Umpires
Monday, October 12, 2009 20:33
We see it in sports all the time: an NFL coach reminding a back judge his star defensive end is being held during the pass rush; an NHL player lobbying for the interference call the rule book clearly defines–and the linesman seemingly doesn’t believe in–the star NBA forward pleading for a foul even casual NBA fans can see, as the clueless ref shrugs the infraction off like inconvenient dandruff.
In all these instances, the player or coach will sometimes gesticulate wildly, loudly object and/or remind his target to keep his next eye appointment because he sure as hell forgot the last one. Sometimes an NFL ref listens politely and nods as a coach vents in his ear. If the objection becomes too intense, a football official will throw a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct flag; a hockey linesman might put an offending team member in the penalty box, and an NBA ref can call a technical foul.
This game-long interplay between athletes and officials has a “political” dynamic, as well. When some officials realize they blew a call, a phenomenon known as the “make-up call” can rear its ugly head. The ensuing questionable pass interference, holding, charging, or roughing call–you know, just to even things out–becomes part of the game. Athletes won’t own up to it, but they expect those always denied make-up calls.
Striped shirts generally tolerate defiant behavior by players and coaches–up to the point of blatant or personal disrespect and have embraced the notion people involved in athletic competition are mostly passionate, emotional, and confident in their pursuits. Most referees understand you must give talented, intense people room to have their say.
And, maybe they won’t admit it, but athletes understand officials are human and good teams overcome any obstacle fate throws at them–even bad calls.
The mitigating factor in much of the conflict described above has been the acceptance of replay as a tool to reverse obviously incorrect or unjust calls.
The technology has aided officials in professional basketball, hockey, and football.
However, very little of the above applies to baseball–or the men who umpire the games.
Who the hell do these guys think they are?
I caught the tail end of the Yankees/Twins play-off game just in time to catch the announcers recapping the terrible job umpires have been doing beginning with that Twins/Tigers play-off, and in almost every series since then.
Then came the play that proved the point. In the 11th inning at the new Yankee Stadium, the Twins’ Joe Mauer hit a slicing fly ball that clanged off the glove of Melky Cabrera and was called foul by umpire Phil Cuzzi.
The ball hit Cabrera’s glove in fair territory then landed about 16 inches inside the foul line. It wasn’t even close.
It dawned on me… Why do we need umpires? Their overblown view of their own necessity to the game smacks of arrogance sprouting from insecurity. “Don’t say f**k in my presence!” “Don’t question my judgment.”
Among the major professional sports, baseball is the only sport where pinpoint visual and electronic technology could render obviously bad calls like Cuzzi’s a painful remembrance of things past.
Umpires, as we know them, would become obsolete.
Think about it; the tempo of the average baseball game barely exceeds that of your run-of-the-mill spelling bee.
We have the technology.
Put a microscopic tracer chip in the bases, home plate, each ball and every player’s mitt. Wire the foul poles, the white lines and the top of the home-run fences. The strike zone can be electronically configured for a game in any stadium–a consistent, inarguable “box” the television audience and the crowd can see.
Umpires would still be employed in case the technology fails. They would still have to call out runners on the bases but could be overturned in the case of a clearly incorrect call.
In fact, MLB could utilize the technology without telling anyone. Each man in blue would be outfitted in a CIA style earpiece and could communicate with a fellow ump in the press box.
Then we could watch umpires argue with themselves instead of being subjected to the ridiculous theater-starring, veiny-necked managers cussing at ego-driven blind men who actually work on their “ejection mechanics” as they move up the ranks to the majors.
Oh yeah, you’re real important, pal.
Nate Barlow
says:
October 13th, 2009 at 3:44 am
So many bad calls this weekend! Cuzzi was the worst, but there was also Kevin Youkilis's tag when he was pulled off the bag. No doubt about it, the tag was made–you can see Youk's hand being pushed away by the baserunner's body. But the runner was called safe.
Bad calls not just in baseball… in the Patriots-Broncos game, one of New England's players was penalized for taunting. Whether it was a legitimate taunting call or not–it looked like an energetic fist pump that had the misfortune of being near the Bronco player, the Pats player did not look to be seeking his opponent out–is debatable. But the replay showed the ref throwing the flag before he even did anything!
Maybe the ref initially intended the flag for something else, realized it was a bad call, and decided to make it for taunting instead. But own up to it! Say there were two flags on the play, but that there was no pass interference and there was taunting. Pathetic.
Gairzo
says:
October 13th, 2009 at 4:07 am
That referee had his hand on his hanky before the Patriot player said word one. How do you make that call? That penalty was designed for players who stood over fallen opponents screaming. Bogus. Did you see that call Big Ben got? Same thing as Brady last week, only the flag was thrown immediately. How could the Detroit player possibly stop his momentum?
And just tonight, we had a Miami player OBVIOUSLY trying to gain traction to launch himself into Sanchez legs. It happened just after Gruden got done telling us how they would call it EVERYTIME. No flag was thrown.
But these are judgement calls. We don't know what the player may have said or what the refs may have seen or heard out of frame. That, I can accept…
But Cuzzi's call, the Youklis tag, the phantom hit by pitch that cost Detroit…these are calls today's technology can determine beyond any doubt. The visual evidence is 100% clear. There can be no argument as to what the viewer sees.
How can baseball not want that?
Nate Barlow
says:
October 13th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Tons of bad calls. As you said, the Steelers game, the Dolphins game… the taunting stood out to me because I believe its the first time I've seen a ref think he has ESP to make a call before it happened. That's a new one.
I think now that baseball has allowed some limited form of instant replay in, there will be more technology used. It's that first crack that let's the floodgates open. I don't think it'll ever be as extreme as you suggest, and I'm okay with that–balls & strikes, for example, I think will remain within the umpire's control. Similar to what you said about the NFL, those are judgment calls. The strike zone is a variable size, at least in the vertical direction. But the Cuzzi call was blatantly wrong in a way that just does not need to happen anymore.
Of course, many are asking, would he have blown that call if it had been a Yankee batter? I like to think the umps are impartial, but when something is so egregiously off as that call was, one really has to wonder. Either the umpire is beyond terrible and should not be in charge of a major–heck, minor–league game, or is something else at play?
fragnoli
says:
October 13th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Wasn't it baseball that rolled out the Questech system to grade umpires calling of the strikezone? Why can't they implement that as a standard for calling balls and strikes without an umpire? Interesting argument.
And yes, the ref had his hand pulling the flag before the infraction. It was a blatant miscall, but because it isn't disputable, the Patriots had to deal with it.
Nate Barlow
says:
October 13th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Umps and refs need to be made responsible for blowing calls. Make it critical for themselves to be right and they will be a much greater percentage of the time.
Gairzo
says:
October 14th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Agreed,
How do you accomplish that objective?
Nate Barlow
says:
October 14th, 2009 at 3:05 am
Heavy fines. Firings. Union will make a stink about it, but considering the wide range of things players can be fined for, why not umps/refs? It speaks to the integrity of the games.
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[...] Greet BoxConsidering how Deep Into Sports has recently been criticizing the plague of poor calls by umpires during the 2009 Major League Baseball playoffs (both in comments and in Gairzo’s article, [...]