touching a catcher's back
 

"Whoever told umpires that touching the catcher was a good thing?" - SanDiegoSteve

i know this has come up several times, but how would this be a bad thing? im not starting up a poll on whether or not you do it

ive seen several MLB umpires do this. ive seen several MiLB umpires do this. ive seen several college umpires do this, and ive had hands on my back as i caught at that level. ive seen several high school umpires do this, and ive also had hands on my back at that level. prior to that, i dont remember.

i dont personally do it, but what about it would actually be bad? i know the answers, im just looking for others' prospectives.

There was a big discussion about this subject on another website, and the majority of former catchers said they did not like the umpires putting their hands on their backs. One even said it always "creeped him out" to have the umpire always touching him. I am only going by what these catchers said. I have never done it, except when I've had a "dodger" who kept letting me get hit. Then I grabbed his CP strap and used him as a human shield.

From a former catcher, it's bad.

What other sport does an official touch a participant?

boxing....

And UFC....

Hockey.


Well, after the eighteenth blow that is.


Oh, and never, ever take your umpire lessons by watching those guys on TV. Jezz, if all my students came in next week looking like Joe West I'd flunk 'em all.

"We're looking for ninety degrees kid, not growing roots!"

Have someone stand behind you during an entire game, and touch your back. Make sure it is someone you don't know, and (most likely) don't like.

See if you like it ?

I never agreed with umpires putting their hands on F2. I try to break rookies to our association of this habit because I have been told by many F2's that they really don't like this.

Now I've heard everything from "I use it to figure out where I set up." to "I want to make sure where the catcher is going." You should be able to tell where you set up without touching F2. I usually tell my students that if you need to reach out and touch F2 to set up, it's time to get a seeing eye dog! As far as "knowing where the catcher is going" just step back and keep your eye on F2. He usually moves to the right but by dropping back that step, you can adjust for any move that F2 makes.

That's a sport ? :eek:

Why would you say otherwise? Just as much a sport as boxing, and unlike pro wrestling, it's real.

I've never put my hand on the catcher, and I've never understood why umpires do it. Jeepers, he's right in front of you - you don't have to touch him to know when he moves or shifts.
Oops - I DO occasionally touch a catcher - if he's done a good job and we haven't "exchanged words" during the game, in the last inning I'll slap him on the shoulder and say, "You've done a nice job today". I figure they don't hear it enough, and everyone deserves a compliment now and then.

JJ

UFC--not a sport
Boxing--not a sport
Wrestling--not a sport
Poker--not a sport

and the big one:

NASCAR is not a sport

Boxing not a sport? Uh, yes it is. If it weren't, it would not be a Summer Olympic sport.

Poker, pro wrestling, not sports...I agree. No athleticism required to play cards, and pro wrestling has a fixed outcome, and includes a great deal of acting, which disqualifies it from "sport" status.

NASCAR, and other auto or motorcycle racing, while not traditional sports, require a high degree of athleticism. They all take tremendous physical training and talent, and the outcome of the event is not pre-determined. If racing were not a sport, they would not carry it on ESPN, or Wide World Of Sports, for that matter.

Ultimate Fighting requires so much athleticism that only the most physically fit can participate. It is very much a sport. Try it sometime if you don't believe that it is.

A ball or puck is not required to qualify as a sport.

The whole discussion about what is and what isn't a sport is interesting.

Lawn bowling for instance was part of Commonwealth Games for many, many years.(Not sure if it still is.) Have you seen some of those lawn bowlers? Granted it takes skill, but athleticism???

How about darts or billiards(pool)?? Again a great deal of skill but wouldn't really call them sports.

As well, things such as lumberjack competitions, caber tossing, or even some construction jobs. All of these require a great deal of atheticism but are these really sports???

Hockey. Linesman touch players all the time.

Boxing is a contest, not a sport.

NASCAR, does require a high degree of athleticism, endurance, physical training, etc, however, it is not a sport. i did not say it was not difficult and physically demanding, just not a sport.

UFC is a contest that most certainly does require its participants to be in prime physical shape, it isn't however a sport, and not only have I tried it, but my job requires me to do it almost daily, however, I do it with a gun and my opponents are bad guys.

