Friday Firings: Baseball Players Against Replay, Tiger's Interview

Sometimes athletes need to shut up. Other times they just don't say enough. Here are two firings that cover both ends of the athlete conversation spectrum.

Tiger: looking happy to oblige as always.

Fire Tiger Woods' Interview "Skills:" After completing an impressive Sunday surge at the Masters last week, Tiger gave a post-mortem interview that would make Bill Belichick proud. Tiger curtly answered 3 questions from CBS' Bill Macatee; his longest response was less than 10 words.

Of course this behavior is nothing new from Tiger. Even before his personal-life meltdown he was never one to say much. If he wants to win back the fans (and endorsements) he lost, though, it might be a good idea for him to at least pretend to be personable. He has always come across as aloof and sort of a jerk, and it's really hard to cheer for someone who behaves that way. Maybe he doesn't care what people think. Maybe he doesn't care that he's being rude to reporters who are just doing their jobs. Maybe the fans should stop caring how Tiger plays.

Fire Baseball Players Against Instant Replay: Baseball is considering expanding instant replay in 2012 for calls on fair/foul balls and trapped balls, an idea that should be hired. What should be fired, though, is players who said they don't want any replay use, let alone more of it.

Mariners 3B Chone Figgins said: "To have those guys go back and look at replay for everything, it would be just too long." Hey, Chone, have you got somewhere else to be? Last time the HR Department checked, you're getting paid $9.5 million this season. But if you can't be bothered to wait around while the umpires make sure they got the call right, then you're free to pursue other careers.

Giants 1B Aubrey Huff pulled the old "preserving the past card," saying: "You're messing with the history of the game when you start messing with too much." And just what history is he talking about, exactly? Maybe he means that time in the playoffs in 1996 when umpires who didn't have replay didn't see that some kid reached about two feet over the outfield wall to help Derek Jeter hit a home run. Or maybe he means that time in 2010 when then-Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga threw a perfect game, except he didn't because an umpire blew an easy call at first base and gave the batter a hit.

Baseball is slow anyway, and the integrity of the game is affected when umpires miss calls. Apparently some players just don't get that, and they should be fired until they get a clue.