Blissfully Ignorant

With that title, I bet you thought this was going to be an Obama post. Well, you'd be wrong...this is a post about umpiring in baseball. The playoffs are upon us, and once again, the umpires are getting way too much attention for their bad calls. So far, one could argue that 3 playoff games have been decided by screwed up calls by the different umpires.

The one case I saw was during the Twins/Yankees series, and is discussed in this story from Yahoo Sports. Basically there was an obvious strike that the home plate umpire called a ball. The batter should have been out. Instead, on the next pitch Lance Berkman of the Yankees hit what ended up being the game winning double. The Twins are getting used to this from the umpires these days (a similar bad call cost them a game last year in the playoffs against the Yankees).

From the Twins/Yankees game, using technology that is readily available to all, Yahoo Sports determined that there were 31 incorrect calls made on balls and strikes by the home plate umpire. Let's assume that the batters don't swing that often and the umpire is forced to make a judgement call on balls and strikes 200 times in a game (that's probably really high, but it makes the math easy). That means that this particular umpire is wrong 15.5% of the time, or to equate that to grading, he gets a low B. The postseason is supposed to use baseball's best umpires...are you telling me that the best guys are only getting the equivalent of a low B? Ridiculous!

The technology for instant replay is available. The TV audience knows right away whether or not a call is right or wrong. Baseball owes it to the fans and the teams to get the calls right. All they need is a 5th umpire in a booth somewhere reviewing each play. The data is available nearly real time and wouldn't affect the flow of the game. There is so much standing around in baseball anyway, that there would be plenty of time most games to reverse bad calls. Until baseball makes this change, its umpires will continue to be a big part of the story, and that's not what any of us want.

Movie Review: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief

"Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" is good as a stand alone movie. As a movie, I rate it nearly 4 stars, probably 3.75. Overall the story was good, the action was good, and the characters were likable.

The only problem is, it was hard to look at "The Lightning Thief" as just a movie. Not when I've read all 5 of the "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" books, and not when I really liked those books. While the movie makes a nice 2 hour story, the book was so much better, even if it didn't have the thrill a minute excitement of the book.

This almost always happens when a book is translated to a movie. Very rarely do you get a "Lord of the Rings" or even the "Harry Potter" films. Instead, you usually get something that is loosely based on the book, which is why I rarely watch the movie versions of books that I like.

So, here's my recommendation. If you are capable of accepting "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" as just a movie, or if you haven't read the book, go ahead and watch this movie. Otherwise, skip it and read the books.

Book Reviews: Hunger Games Trilogy #2 and #3

"Catching Fire": This was my favorite book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins. "Catching Fire" was a great bridge between "Hunger Games" and "Mockingjay". This book was longer than "Hunger Games" and I appreciated the extra detail. We learn much more about our heroes, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, and we meet some fun new characters, including my personal favorite, Finnick O'Dair. Overall, this was a really good book, but be sure you have access to "Mockingjay" right away because there is quite the cliffhanger.




"Mockingjay": After reading "Catching Fire" I was a little disappointed with "Mockingjay", the conclusion to the Hunger Games trilogy. It's not that "Mockingjay" was a bad book, it just didn't live up to the quality of "Catching Fire". I felt like some of the momentum was lost and the story was a little disjointed. I did enjoy the end of the book though, I just wish Suzanne Collins would have gotten us to that ending a little differently.

Overall, I did enjoy the Hunger Games trilogy. I think it's an appropriate series for teenagers on up. If you like post apocalyptic style stories, give these books a shot. I'd really like to discuss them with someone else who has read them.