I have wrestled with this call too much during the past 2 days & nights. The discussion on this board helped a lot. I'm starting to draw the following conclusion:
According to the NFHS rule book, I believe that the call was "technically" correct. He didn't move. He seemed to be prepared for the impact. It nailed him squarely on his upper arm or shoulder. No doubt about that. But he also didn't do anything to try to get hit (and he probably could not have avoided getting hit, even if he had dove (dived?) head first into the dirt). What has caused me so much consternation is that I directly affected the outcome of what had been a great game up to that point. Two good rival teams in a very well-played game. 2-1 game... deciding moment... bases loaded, the meat of their order batting, 2 outs, late in the game. In such a situation, maybe this is the kind of borderline call that should be ignored unless it's blatant. It's not one of those calls that always has to be made (like a close play at a base, or a close pitch... You have no choice but to make those calls.)
I don't know. That's they way I'm leaning. I'm interested in your views. Should the game situation ever affect borderline calls such as this one? In football & basketball, it appears (to me) that there are certain non-critical calls (especially infractions that didn't affect the outcome of the play) are sometimes ignored in certain game situations. Is this true? Is it appropriate?
|