Ted Barrett admits error?

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue


Your heading for your initial response tipped all of us that you are not an expert on MLB, you didnÂ’t need to tell us.[/B]

I never claimed to be a MLB expert.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue

You should watch those shows once in a while. Not because, you wouldn’t make a comment as inane as “I just found it odd that MLB was allowing umires to give interviews.”[/B]

Why, so I could fall asleep?

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue

Instead, you wonÂ’t make the same mistakes and maybe youÂ’ll get past the first round of high school baseball playoffs in Illinois.[/B]

I did not realize that was a major goal. I guess we all need goals.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue

Oh, I had little doubt that you would not feel comfortable with officials being accountable to the world.[/B]

You are right. I want to be accountable to the media, then the people that understand the mechanics and the umpiring process.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue

So, yes, we will agree to disagree. I believe that we are headed in the right direction. Letting officials hide behind bogus calls is wrong for the game, recruiting of new officials and just bad PR. [/B]

I did not realize that having every game on TV was hiding. I guess the USC-VT game on Saturday had little scrutiny because the officials did not give an interview about an OPI call. You know, there were not any evaluations from the assignors or NCAA evaluators because they did not stand up in a press room and answer questions about a critical call.

Windy, did you come here to have a discussion of the issue or did you come here to try to get into another pissing match? Go back to your organization and claim you are the best umpire to them. I think the rest of us do not care.

Peace

[Been Dare]

I can't stand Buttsludge. There are countless umpires and lurkers of this board (and others) who can't stand his stupid a$$, either. Yet, we're still entertained by his propencity to continually show how stupid he is. What does it matter? He's free to spout his idiotic ramblings here and on other sites. Those that fall for it.......well there's one born every minute.
Is this a great country, or what?

[Bob Lyle]

Originally posted by Been Dare
I can't stand Buttsludge. There are countless umpires and lurkers of this board (and others) who can't stand his stupid a$$, either. Yet, we're still entertained by his propencity to continually show how stupid he is. What does it matter? He's free to spout his idiotic ramblings here and on other sites. Those that fall for it.......well there's one born every minute.
Is this a great country, or what?

I mostly lurk on the football board and a little bit of basketball. Rutledge is everywhere spouting the same outlandish junk.

[cowbyfan1]

The are plenty of people here that spout a ton of crap. Some seem to love to twist thing others say to try to get an ego boost or to try and bring down the person they do not care for.

I have had disagreements over mechanics, rules, calls etc with different officials. I don't have the need to resort to name calling.

There is no official that calls thing 100% correct. There is no such thing as the perfect game by an official. Some places use different mechanics or signals or whatever. Respect what is being said. You may disagree with it, but atleast respect it. We should all be here to learn, but unfortunetly some people SEEM to think they have nothing left to learn.

Last time I checked, one of the things to being a good, respected official is honor and integrity. Childish name calling does not lend to those traits that all official should have.

[cowbyfan1]

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
Times have indeed changed - I think that was brought up here recently, too! Officials are being scrutinized more and held accountable. This is all in an effort to get the call right.

As his comment alluded, he will have to get in a better position to make the call. Hell, we teach rookies to set up third base extended. He just got caught with his pants down and is trying to show MLB that he knows that something needs to be done in order to get the call right.

I agree that most times 3B extended is preferable place to be. The way this play went I think Ted just had it blow up a bit in his face and did not get a good look at the hand touching the plate, not due to angle so much (though 3B extended or point of the plate would have helped some) but due to how close he was.

I have been taught to give yourself some distance. Get back to the edge of the dirt over even just off the dirt to give yourself an better view of the play. That is were I would fault him more than being 1B extended. While he was not dead on top of the play, being another foot or 18 inches back would probably have prevented it. I think he was close enough that all he could do was see if the tag was made and because of the timing of it all, did not get a good look of the hand touching the plate. Thus the kick.

I also have more respect for Ted for admitting the mistake. It takes a real man to admit when he is wrong.

(Was that ever discussed here? That might make a good topic, someday.)

I only hope this is not in reference to that mile long spoute fest (mostly of personnal attacks and not informative discussions) about another official overturning (in this case Ted's) a call. Barring instant replay, there is next to no chance of this being "overturned" The play happened at home and, more than likely, no other official would have had a good enough view to "overturn" the call. Maybe 1B would have. 3B and 2b would have probably been blocked off by the catcher to see anything. Am I saying that there is not a 100% chance of that getting "corrected"? No, but the other officials would have had to have a perfect view of it and the plate official would have had to ask if his partner(s) saw anything different. Very few PU's would have gone to ask that question.

[Been Dare]

If you respect the words of an idiot, then that says a whole lot more about you, than it does about me (or others), who calls a spade, a spade.
I happen to fall in the in the group who feel that respect needs to be earned, and your boy, Rut, hasn't earned it. Quite the contrary, actually, at least in my opinion. Of course, you're free to continue to seek his counsel, if you feel it's going to make you a better official.

[WindyCityBlue]

Have you ever kicked a call...I mean a really bad call, that you could probably make in your sleep? The coach comes out and says, "Are you blind? That was the worst call I've seen this year. You'd better go back to T-Ball and get some practice." or some variant. What just happened? You made a horrible mistake and someone called you on it. You were a bonehead and a couple of names were thrown your way. You are supposed to be thick skinned, but it stings, because you know you can't argue with the guy...HE WAS RIGHT. So you eat it.

This is not Rut's M.O. He jumps into conversations and throws out ridiculous statements all of the time. he can't support them and when he gets challenged he starts twisting and turning from the original topic and what got him into trouble.

Acoountability is what it is about these days. Make your call...if it's wrong and you can make it right with the help of your crew, do it. If not, have the balls to admit that you kicked it. We are not privy to a lot of the face to face stuff. But I bet you a dollar to a donut that you've had guys say stuff like, "Skipp, if I had to do it all over again, I might have called it differently. We talked and none of my partners had a better look. You know we're trying like hell out here."

Rut is of the school that you can have an opinion about anything and don't need experience, facts or figures to support them. The battle that I wage with him is confused with "Big Dog vs. Lil' Dog". When I was young, I learned that you don't nip the heels of the Big Dog unless you want to get bitten. He apparently didn't.