Umpires in Baseball and Referees in Football: Why They Need to Stay Human

In today's world of technology and advancements, that oftentimes seems to be progressing faster than we can handle, baseball and football have remained the same when it comes to a final decision on balls, strikes, and penalties. With all of the instant replays and the new pitch-tracking system, to determine if the pitch was actually a strike or a ball to the viewer, the sports world is ever-changing.

Umpires and referees make the games they are a part of that much more interesting than it would be if the game was called by robots and every call was perfect. There is no fun in perfect. Personally, and I think I can speak for a lot of other sports fans, the worst calls in baseball, whether that's a missed strike three in a clutch situation or a blown perfect game on a blatant missed call, is what makes the game fun. As for football, it is the same situation. Having human referees and not relying solely on robotics and technology to call games leads to come of the greatest moments in sports, depending on which team you are rooting for.

Some people will argue that they would actually want every call in every game to be perfect 100% of the time and I would also like the calls to be right, but there's an element of the game as a fan and player where the bad calls lead to more engagement. What do I mean by this? Well, speaking from experience, when the home plate umpire decides on that given day his strike zone will be an extra 2 inches wide all around it can be quite frustrating as a hitter and as a team, but that's what brings the team together. Everyone knows that he's an awful umpire and it's a unifying experience. It also may cause some players to perform better or worse depending on their response to the bad calls. This is what you will not get if the calls are 100% right every single time. The effects the human side of officiating has on sports can swing the momentum of a game in an instant. A 4th and inches can turn into a turnover on downs quickly because of the spot of the ball which is done by a person trying his best to watch the play and see where the man went down.

There will always be mistakes when there are human beings officiating sports, but I would argue that it needs to be kept that way because, without it, sports wouldn't be as complicated or engaging.