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Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
Your question makes no sense, since it's not a question.
Who else, but the media, asks questions of the umpire crew after the game?
How else do we hear about issues involving professional officials - the media!?!
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Windy, other sports do not allow their officials to speak to the media, no matter what. If anyone comments at all, it is the "Supervisor of Officials" of the NFL or NBA might release a statement to the media. But "calling" officials do not give interviews or even crew chiefs do not give interviews to the media about plays. In some cases if a league or conference knows a mistake has been made, they report the action in a press release. They do not give access to their officials to comment. And in some cases they have been suspended for talking to the media. One of the best examples of this was when Ted Valentine talked to Referee Magazine over the "Bobby Knight" incident. Valentine was suspended for one season.
Quote:
Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
As was stated here (very recently), MLB is making their umpires more accountable. We have had over a two dozen umpires explain controversial calls to the media this year. In a major market it gets great play - with the Cubs alone, we have had Brinkman, Bucknor, Rapuano and West explain their controversial plays and kicked calls from this year. How could it be "a no no" when you see it on TV almost every week?
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Well if it is happening on TV every week, I surely do not see it. I have also have tuned out most baseball games, so I can honestly say I have been paying attention. I just know that it is not allowed in the other sports or levels that are on TV.
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Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
Times have indeed changed - I think that was brought up here recently, too! Officials are being scrutinized more and held accountable. This is all in an effort to get the call right.
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What does giving an interview have to do with "getting it right?" My statement has to do with the interview with the media, not the scrutiny that officials find themselves in. Every since SportCenter and 24 hour News and sports channels have been around, of course there is going to be scrutiny. That has been going on for at least the last 25 years.
Quote:
Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
As his comment alluded, he will have to get in a better position to make the call. Hell, we teach rookies to set up third base extended. He just got caught with his pants down and is trying to show MLB that he knows that something needs to be done in order to get the call right. (Was that ever discussed here? That might make a good topic, someday.)
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That is all great, but why is he talking to the media about that. Should MLB be evaluating his performance and suggesting what he needs to do next time? That is what other leagues do. They do not go talk to the media about their calls and things they need to work on.
I am not posting this to discuss an issue with you. I just found it odd that MLB makes it acceptable for one of their umpires to discuss plays and situations. In an association that I belong to, there was an official that worked a game that was on national TV. There were two plays in the game that were made that the crew chief admitted that the crew messed up. They did not give an interview or a release a statement from the media. The crew chief (fellow association member) talked to the association about the play and not the media. He explained that he did not want us to go to the public about what he stated in that media. He also told us that media from all over the country tried to get interviews from him by calling his job. His secretary was answering more calls about this game than the reason people normally called for. I just found it interesting that still to this day that if something took place with this official or any official that worked the league would get fined or suspended and that MLB allows their umpires to speak freely to the media about plays. They even suspended Ozzie Guillian(sp?) for commenting on an Umpire's ejection report and I never heard the Umpire comment or give an interview about the situation or Ozzie's comments.
Peace