Quote:
Originally posted by IRISHMAFIA
There use to be a language rule in Richmond, VA. Don't know if they still use it, odds are they do. The rule is that if a player cusses, the other team gets a free out.
My team is batting against a team from NYC. With two outs and a couple of runners on, one of our guys hits a line drive just out of the pitcher's reach. The pitcher comes down and ever so silently utters, "Jesus, God" to himself. The umpire heard Jesus and determined that comment was taking the name of the Lord in vain (sp) and removed an out from her indicator.
Forget the fact that we went on to score a load more runs that inning, but you now had someone imposing their religious feelings on someone from a completely different culture.
Though we benefitted from the call, we sided with the other team when they argued the point. It is just out right wrong.
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First, as I said above, such rules have a place in JO ball, and as local rules. I have no position on adult ball.
Second, your story has a lot in common with the poor umpire judgment "cost us the game" stories on eteamz, except your team won ("both coaches agreed it was a bad call..." yadda, yadda...) Because some umpire somewhere applied the rule with poor judgment does not, per se, indict the rule.
Third, any team playing in an out-of-state tournament that does not know the local rules has only themselves to blame.
And, please, enough with the "imposing religion" references. It was pure and simple a judgment call on what constituted an violation of the profanity rule. You may think the judgment was poor. So may I. But, in the end, it was just simply umpire judgment.