OT-Different approaches between sports officials?
I was having this discussion earlier tonight with a friend of mine who umpires baseball, and thought it might be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on this. The discussion went like this...
I brought up the observation that when it comes to "disagreements" between coaches/players and officials, it seems (to me at least) that baseball umpires appear to be more confrontational than officials in other sports. Basketball officials try to defuse situations when they arise, whereas baseball officials seem more apt to become belligerent and argumentative. As officials, are we not supposed to be held to a higher standard and be the voice of reason? However, I don't mean to speak disparagingly of baseball umpires, they still do a heck of a job.
My friend swears that baseball umpires are not instructed to argue or anything of the sort, but I still can't help but notice the difference. I could be way off base here with this observation, but I'm still curious. What do you guys think?
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