As a kid, when we played backyard baseball, we learned tremendous lessons. Central to this was learning to resolve our conflicts without parental intervention.
We argued. We disagreed. I’m certain we got angry at times, but in all seriousness, I cannot ever remember a fight breaking out (or a shoving match) over whether someone was out or safe at second base.
Briefly, someone’s feelings might have been hurt. And I’m confident at times someone ran home in a huff or crying, not wanting to participate any more over not getting his or her way.
For majority of those days and years though, we figured things out for ourselves, had a great time and grew in ways that are significantly different when you look at today’s organized sports that begin at very young ages for the participants. Our kids have come through this current system (somehow my wife and I navigated this and we all survived without going nuts). As they grew up, it’s hard for me to remember if they ever played in a backyard game of soccer, baseball or basketball. Whiffle ball, probably. Badminton, sure. But not a kid-organized game where you chose sides and refereed it yourself, figuring out the rules and deciding close calls in the game.
When we were short players, back in the day, you’d place an invisible runner if the runner had to come back in and hit. So if he was on second and the next two made outs, and he was up next, he came into hit and there was an invisible runner on second. If he doubled, the runner scored. If he singled the invisible runner went to third. And so on.
No one disagreed. We made the rules and enforced them fairly. We figured it out. And we picked up a certain skill and handling conflict and differences by doing that.
Central to differences of opinion on a specific call was the incredible concept of the “do-over,” which I sometimes think needs to be instituted in major televised sports. Too close to call? Have a do-over. Go all the way back to the start of the play and start over.
We’d use this when the arguments would get too intense or we clearly couldn’t come to agreement. “Alright, let’s do it over.”
Pretty dang simple when you think about it. And effective.
When you watch video replays these days in televised sporting events, there are often game situations that could take our concept from years ago and apply it effectively. The screen lights up and the announcer blabs on about the player being safe or out, or whether the ball was caught before it hit the ground (was it trapped or not?). They hit the replay. They run it in slow motion. They go back and forth showing the ball going in and out of the glove over and over. And they still can’t figure it out.
Do it over. Why not?
There are many plays top officials must make instantaneously with an incredibly high degree of accuracy and those men and women are amazingly consistent and correct in what they do. They train for years to get to those positions, just like the players.
But sometimes it really is too close to call. No, the pro and college sports saturating TV are not going to institute a “do-over” policy. But maybe we all could remember there are plays “too close to call.” If viewers would keep that in mind, we’d have a good start.
As a kid, when we played backyard baseball, we learned tremendous lessons. Central to this was learning to resolve our conflicts without parental intervention.
We argued. We disagreed. I’m certain we got angry at times, but in all seriousness, I cannot ever remember a fight breaking out (or a shoving match) over whether someone was out or safe at second base.
Briefly, someone’s feelings might have been hurt. And I’m confident at times someone ran home in a huff or crying, not wanting to participate any more over not getting his or her way.
For majority of those days and years though, we figured things out for ourselves, had a great time and grew in ways that are significantly different when you look at today’s organized sports that begin at very young ages for the participants. Our kids have come through this current system (somehow my wife and I navigated this and we all survived without going nuts). As they grew up, it’s hard for me to remember if they ever played in a backyard game of soccer, baseball or basketball. Whiffle ball, probably. Badminton, sure. But not a kid-organized game where you chose sides and refereed it yourself, figuring out the rules and deciding close calls in the game.
When we were short players, back in the day, you’d place an invisible runner if the runner had to come back in and hit. So if he was on second and the next two made outs, and he was up next, he came into hit and there was an invisible runner on second. If he doubled, the runner scored. If he singled the invisible runner went to third. And so on.
No one disagreed. We made the rules and enforced them fairly. We figured it out. And we picked up a certain skill and handling conflict and differences by doing that.
Central to differences of opinion on a specific call was the incredible concept of the “do-over,” which I sometimes think needs to be instituted in major televised sports. Too close to call? Have a do-over. Go all the way back to the start of the play and start over.
We’d use this when the arguments would get too intense or we clearly couldn’t come to agreement. “Alright, let’s do it over.”
Pretty dang simple when you think about it. And effective.
When you watch video replays these days in televised sporting events, there are often game situations that could take our concept from years ago and apply it effectively. The screen lights up and the announcer blabs on about the player being safe or out, or whether the ball was caught before it hit the ground (was it trapped or not?). They hit the replay. They run it in slow motion. They go back and forth showing the ball going in and out of the glove over and over. And they still can’t figure it out.
Do it over. Why not?
There are many plays top officials must make instantaneously with an incredibly high degree of accuracy and those men and women are amazingly consistent and correct in what they do. They train for years to get to those positions, just like the players.
But sometimes it really is too close to call. No, the pro and college sports saturating TV are not going to institute a “do-over” policy. But maybe we all could remember there are plays “too close to call.” If viewers would keep that in mind, we’d have a good start.
