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I think the umpires on the field, who had the best angle, made the correct call.
No, Merriweather, who was the RFU, made the call. He had a TERRIBLE angle. Bradley's body was between him and the ball and glove. He had no idea if Bradley dropped the ball, or pulled it out. But he had to make a call, it was his to make. He made the best call he could given what he saw and the circumstances.
Personally, I think he missed it, as do MANY other umpires on this board. But we have the benefit of slow motion replays from a number of angles, only one of which clearly showed what happened, and it was an angle not avaialable to any ump on the field.
I am NOT cricizing Merriweather. He did the best he could with the information he had. But given the additional information available to us after the fact, information that was NOT available to him at the time, SEEMS to show he might have been wrong. Shoot, even the MLB umps look at the replays later and say, "Yep, I missed that one."
The umpire off the field should never argue about another umpires decision unless asked by the umpire how made the call: see OBR Rule9.02 c.
If you meant that umpires on this board should not comment on judgment calls made by MLB umps, get real. 9.02c does NOT apply to fans (and that's what we are) sitting in the stands or watching on TV. Major League Baseball is entertainment. The players, AND the umpires, are entertainers. Obviously, their performance is subject to critique by the paying audience. Have you never gone to a movie and come out saying, "Gee, I didn't think that actor did a very good job in that role." Hey I love Dustin Hoffman, think he is a great actor, but good grief, did you see Ishtar? He stunk the place up! Even the best miss one sometimes.
I know is fun to talk about what another umpire did or did not due, but come on, he saw better than we ever will.
I don't know about what was "due", but we do talk about what they "do". And no, he did not see it better than we ever will. We had 6 camera angles worth of replays, shown in slow motion. We saw what happened FAR better than he did.
I work in the NFL. I am in the press box on Sundays. We have to make calls about who gets credit for various things, carries, tackles, fumbles, etc. We also have to indicate mistakes the refs make in spotting the ball, marking penalties, annoucements, etc., but we get to do it with the benefit of replays. These guys are the best football officials in the world, but they do make mistakes in the heat of the moment. Just two weeks ago, I sat with the crew in the locker room after the Falcons/Cardinals game, reviewing a call the ref made. When he saw it in slow motion on the replay from an angle different than the one he had on the field, he immediately changed his mind about what he called (QB hit, question of fumble versus forward pass. The reason the call was not reviewed DURING the game was because the defender took the ball out of the air anyway. It did not change the call on the field, but statistically, it made a difference between an interception and a fumble recovery). The ref changed his mind because of information that was available to the general public, but it was not available to him at the time.
That is thier job, not ours.
Absolutely, and that's why Merriweather's call was what counted, not what we think on this board. But it still doesn't mean he was right.
Hell I bet most where drinking a cold beer
At that time, no, but I wished I would have been!
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