...but is touching a catcher's back a sport? :eek:

Equestrian events, ice skating, poker, lumberjack events, skateboarding, fishing, hunting, ballroom dancing, bowling, darts, motocross, drag racing, billiards, world's strongest man, paintball, horse racing, cheerleading.....all on ESPN, all entertaining (to someone).....none of them are sports.

I'm glad you have an opinion. Please respect the rights of others to have their own, ocifer.

And . . .
 

" . . . all on ESPN, all entertaining (to someone).....none of them are sports."


. . . that is precisely why ESPN stands for:

Entertainment & Sports Programming Network.

Even ESPN couldn't define "sport" because of discussion just like this one.

Regards,

I merely gave my opinion, and pleaded my case, I don't remember disrespecting anyone's rights or inferring anyone's differing opinion is less valid or not as important as mine. I thought we were engaged in discussion and debate, my apologies if I have shown you disrespect.

I dunno - according to one source, a sport is any "activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."

Doesn't rule much out... :(

You have not shown any disrespect, and I do appreciate where your opinion is coming from. There are many activities that you named which are not sports, but in my opinion, you listed a few that actually qualify as sports.

Your beating up on bad guys for a living is not a sport, but I think if you got to do it in a ring, with a crowd, and a referee, it would be at least "sport," if not a sport.:)

Tex, where is the line, when is it a sport rather than a contest, What makes Baseball a sport but boxing a contest??

I guess the line is in my own head. What i said was 85% in jest, I guess I just wanted to stir things up now that it is the off-season. It is good to know that I can get SDS riled up if I need to. (SDS-I was trying to put a bee in your bonnet, in fun, not like PWL does.) I think this is where I should put a smiley, but I don't know how to do that.

Brian, my perspective on this comes from a slightly different angle than what I've read here. I wouldn't want to give some paranoid parent a reason to tell the AD that I was touching his child. This is a weird society we live in, and unfortunately a lot of it is warranted. So to me, the touching of a catcher's back on every pitch is taboo at the HS level, but probably not so much at the Collegiate level, and definitely accepted at the pro level.

Couple this with it's inconsistent with what we've learned in terms of a locking mechanism. My words, for what they're worth.

Careful about NASCAR. You're speaking to the biggest NASCAR fan ever :) Alot of the reason why people don't think something is a sport is because they know very little about it, and its requirements for success. Its more than just left hand turns and gas pedals.

Stepping off soapbox.

Don't touch catcher's backs.

Reminds me of one.....what has twenty legs and twenty teeth?


Ten NASCAR fans.

2nd most watched SPORT in America, Garth... :) Funny joke, but not really true - most of the typical NASCAR fans you'd think of are disgraced by what it has become and don't watch anymore.

And only 13 of its 36 races are in the states that you think of as being "redneck".

Its everywhere, even New England. Did you know they run at Las Vegas, close to LA, Phoenix, Kansas City, Chicago, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire?

Also, lower series races have been run internationally.

This next year a Columbian driver will be running the whole schedule as well; its expanding internationally.

Anyhoo... I'm now done defending NASCAR to YA'LL :D

Yeah, yeah, yeah and soccer is the number one international sport.

It means about as much.

don't worry, Nascar, horse racing, turtle racing, cock fighting ... all qualify as sport from the definition we have been given.

Not sure I understand? Soccer is the number one sport internationally, no?

Explain?

No one said all sports were equal. Take drinking beer and watching machines run in circles, for example. 'Bout as exciting as curling.

I think it is number one internationally, but it has never caught on quite as huge here in the U.S. as it has in other countries.

I believe that's what I said. And what I attempted to imply is that means about as much as any growth of NASCAR.

i dont really see what you are implying, number 1 game in the world seems like a pretty important thing - i guess i'm missing something! i guess you are inferring that it doesnt matter because its not big in the US, but I think it still does matter. America isn't the only country in the world that matters.

my perspective on this:

If it doesn't have defense, it's not a sport. Everything else is a competitive hobby.

