clap, clap, clap, clap,clapping clapping some more, more clapping, standing up and clapping, whistle here, clapping.

You have a prejudice and a defamatory name or reference ready at all times, don't you?

I have a vastly more thorough knowledge of this game and how it works than you allow for.

Nothing I posted is intended to be in reference to your vast and thorough knowledge of this game.

Many of those with superior knowledge of the game are fans.

And you have a defamatory name for them ready at all times.

I haven't really felt like a fan for a long time, but I have had plenty work that involved watching games, and I think there's room for the viewpoint of anyone who loves the game and has something worthwhile to contribute. They shouldn't be dismissed with such swiftness.

Fan is different from fanboy. Not all fans are fanboys. Fanboys blame the officiating every chance they get. Fanboys say "that wasn't even close" when they see the freeze frame of the third replay angle right after the first two replay angles showed that it was too close to tell.

Fanboys and fans in general do have something worthwhile to contribute but that something is not comments about officiating.

And the person you are addressing is certainly not a fanboy. He is, OTOH, a long-time baseball person who has worked in many capacities of the game. If he tells you that something is a certain way, he can be relied upon for this information. He has now been on the officiating end of things for around 10 years now, and is very qualified to speak of officiating as well.

I was merely pointing out that he is not to be confused with your run-of-the-mill "fanboy."

One of the biggest myths in all of officiating is this notion that officials are affected by the crowd. It is even crazier to think this happens in baseball of all sports. Yes, the umpire wants to be there an hour longer because the crowd might get upset. Yeah right.

Peace

You know, what you say is thoroughly and completely true!

I often wonder if the spectators knew that they are utterly insignificant to any seasoned umpire, would they even say some of that crap? I actually like hearing most of it, because I find it amusing when someone is screaming in public about something in which they are not even a factor.

And there is complete and total evidence to the contrary that umpires/officials could not care what the crowd thinks. But this myth keeps being repeated over and over and over again in all kinds of sports. And it is more absurd in baseball because the claim is that an umpire would not call a strike against a home team player simply because they want to not hear the crowd. Well that walk the umpire just called for this reason not just added more time to the game. This is one of the dumbest things I hear and it is based on nothing more than people's own fears of being an official.

Peace

It's fear blended with a serious dose of inability. It's like not being able to relate to the level of devotion and brilliance of a symphony conductor, so common critics or observers dismiss him as "temperamental" or "eccentric" or "pretentious," and wait eagerly for him to make a single mistake.

And I will assert that a symphony conductor couldn't care less what a common critic thinks of his work.