[greymule]

Unfortunately, this stuff happens all too often today in men's SP. I've seen similar idiocy many times. And they eject players, and the league hands out suspensions, but these consequences don't seem to inhibit the hotheads when something sets them off the next time.

And you never know what will light their fuse. Explosions such as these often happen suddenly—in the midst of what had been uneventful games. A recent example from a tournament: the batting team is way ahead in the 5th inning of a rather quiet game. The ump calls a borderline-flat 2-0 pitch a strike. Instead of asking about the pitch or somehow quietly showing his displeasure with the call, the batter blows up and starts screaming about this is ASA, not USSSA. The ump, a 25-year SP vet, tosses the guy. So the guy sits in the stands and cries about ASA, not USSSA, until the ump makes him leave the park.

This is all over a 2-0 pitch in a blowout.

I suspect that part of the problem these days is that many players hit the bars before the games. There were plenty of hotheads when I played (retired 1985), and I admit that I saw some bad incidents. But the beer came after the games. Maybe today it's drugs, too.