GET OFF YOUR KNEES, YOU'RE BLOWIN' THE GAME!!!
I wanted to post this yesterday but I didn't end up having time (translation:I got some). I guaran-damn-tee that I am the only one as passionate about this or willing to write as long of a rant about it. If you aren't much of a baseball fan or couldn't care less about the details of umpiring, don't read on. This will likely be long and boring for you.
Sometimes sports talk radio is the cat's pajamas and other times it's the shit that the cat left in his pajamas. Yesterday, from what I heard, it was the latter. I leave for work at 6 a.m. (I still don't know why I do that). At this hour, Collin Cowherd is on ESPN radio. He's a silly little man from Seattle and I enjoy his show every morning. When I leave work in the afternoon to make the 45 minute drive to school, ESPN radio has Mason and Ireland on "The Big Show." Normally, these two drives give me chance to relax and catch up on the sports I so dearly miss watching. Yesterday, however, instead of relaxing and enjoying, I was fuming and blurting out the occasional "F@#& YOU!" at the radio and whomever was hosting that hour. The topic of discussion on every show, of course, was "the call". You know what I'm talking about I hope. It's the call that the home plate umpire made to in Game 2 of the ALCS. I am so tired of hearing people say ignorant-stupid shit about that situation (i.e. it was one of the worst calls in history, the umpire should be removed from the crew, instant replay should be used in baseball, the umpire should never have been on the playoff crew because he's obviously incompetant, one of the other five upires on the crew should have overruled his call and gotten it right)
I am an umpire and as you can tell, I'm a little defensive of umpires now that I realize how difficult it is. I think every youth sports league parent should be required to umpire/referee/officiate at least once. I guarantee that it would make them think twice about some of the bullshit they say. Same goes for pro sports fans, and apparently radio show hosts.
In defense of the umpire:
1) Imagine and visualize that damn play from where he's positioned. He has to look through his mask, through the catcher, and through the glove to see if that ball hit the ground or not. Not to mention, he has had to learn how to not to flinch or blink when someone throws 95 at his balls (literally... watch where a plate umpire stands during a pitch and what the ball would hit sans catcher). He also had to notice in his peripheral vision if the batter swung the bat or not. After seeing the replay a few times from straight on, zoomed in, at about 1/100th of the original speed, it was still a little bit difficult to tell for sure if it was caught. So let's not get all caught up in the fact that he missed the call. That call was about as tough as it gets for a plate umpire.
2) He didn't call the damn batter out. He made his "swinging strike three" mechanic that he had been making all game long. Mechanic, in umpire language, simply means the hand motion associated with a call. Anyone saying that he called him out and then changed his mind when the batter ran to first is bitch and probably a vegetarian. There I've said it.
What the umpire did wrong:
1) He got the call wrong, but read the previous #1 and see why we aren't focusing on that...and then eat a steak.
2) He should have said, "No catch" or something similar to make it more obvious what his call was.
Other things to think about:
1) Take my word for it, it is difficult to be a good umpire even for high school...he's a MLB PLAYOFF UMPIRE. That means he's probably in the top 15 umpires in the world.
2) He probably didn't miss another call or pitch the entire game. He probably missed only a few calls all year, as good as he is. And that split-second mistake will be his legacy forever. That sucks. Yes, Bill Buckner haters can also kiss my ass.
3) There aren't many occupations in the world where the general public can watch a slow motion video clip of what you're doing and decide if you made the most minute of mistakes on a judgement call that you had to make in less than a second. Ok, maybe in the porn industry, there are. Think about if there were cameras in your office or wherever you work...people watching and deciding if any little thing you did was wrong. I think there would be be about 1/4 as many posts on this blog, I'll tell you that.
4) I don't even want to talk about instant replay in baseball. The mere thought, makes my balls shrink back inside my body. The guy who even brought up that idea probably just finished sewing sequins leotard.
posted by Cody @ 5:59 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
of course, i meant, "sewing sequins on his leotard"
that line would have been funny
jared,
would you say you were more entertained by this, or my ode to baron davis? because i know how much you dig B-diddy...
ok cody, here is my beef. I understand that the call is soooo f-ing hard to make from that angle. that is fine. past that. he made his "strike1/strike 3/out mechanic" and that caused everyone to run off. I agree that the people that talk about it are idiots I know that. but, earlier in the game when molina swung at a pitch in the dirt, he did not do his fisting mechanic until the catcher tagged molina, therefore he was not consistant with it. I know there is a lot of grey area here, and not there shouldnt be any replay in baseball, that is bush league. but he sounded like a complete douche when he tried to explain himself, he crapped the bed and that is it. who cares.. move on!
Garrett, I don't care how much they are your "roll dawgs". If you ever, EVER even remotely attempt to side with the view point of the Angels again I will kick your ass. It doesn't matter what the right call was. The important thing is that the right team lost. Oh yeah, and ask my boy Mikey SoCal how his team's "anti-moneyball approach" is working out. The Angels are the Mariners with a pitching staff. Their hitting BELOOOOOOOWS me!!! That is all
i do think you are right about that, the g. he should have a mechanic for strike three that looks different than his out mechanic. i bet he'll change that now.
I agree. he will change it now. Cody, I am siding with you. I am just saying he made a mistake of not making it clear enough and his mechanics are all the same. that is all. that was the problem. Josh should have tagged him anyway.. bish, chug my root. I am not siding with the halos, yes I said that to piss you off, I am siding with the right call or thing that needs to be done. and who ever says there needs to be replay can play with it!
Can I play with it anyway?
you're right about the mechanics. he needs to make it more clear. i guess my post is more of a response to all of the assinine overreactions to the situation that i heard. you know what they say, for every overreaction, there is an equal and opposite reoverreaction. it's just newtonian physics.
how much you wanna bet garrett was in the office the morning after "the call" and was talking it up how much the angels got robbed and how pissed he was.
its ok g, i know you have to pretend at work... its just a really funny mental image.
and if harold reynolds says it wasnt the umps fault, it wasnt the umps fault.
That's God Damn right!!!!!
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