When did they change the balk rule?

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by HokieUmp

Anyway, I just disagree with UMP25 about what led to EJ, because I don't think I would have done it the same way.

And I can respect that statement, because I'm not saying one should take a specific course of action. As I said earlier, the point of this whole thread was NOT to recommend a course of action when trying to figure out when to eject a head coach; rather, it was to laugh here, in this officials' forum, over what I (and many of my peers) found to be a humorous contention by said head coach.

Now, Hokie, an umpire faced with a coach who's screaming, "You can't call a balk in a big game like this," or "You can't call a balk in this situation," or similar statements is left with a variety of options on how to respond--if at all.

If I ignore said coach, Kevin would probably claim I was being smug and indignant. If I would've replied inquisitively, "Then when can I call a balk, Joe (not the coach's real name)?" or "Why not, Joe?" or something similar, Kevin would have scolded me still, claiming that I was baiting the coach.

I never intended to bait the coach; I merely wanted HIM to tell ME when, based on his claims, I COULD call a balk. There was no reason for him to swear at me and make it personal; I would not have ejected him had he said the call was brutal, or that it stunk, or that I call too many balks, etc.

I just happened to be the umpire who, in less than two weeks time, had on his schedule teams that had run up losing streaks, which, as most of us know, tend to cause head coaches to get closer to that breaking point. In fact, the head coach whom I ejected a couple weeks ago, was rumored to "have lost it," "gone off his rocker," "facing mutiny from his players," "went nuts,"--all comments that his fellow head coaches in the area had said about him. But I digress.