Top 5 sports pet peeves

ESPN Radio on Saturday 16th July (Dari and Mel) had the announcers' list of their top 5 pet peeves. Here are mine :

1. Baseball announcers who don't know the definition of a foul tip. The MLB rulebook clearly states "A FOUL TIP is a batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher’s hands and is legally caught. It is not a foul tip unless caught and any foul tip that is caught is a strike, and the ball is in play. It is not a catch if it is a rebound, unless the ball has first touched the catcher’s glove or hand." It is not a foul tip unless caught. It is not a foul tip unless caught. If it is not caught, it is just a foul ball. Runners may steal on a foul tip, since the ball is in play, but not a foul ball.



2. Pitchers who can't go nine innings, and managers who won't let them, to paraphrase Dan Quisenberry. At one time, 10 CG was the requirement for the ERA title. No one has qualified for the ERA title since 1999 when Randy Johnson completed 12 of his starts. Oh, and they play more than 154 games now.



3. In-game interviews. The players are primarily there to play, and the managers to manage. If you can't wait 3 hours to talk to a player or manager, maybe you need to find a new sport to follow. For the fans, the sport is not life, as much as they may hate to admit it. NCAA football does not allow players or coaches to give interviews during the game except a coach at halftime. Similarly, I want the chance to watch the game on the field, not talk about what happened already, or the new book that the player wrote.



4. The two-point conversion. It may have its place in college and high school football, but not the NFL. Consider Super Bowl XXXVIII (Thirty-eight) : New England scored 4 TDs and 1 FG. Carolina scored 4 TDs and 1 FG. Tie game, right? Wrong! Carolina scored 2 extra points (2-2 0-2=2), New England scored 5 (3-3 1-1=5), and that's the difference in the game.



5. NASCAR considering itself a sport. The way some people drive their car, it seems they spent more time watching NASCAR than paying attention in Driver's Ed. Seriously, can't we make it illegal for people too young to drive to watch this? And then there's the origins of the sport in the alcohol bootleggers, trying to outrun the G-Men, the T-Men, and the Revenuers... I'm not saying that there's no competition, or physical activity, but so much more of the outcome depends on other factors than physical performance of the driver.