The following have defense:

Chess

Battleship®

Risk®

Are they sports?:confused:

NASCAR has teams, strenuous competition, year-round dedication, sponsors, fans, national presence, thrill of victory and agony of defeat. Under what possible definition could it be considered not a sport? That you are not a fan don't count. That part I know because I would rather watch the grass grow than a soccer event, but it's still a major sport, loved my millions, as is auto racing. Anyone who thinks NASCAR doesn't have defense hasn't been watching close enough.

I guess for me it's the cars. But I don't really care whether it's a sport, and in any case the issue doesn't have much to do with officiating or umpiring.

Being a Western Canadian, taking a shot at curling is fighting words!!! :D

However, if you think curling isn't a sport, perhaps you should give it a try and find out how hard it really is. Not the easiest thing in the world to do and you'll discover sore muscles you didn't think existed. It really does require altheticism and a great deal of skill and intelligence.

As for soccer, I've had a running arguement with a co-worker for years as to the number 1 sport in the world. He's a huge USA fan and he insists that regardless of the popularity in the rest of the world, if a sport isn't popular in America then by definition it can't be the most popular in the world. He insists that the other countries are simply uneducated with respect to the sports played in America. (football, baseball, basketball and of course the number one sport HOCKEY!!!) :D

Nascar = Wwf

Hehehe,
 

Soccer is a great "Third World Sport" . . . as all you need is something to pass as a ball . . . the pitch can be a city street, a field or worse yet a mine field . . .

Any type car race simply has the ultimate penalty for error . . . if AROD makes his seventh error of the week we see "E5" on the scoreboard . . . When Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Arton Senna, Jimmy Clark, Peter Revson, or Fireball Roberts made their "error" the penalty was ultimate.

The good old USA has its own "Third World Sport" . . . HOOPS, all you need is a ball and a play ground.

I think by nature "sport" is hard to define because beauty is, as we know, "in the eye . . . " you know the rest . . .

I have same argument constantly about art: is my work art (abstract expressionist), is "jazz fusion" music, and is "American Idol" entertainment?

Hot stove leagues once were about the passion of sport . . . now we don't even know how to define "sport".

Regards,

See you have some knowledge on the subject T. Good to see somebody knows that more people have died than just Dale Sr. Unfortunatly that's what it took to get NASCAR safe.

I will say this though, some of the guys you mentioned died in fluke deals where the machine was to blame, not the car. If you want more details PM me, Irwin's is by far the wierdest.

Did you mean "not the driver?" Just trying to make the sentence jibe.

yes, SDS I did.

Adam Petty died when his throttle hung wide open going into a corner. Machine failed.

Kenny Irwin died when a piece of metal from the engine actually broke, came through the cockpit, and sliced him in half. He didn't even die of a wreck. That is freakish.

Thanks for the correction :)

From Dictionary.com: sport  /spɔrt, spoʊrt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[spawrt, spohrt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.


From the Oxford English dictionary: sport

• noun 1 an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.


Given that, how is boxing, UFC, etc not a sport? Just because you don't think it is?

Thank you! That's what we needed, a dictionary! Great job.

Your never going to get everyone to agree on what a sport is. Hell, some people think mud wrestling and poker are sports.

I think we each have our own opinion on what constitutes a sport.

In my humble opinion I would only allow sports into the Olympics that have no judges. Say goodbye to figure skating, gymnastics, boxing(unless they go until a knockout or TKO), diving, style points in sky jumping, "artistic" snowboarding events, etc.

Having said that though, I would also get rid of the 2-man luge. Any activity where one guy is lying on another and moving together as one is something I don't want to see. :)

So by that rationale, if I go into my backyard and my son and I try to throw dirt clods into a bucket, it is officially a sport?

I gotta go and contact the IOC and lobby to have dirt-clod tossing in the Beijing games, I am pretty good at it, and I can do our country proud.

If you and I go together, and decide that we should compete on who hits the pole more, it would be a sport!

Some people think making idiotic posts on the internet is good sport.

Takes all kinds.

How about going down to the city dump at night and see who could kill the most rats with a 22 caliber pistol? Bring your own pistol and flashlight or you couldn't play. Damn, I miss those days...