My thoughts are that I agree with you for the most part. It is good to twist and turn after a kicked call, because it makes you a better umpire. But I can honestly not remember seeing a guy wiping the entire width of the plate and not waving him safe. Blown tag plays ... yes. I have had them, and improved after each one. Blown bangers ... yes. I'm good, but not that good. Everybody misses those too. And like you said, if you're doing it right, you improve after each one, and it takes longer before another one.

But that may be as bad a display as a major leaguer can have.

A quote I heard long ago .....

"NOOB: How do you develop good judgement?

VET: Experience.

NOOB: Well, how do you get experience?

VET: Poor judgement!"

Very, very good!

This is just like learning an instrument.

NOOB: How do you learn how to spell 'judgment'?

VET: Post 'judgement' on an internet forum and some pr!ck will correct you.

gee thanks

:D

Judgement is a variation of the common spelling and considered widely acceptable.

But spell it that way in a MLA formatted term paper and it will be graded down.

Good point. None of us remember doing that.

No one intentionally makes a call like that. No one intentionally calls a pitch in the dirt a strike. But it's done. A lot. And those who do it honestly don't think they did. "I would never call a pitch in the dirt a strike" umpires have said to me during post games evals. What they should say is "I would never call a pitch that I SAW hit the dirt, a strike."

Not until I show them my video do they understand that they really did. And they are usually stunned. The issue then becomes, "why", and our conversatiion turns to mechanics and proper use of the eyes.

I have had the same experience with tag plays.

None of us can say with 100% certainty that we haven't committed a gross error in our umpiring. But since we can go home and not see replay after replay we can continue to believe what we saw and did was correct.

MLB and many MiLB and NCAA umpires don't have that luxury. By the time they get to their hotel any mistake has been on Sports Center and is being cued up for the 11:00 news. They have the wonderful opportunity to see their error, again and again and unlike amateurs, they can't deny making it.

Regardless of what we think about MLB umpire X or MLB umpire Y, the fact is that by training and experience, they all are among the best umpires in the world. And here we are claiming that they screw up more than we do.

Trust me, if we had cameras at every game, we'd be singing a different tune.

I'm not excusing pros who screw up, I am saying that amateurs who like to claim that they never make gross errors should add, "that I know of" to such claims.

I'm sure the umpire in the video clip can say the same thing.

The more important question is when was the last time a guy wiped the entire with of the plate and you didn't see it and called him out?

Uh, in my case, that would be: Never.

Fixed that for you.

If it's graded down, it's because the more customary spelling wasn't used, not because it violated MLA guidelines.

No, I've blown lots of calls, but not one like this. I know. I don't umpire in a fog. I know what calls I kick and which ones I don't. And then there are the ones I thought I got right but may have missed. But again, not one like this. Not that it won't happen, just that it hasn't.

Yes, not because of guidelines, because of professors insisting on proper spelling, such as judgment with only one "e."

When I was grading grad students' papers, I was not bothered by "judgement" written by anyone who spelled color, colour.

Remember, "judgement" is the preferred spelling in more English speaking countries than "judgment." The dropping of the first "e" was decided by one man.