Quote:
Originally posted by SMEngmann
Hey everyone, I'm a basketball referee who reads the basketball forum regularly and I'm also a HS baseball coach and I wanted to ask your opinion on the following: Yesterday, I was ejected from a game for the first time as a coach, and I felt that the ejection was unwarrented, here's the scenario:
I knew the BU from my days in HS where he worked in the athletic department and I played and sometimes he seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder toward me, other times he was fine. In the 3rd inning, I'm coaching 1st and the LHP makes a pickoff move without stepping toward 1st. I ask if his foot was on the rubber, and then ask for the rubber to be dusted off and I get I costic response effectively telling me to shut up which shocked me because I wasn't even questioning a call. Later on, with my team in the field, there is a play at 2nd in which the throw beats the runner by a good 10 feet and the tag is down, but my 2B lifts up the tag slightly to avoid being spiked and BU calls the runner safe. The other coach argued at the time, and between innings as BU was walking toward 1st, I let him know that I thought the call was horrible because of the injury risk to the 2nd baseman. BU brushed me off and effectively gave me the stop sign, and in doing so referred to me by my first name. I felt that I wasn't being treated with the respect to warrant being called by my first name and I felt that doing so BU created an atmosphere of excessive familiarity, so I asked him to refer to me as "coach" from now on rather than by my first name, and as soon as I said that, he threw me out of the game.
I wonder what, given my context, some baseball umpires think of this ejection. I used no profanity, nor did I ever make a personal comment toward him. If I was officiating basketball, I couldn't justify giving a T. I feel that it is within my right as a coach to demand a certain level of respect from umpires, and I also think that, especially within the context of a conflict, that both parties should avoid familiarity. What do you guys think? Sorry for the long post.
|
I stopped reading after you said you were the first base coach. Not really, but my answer didn't change after that.
If you are coaching first base, either you are a non-traditional head coach or are an assistant coach. If you are an assistant, your job (as Bob said) is to tell the runner to turn left. You have no role arguing with an umpire -- the only person we're going to discuss this with is the head coach.
I'm not a housekeeper. I don't brush pitchers mounds and I don't brush bases, although I may kick some dirt off while a runner is gathering himself after a slide.
On the tag at second base -- he can sidestep and leave the glove in there. Sorry, I don't buy the injury excuse. While I am a firm believer in the neighborhood play, if the fielder is pulling the glove up and being so sloppy he forces me to call the runner safe, I'll do just that.
So you ask the umpire to be a housekeeper, you tell him he made a horrible call, and you "demand" that he call you "coach." If you were the head coach I'd simply find you annoying, but as the assistant I'd run you too. But I would've definitely told you that you were on thin ice and reminded you of your assistant role when you commented on a call.
Basketball equivalent: How would you react if an assistant stood up and openly questioned your calls from the bench? How short would your leash be?
--Rich