Thursday, November 28, 2013

Instant Replay and Character

Growing up baseball was my game. I never played a game where instant replay was used and it's likely that I never will. Had I grown up with that ultimate decider of right and wrong I'm sure things would have been much different, maybe I'd be retiring from the Yankees with Mariano this year (we are about the same age) or..... maybe not. When there's no "instant replay" as a child you learn that bad calls and errors by those stewards of the game are an inherent part and success depends on how you recover, learn and move on. Herein lies the crux of this editorial. Through that process of recovering and learning one builds character and it's that character that more often than not brings someone success.

  Baseball isn't just a metaphor
In the game of professional baseball they have started to use "instant replay" at the major league level. This is a professional game with a lot at stake and let's face it you don't get to the majors without learning a thing or two about how to handle bad calls even though sometimes the behavior of players and coaches may not present that way. Society is changing and we have the capability and I say let's get it right for America's favorite past-time. Sure games will be longer, some teams will benefit from re-designed ballparks that are more camera friendly but in the long run it's going to be better for fans and the game (or so we think). One could say we've become a society of "instant replay", look at Football, or the local department store you walk into....think your not on camera there? How about police cars...could you imagine if dashboard cameras were not in squad cars....what would news stations run at 6pm were it not for these snippets of life. So it's not just baseball, it's just that baseball was staying true to it's history and code of honor longer than most.
  Adapt and overcome
Society has become one where what you do it captured electronically just about everywhere you go. It was not like this back in the 80's. George Orwell's 1984 was fiction and you didn't have a camera in the classroom to prove that Johnny threw the spitball at the chalkboard (old school I know). As in the game of baseball you learn to adapt to these things and overcome them. Perhaps the next time you sit down in a classroom it's nowhere near Johnny and perhaps you aren't going to hang out with Johnny after class. For most this is an instinctive reaction and it's a survival component of ones character. The way we adapt and overcome adversity is changing. Today we have the ability in most cases to go check video to see that Johnny threw the spitball thereby convicting Johnny and vindicating the innocent. With the ability to bring the third party perspective into the equation egregious errors are all but eliminated, but the question is... is that a good thing or not. Much in our society has been gained from the struggle against oppressive odds and "bad calls". Similarly even when there is that third party component, take the Zapruder film for example, the definitive answer isn't always evident.
  Character in the Changing Landscape
The struggle against adversity and inherent ability of one to adapt and overcome is changing. Baseball is an example of this. While we are more like 1984 than ever before we're far from Minority Report (obligatory movie reference). The society of "instant replay" is here and we are all effected by it in both positive and negative ways. Character above all else remains the important component. How we build and maintain that character has changed and will continue to change as we become a more connected society. Our "Instant Replay" society will not always bring about the clarity we all seek it will simply add a new perspective that was not available before.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 Z

No comments: