​If you’re a baseball fan, you know the name Laz Diaz. The 63-year-old umpire has been a focal point for baseball critics and commentators for the vast majority of his 31-year career, from mistakes on balls and strikes to hot-mic moments that made for plenty of viral clips. Next Sunday, Diaz will call his final game as a Major League umpire, closing out a career in a job that is supremely demanding yet often one of the most underappreciated roles in the game.When Diaz spoke to USA Today about his upcoming retirement, his reflections on the game he served for more than three decades hit home. Resentment. Anger. Frustration with a sport that, in his view, has become too focused on the wrong things. His parting words don’t exactly shed a positive light on the profession for those who may want to follow in his footsteps.It made me think: Have sports radio’s veterans done enough to elevate the medium they once served for the next generation?In speaking with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Diaz said he attempts to warn up-and-coming umpires about the pressures of the job. He tells them that if they can’t have fun with it, they shouldn’t do it.“There’s just so much scrutiny and negative stuff now,” Diaz said via USA Today. “It’s nasty. We don’t get the recognition. Everybody is putting us down. Like with Angel (Hernandez) and C.B. (Bucknor), they got so much criticism, and they’re great umpires. But everything is just so (expletive) negative.”Diaz went on to say that he won’t miss the game in retirement because the sport has become too technical, restricting an umpire’s ability to manage a game.Doesn’t that sound a lot like some of the legends of the sports radio industry?“The station just isn’t the same.”“Radio is a dying industry.”“Today’s hosts are too soft on the teams they talk about.”“The corporate suits have ruined the industry forever.”Embracing EvolutionMuch like baseball, the sports radio industry is different today than it was decades ago. Radio is no longer the sole destination for compelling opinions from talented hosts. The success of the medium has been copied time and time again across sports television, podcasts and digital platforms.That doesn’t mean the industry is dying. It means there is more competition.Today, sports radio stations and talent have to cater not only to the terrestrial audience, but also to on-demand, digital and social audiences. There are more hats to wear and more platforms to understand. For every legend of the format who takes time to criticize the current state of the industry, they also know their success would never have happened in the same way in today’s sports media environment.Sports radio isn’t dying. It’s evolving. Just like baseball.Nothing goes back to the way it was before. And that’s what can be so frustrating about seasoned veterans sharing overly negative perceptions about the roles they helped establish for future generations.If we want