything. It's okay if some things stay arcane and unfair, all in the name of preserving what works. The dichotomy between housewife mom and worker dad worked. Whether or not it was the right thing to do, you can not argue the results. And while instant replay may be the right thing to do with baseball, we also can not argue that the way the game has been played for ever a century has worked.

Baseball is outdated, but that's what we love about it, isn't it? It's slow and simple, like how life used to be. There's a reason why it's called the national pastime. I don't think it's in the MLB's best interest to try to out-advance the NFL. That's a losing battle. I think that I now understand what purists are talking about when they praise the "human element" of baseball. It's a game that is unfair and foolish but ultimately fun. That's how life not only used to be, but will always be. I say we embrace it.