[JRutledge]

Originally posted by CYO Butch

Frankly, I don't see how an official who works with any regularity at all could change his/her behavior for a particular game or situation. Don't all of you work very hard to make all your calls instinctive and automatic? If you had to think through each all as you make it, wouldn't it slow you down tremendously and be very obvious you were struggling? Unlike boxing or ice skating, where the officials' judgments are not displayed until after the fact, sports like baseball and basketball require instantaneous and demonstrable decisions by the officials. Does anyone think they could actually switch their decision making mechanism back and forth between automatic and biased and not have it obvious to everyone?

I completely agree. I work too hard to get in position to be there just for that one moment and most of the time it does not happen. Usually the close play is made on autopilot. Even when you start thinking that "this is my brother or friend," you make a delayed call or not a very good one. Baseball is all about timing when making a call. Too much thinking can drastically affect that timing.

Peace