Dumb Athletic Directors.

[MikeStrybel]

Andrew,
There is a fine line between what you perceive as sarcasm and the reality of antagonism. Some of you seem to think that the AD has no right to ask anything of the official. Apparently, their association code allows him/her to do so. Some of you think that the AD is trying to intimidate or bait the official. Having been in enough heated discussions on baseball fields in my life, the ADs question is hardly controversial. "Mr. AD, your player was ejected because he used profanity in a manner that wasn't considered minor in nature. You can find that violation of the rules and penalty in 3-3-1 of our rule book." End of story.

I have read your posts and know you to be a knowledgeable umpire. How many times have you had a coach confront you on a FPSR? Could you defend it? How many times have you had a coach claim that the runner should be out because the ball beat him by four steps? I'm sure you handled that well. Being baited is something many umpires learn to confront without causing more drama. Mark handled it as he saw fit. Not knowing Mark or the AD, I still believe that he could have answered the question as above and soothed the wound. The AD would have no retort.

Enjoy your weekend. Looks like rain is on the way here.