Quote:
Originally posted by GarthB
A coach with integrity could achieve the same results without being manipulative or devious. There is a room for honesty in baseball. I'm sorry, but I will reject forever the Rat approach.
I had a fantastic coach at a game tonight. Honest in his communications with me, fair with his players and opponents and genuinely interested in what was good for "the game." No mind games. No devious manipulation, no need to second guess his intent. All questions were open, blunt and honest. This type of coach does exist, just apparerently not in this thread. [/B]
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Garth, did you make a HUGE misapplication of any rules?
Hell, it's
easy to be straight forward with competent and professional people. You're an excellent umpire! There's no need to deal with you in any other way. If you were a buffoon - I can assure you things would be different.
For all you know - you HAVE been manipulated by this coach. You are now all enamored with him and, undoubtedly, will give him considerable leeway in your next encounter. I'm not suggesting you've necessarily been duped - but you should know that
is a technique used by many coaches. This is especially true when the game goes smoothly with no controversy.
Many of you who are participating in this thread need to re-read the excellent series by Peter Osborne:
Manipulating the Umpire.
Needless to say, this series created quite a stir amongst a select group of the officiating.com membership. In my opinion, that's because it was so painfully TRUE.
* * *
Garth, when you award R2
two bases on a pitched ball that lodges underneath the backstop, scoring a run, in a close game, while this great coach's team is out on the field ... THEN you can tell me a story about how calm, honest, and straightforward he is ... UNTIL then, you don't know. You never know who the "heroes" are until there is "combat".
By the way, Garth, I don't see acting perplexed in order to open a dialogue with the umpire any different than when you tell your wife that her new hair style looks "Great!" when, in fact, you
hate it.
There's no yelling or screaming. Nobody gets hurt. There is no "bad example" being foisted upon the youth as you've suggested because the dynamics of what is going on is WAY beyond them. You're giving these kids too much credit for perception. The
adults don't even get it.
People play roles in life. Often we play roles in order to keep the greater peace - like when you tell your wife that the dress she's wearing
doesn't make her look fat. Or when your boss asks you what you think of his new car, of which he's very proud, and you say that it looks "Sharp!" when, in fact, you can't
stand it. You're simply finding a way to be nice without creating conflict -
to your advantage.
So what is it you expect a coach to do when an umpire has completely blown a call that cannot be immediately protested (because it's a judgment call) but you are well aware of how he has misapplied a rule to come to this poor judgment?
Without jumping up and down and screaming, like most coaches, I approach him calmly and ask, "What happened?" Yes - I'm playing a role. The predicament that is about to occur for this umpire is of his OWN making. HE made the bad call and HE is the one that is about to seal his fate by discussing with me something that he has no obligation to discuss.
You can characterize it as evil deceit all you want but I would suggest that you are being a Pollyanna about this. As I've explained to you countless times - I don't hassle umpires, even when their strike zone is horrible and inconsistent ... even when they call one of my runners out when he clearly beat the throw by a step ... or even when he says my outfielder trapped the ball when he clearly caught it. Those are pointless arguments - and I know it. True, I don't like it. But I don't say a word. I don't even call time and ask to discuss it. And that's because I
am an umpire and I realize the futility of it all. I don't think I can say the same about many other coaches. So, in
that regard, being both a coach and umpire is a breath of fresh air for many umpires ... right up to the point where he grossly misapplies a rule to my team's severe detriment. And then my job is to be a
coach, not a member of the fraternal order of umpires, and lobby to have the injustice rectified. And sometimes that involves playing a role to facilitate the objective.
In your own inimitable brand of naiveté - I realize you find all this very distasteful.
David Emerling
Memphis, TN
[Edited by David Emerling on Mar 23rd, 2005 at 03:20 PM]