Quote:
Originally posted by PeteBooth
Let's take this "hot dog" issue for a minute. In our day, this would be a non issue because the next time this player came up to bat guess where the pitch would be. Today if you do this holy h**l would break loose and that IMO is the BIG difference bewteen Yesterday and Today.
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I disagree with you, Pete.
When teams "send messages" to such hot dogs they can't do so in situations where the ultimate message sent may hurt themselves moreso than their opponents. That is, you can't always send that message in close, big games. These teams have worked hard to get where they are, and the game is more important than retaliation for some nimrod act an opponent displays. I don't know if there have been situations where messages could have been sent without doing more damage to yourself. Additionally, I don't know if it was done "in our day" at this age level. I think the entire concept is one picked up at a later age.
While the issues that have occurred at the LLWS do not represent good sportsmanship, I've seen nothing that I would have ejected anyone for
without warning as a result of the action. Several incidents certainly would have drawn warnings from me if I was umpiring. The incidents I saw were in separate games, likely with different crews. Without a league directive to the contrary, crews shouldn't go onto the field with a chip on their shoulder to eject without warning because an incident occurred in a previous game.
It's a shame, however, that an administrator has to address the issue rather than the games umpires.
I doubt if any responsible adult condones that type of sportsmanship.
Just my opinion,
Freix