“You Make The Call!”

The internet knows no bounds.

Last night, my wife and I were watching the NFC championship game between the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers. During a commercial break, I saw an ad that was couched as an informational profile of some player (I think it might have been George Kittle, but I can’t remember for sure). Seeing it brought back memories of watching baseball on TV as a kid in the late 80s.

I turned to my wife and recollected about this series of commercials that presented a tough officiating situation followed by a tagline: “You make the call!” As you mulled the puzzle in your head and waited for the solution, I explained to her, you mindlessly watched the sales pitch. Brilliant.

After a few false starts (pun intended), this Google search led me to a YouTube playlist by “Mr. Turneround” entitled “IBM Presents You Make The Call” containing an astonishing 138 videos.

The internet indeed knows no bounds.

During each commercial break for the remainder of that football game, I’d muted the TV and fired up one or two of those videos. Since I was more interested in the baseball-themed ones, I sought them out in particular. I did this until my wife, who is, to be sure, quite the baseball fan herself, had an expression on her face that unequivocally said, “Okay, okay, no more!”

Here are just a few:

The batter asks for time... You make the call!

A runner is on first with one out. The batter swings, misses, and interferes with the catcher... You make the call!

A pitcher delivers the ball, but the ump spots something... You make the call!

A batter hits the ball, it bounces off the fielder’s leg, and he catches it... You make the call!

The pitcher fields a hit ball but then has trouble with it... You make the call!

It goes on and on, but you get the idea.