I Guess I Deserved it, or Maybe Not.....

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

I can understand poor officiating. It happens. We have to use people some times that just aren't very good. I can also understand good officials missing a call or even mis-interpreting a rule. I can't understand any circumstance that would condone any sports official publicly crapping all over another sports official on what was basically a judgment call.

JR, please explain how misinterpreting a rule is basically a judgment call. The pitcher was in the windup position, stepped back with his free foot, then threw to a fielder to tag Tim's son for an out. That isn't a judgment call, it is a rule misinterpretation by the umpire.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

JR, please explain how misinterpreting a rule is basically a judgment call. The pitcher was in the windup position, stepped back with his free foot, then threw to a fielder to tag Tim's son for an out. That isn't a judgment call, it is a rule misinterpretation by the umpire.

Cool. I now know something that I didn't know before, not being an umpire. That makes it a good day.

But, that still doesn't change my opinion, Steve. Mis-interpreting a rule...hell, completely blowing a call.....is not justification for an umpire to sit in the stands and publicly dump on a fellow umpire. Umpires, the same as all sports officials, range from excellent to horrible. And even the excellent ones might miss or screw-up a call. Publicly criticizing a fellow umpire for one bad call effectively turns that umpire into the world's worst umpire, forever, by anyone in the stands that might hear that public criticism. What you're going to hear from the other fanboys is "Even his fellow umpires think that he's terrible".

Officials in all sports are held to different standards than fans or coaches. We're the only ones that don't care who wins or loses.

Again, jmo......

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Cool. I now know something that I didn't know before, not being an umpire. That makes it a good day.

But, that still doesn't change my opinion, Steve. Mis-interpreting a rule...hell, completely blowing a call.....is not justification for an umpire to sit in the stands and publicly dump on a fellow umpire. Umpires, the same as all sports officials, range from excellent to horrible. And even the excellent ones might miss or screw-up a call. Publicly criticizing a fellow umpire for one bad call effectively turns that umpire into the world's worst umpire, forever, by anyone in the stands that might hear that public criticism. What you're going to hear from the other fanboys is "Even his fellow umpires think that he's terrible".

Officials in all sports are held to different standards than fans or coaches. We're the only ones that don't care who wins or loses.

Again, jmo......

I agree that there was no justification for Tim to open his mouth against a fellow umpire. The whole point is that Tim knows he was wrong, and brought it out on this forum, opening himself up for a shellacking. I am only commending his courage for admitting his mistake and sharing it with us.

It was also wrong of the so-called umpire to confront Tim prior to the game, which I was also pointing out.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I agree that there was no justification for Tim to open his mouth against a fellow umpire. The whole point is that Tim knows he was wrong, and brought it out on this forum, opening himself up for a shellacking. I am only commending his courage for admitting his mistake and sharing it with us.

It was also wrong of the so-called umpire to confront Tim prior to the game, which I was also pointing out.

Sounds like we're both kind of in agreement now......

The "no justification" point was exactly the point that I was trying to make.

[rpumpire]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

JR, please explain how misinterpreting a rule is basically a judgment call. The pitcher was in the windup position, stepped back with his free foot, then threw to a fielder to tag Tim's son for an out. That isn't a judgment call, it is a rule misinterpretation by the umpire.

The rules say if a player is tagged before reaching the base, he is out. If an umpire calls him safe, he has not misinterpreted the rule, he has blown a judgment call.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by rpumpire

The rules say if a player is tagged before reaching the base, he is out. If an umpire calls him safe, he has not misinterpreted the rule, he has blown a judgment call.

The rules say that if the pitcher steps off the rubber with the wrong foot it's a balk, and that is the rule interpretation that this umpire misinterpreted. The safe or out was irrelevant, as the play should never have happened. Tim was not objecting to the out call, just the non-balk call.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

The rules say that if the pitcher steps off the rubber with the wrong foot it's a balk, and that is the rule interpretation that this umpire misinterpreted. The safe or out was irrelevant, as the play should never have happened. Tim was not objecting to the out call, just the non-balk call.

That may be true, but there's nothing in the OP that clarifies it (when asked (or if asked) did the umpire say, "I saw him step back with the free foot, but that's not a balk" or did he say "I didn't see him step back with the free foot". The first is a rules issue, the second is a judgment issue.)

In any event, it has nothing to do with Tim's (calrified) point and I think it's time we moved on.