Interesting poll on ESPN

[David B]

Just happened to see that 43% said that officiating baseball was the most difficult. (compared to other sports) Thought that was interesting. I know baseball is difficult but since I also call basketball, it is much more difficult to me since its so fast and so many decisions on the fly.

Just wondering what some of you officials thought of that if you call more than one sport ..

Thanks
David

[mbyron]

I officiate 4 sports:

Volleyball requires a little judgment.
Football requires a little judgment and a little exercise.
Baseball requires a lot of judgment and a little exercise.
Basketball requires a lot of judgment and a lot of exercise.

For me, basketball is the most challenging of the sports I officiate.

[TwoBits]

Agree basketball is definitely the most difficult. In baseball, a large majority of the time you know a play in which a decision that needs to be made is coming, and you can prepare yourself for it. In basketball, you rarely have that luxury.

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I officiate 4 sports:

Volleyball requires a little judgment.
Football requires a little judgment and a little exercise.
Baseball requires a lot of judgment and a little exercise.
Basketball requires a lot of judgment and a lot of exercise.

For me, basketball is the most challenging of the sports I officiate.

+1

I'll agree with this line of thinking.

[jicecone]

I officiated Ice Hockey for over 20 years, (not anymore) and it is probably somewhat like basketball, but a lot faster. I have to go with that over baseball though.

Almost all the time in baseball you can anticipate where the play is going to be and get into position to observe it and make the call.

In ice hockey you always work to be in the best position to observe the maximum amount of playing surface and individuals. Many times one official just wasn't enough, thus the 4-man system presently being used became the one to go with. With every stride you have a different angle, which is probably like basketball.

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by jicecone

I officiated Ice Hockey for over 20 years, (not anymore) and it is probably somewhat like basketball, but a lot faster.

And on ice. Until last March, I'd never been ice skating before. Hockey's always been my second-favorite sport, and I always respected the players for how tough I'd heard ice skating was. But, after I stepped on the ice and did it for about 90 minutes, my respect grew even more.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by yawetag

And on ice. Until last March, I'd never been ice skating before. Hockey's always been my second-favorite sport, and I always respected the players for how tough I'd heard ice skating was. But, after I stepped on the ice and did it for about 90 minutes, my respect grew even more.

I was asked to officiate hockey this past winter. But I skate like a ... well, let's just say I'm not fast enough.

[MrUmpire]

I have officiated football at the high school level, basketball at the high school and lower college levels and baseball at the high school, college and lower professional levels.

When comparing the three sports from an officiating stand point, I consider the width and breadth of the rule knowledge required, mechanics, variety of situations possible, the number of rulings that need to be made in a game, and the critical level of judgement.

Baseball comes out as the most demanding.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I officiate 4 sports:

Baseball requires a lot of judgment and a little exercise.

It only requires a LITTLE exercise if you're not doing it correctly.

JJ

[SanDiegoSteve]

I have done football, baseball, and basketball. Baseball was always my favorite of the three to play growing up, coming in second only to golf.

The main reason I find baseball to be the most challenging is probably the fact that other than the silly NFHS restriction to the bench rule, a baseball umpire has only the ejection as his disposal for handing out justice. I never had any problem banging a coach with a technical followed by another,, or throwing back-to-back flags for unsportsmanlike conduct. The fact that in most baseball games, the only option is ejection, and it makes game management more challenging, to me at least. Besides, all that running on the flanks was for the birds, so I worked umpire whenever possible, and I didn't last long enough to ever be a white hat.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by JJ

It only requires a LITTLE exercise if you're not doing it correctly.

JJ

I hear ya. But it's more than volleyball and less than basketball, so maybe that narrows down what I meant by "a little."

[David B]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I hear ya. But it's more than volleyball and less than basketball, so maybe that narrows down what I meant by "a little."

LOL, the hardest thing physically about baseball (at least where is live) is dealing with the heat in the summer and dealing with the subfreezing temperature in the spring (during HS season)

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by David B

LOL, the hardest thing physically about baseball (at least where is live) is dealing with the heat in the summer and dealing with the subfreezing temperature in the spring (during HS season)

Pretty much.

Peace

[Tim C]

I have worked both basketball and baseball @ the "major college" level.

I think being a very, very good base umpire (in 2 and 3 umpire crews) is the single hardest thing to in officiating.

Being an average base umpire may be the easiest thing in officiating.

For basketball I always felt the uptempo speed of the game lowered stress as some times many things happen between something controversial and the next dead ball.

I also am a rules official in golf. Pretty large playing field and golfers seem to have the least knowledge of the rules they play under.

I think, strongest of all, it is VERY hard to be a REAL GOOD official in any sport.


T

[JRutledge]

I just got through working as a clinician at a Basketball Camp where AAU was being played with mostly 16 year olds that can play above the rim and are the "next" thing in the game all weekend long including this morning. There is no comparison to working a basketball game to any other sport I work. So many decisions to make and there is no mechanism to really make the calls for you. You have to tell everyone most of the time that you have a call to make unlike baseball for example. And to make calls consistently you have to get in position and not have the position fixed for you. I also think Football is harder than baseball as well when most of what we have to do is make calls while moving and even when the ball is completely dead, we still have a lot of work to do. I know some want to say that calling a pitch in baseball is the hardest thing in sports, but with all due respect anyone can be trained to stand there and make a call. I have a really hard time telling a newer or inexperienced basketball and football officials to get in position and then tell them how to make a call.

Peace