Line in the sand

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

As I stated earlier this month in a basketball thread, civility in society (as well as sportsmanship) has been declining over the last fifteen years, and to condone behavior of the batter as described in the original post, is shear nonsense. The batter's conduct cannot be rationalized in anyway possible.

I am truly amazed at the general tenor of this thread. Even the law realizes that one size does not fit all. (Switching perhaps from the shoe to a hat metaphor.)

One person kills another. In Texas the range of penalty is from two years to death. Similarly, whatever anyone claims to believe, no good umpire can use a rigid game control philosophy and trust it to handle every situation.

And it is the umpire's duty to enforce the rules of the organization that hires him and ensure that no team gains an advantage not intended by the rules. It is not our job to promote our definition of civility.