Quote:
Originally posted by Bfair
On item 2, correcting misinterpretations of rules, does UIC have final authority and should UIC step in UNREQUESTED if he feels BU has misinterpreted a rule, award/penalty, etc??
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Bfair,
UIC usually does have "final authority" on the diamond, and it comes from OBR 9.04(c).
Should UIC step in "UNREQUESTED" is a much more difficult question to answer. It depends.
1. If, as the Moose says, there is a protest notified, then you don't need to wait for your partner to invite you to discuss this. The coach has just done that for him. You are required to get together and sort out what should have been called. You can even hold up the game and pull out the rule book, find it in black and white and then make a final decision together. If after all that your partner STILL objects, and you are certain the case is crystal clear, you should use OBR 9.04(c) and make the call. The UIC is responsible to resolve any protest situations
on the diamond if possible.
2. If in the same circumstances as above using the rule book fails to produce a clear cut result, then you should let your partner's call stand and have the protest committee produce an interpretation. (If they do, remember to make notes for next time and advise your association).
3. In the absence of a protest or appeal, or any invitation from your partner to intervene, I certainly wouldn't "step in UNREQUESTED" unless I had a rule misapplication so obvious that there was simply
no other possibility. Even then I would simply draw my partner aside and tell him what I saw and what I thought the correct rule application was; nothing more. Remember, you are seeing it from YOUR perspective. UIC or not, nothing says that YOUR perspective is necessarily right on any given issue. Discuss it afterward if there is no appeal from a manager and you can't discuss it right away at your partner's invitation.
Bottom line is that we can't be so sure of ourselves as UIC that we think we have all the facts. I'm not going to even "
seek to reverse" or overrule my partner, much less actually do it. If I'm 100% certain he got it wrong on a rule application, then I'll tell him what I saw and what I think the correct rule application should be! That's all. It's up to HIM to take it from there. That's what the requirements of OBR 9.02(b) and (c) hold. Unless there is a protest situation, an appeal from a manager, or the misapplication is so patently obvious it requires I tell my partner what I saw, then I'll wait and discuss it afterward. A ball in the dirt on a tag would be obvious, but a rule misapplication is usually not. Remember also that OBR 9.02(b) is the precursor to OBR 9.02(c). They go hand in glove together.
If you DO decide to step in uninvited, on one of those VERY rare occasions when you believe you have to for the good of the game, be considerate of your partner in the way you do it and simply tell him what you saw. Then let HIM make any decision on rule application reversal, not you.
Cheers,
Warren Willson
[Edited by Warren Willson on Dec 6th, 2000 at 04:04 PM]