Umpire’s Bad Call

San Diego fans are not too happy with the outcome of their last game after a referee blew a call. Many fans have emailed the referee about it and some have sent hate mail. I was vey disturbed to hear that this is going on. Anyone that into football knows this guy’s name and reputation and should give the guy a break.  He didn’t want to make a bad call. Once it was made, there were no league rules to allow him to undo it.

This man is now emailing responses back to each and every person who has emailed him. He had taken responsibility for it and feels badly about it. I hope that he is strong enough not to take all the fan backlash personally. I am reminded what effect a mistake made on Bill Buckner of the Red Sox. Let’s not heap the whole world on one guy.

There are bigger things to be concerned about than this. If you have nothing better to do than blast this guy, you may want to take a look at your life. Have you never made a mistake? If you feel the need to respond to the bad call in some way, be proactive about getting a rules change made.

7 questions I have about the game of baseball

1. Why does the pitcher sometimes not want to pitch what the catcher calls for?

2. What do the first/third base coach and the runner talk about when they are in earshot of the opposing fielder?

3. What is ‘pitching from the stretch’?

4. Why are the best players bunched together at the top of the order and not spread throughout the lineup?

5. Why do players need to run back to the base to tag up before running to the next base?

6. Who decides the pitcher’s mechanics (sidearm, overhead, submarine) – the pitcher, the coaches, the manager?

7. What are those necklaces some pitchers wear made of?

More to come…

7 Reasons the NFL Network Announcers Stink

1. It was like being at a bar or walking in a mall with 2 or 3 guys behind you talking endlessly about the 2 teams. No play-by-play, only color. Sure, they were filled with facts and opinions about the teams and the players, but most of their discussion was suitable for a pre-game show, not the actual event.

2. Announcers rarely talked about what was happening on the field as it was happening. I couldn’t cheer for Wes Welker’s run because I didn’t know who had the ball at the time.

3. Announcers never told us a play was under review. They came back from commercial and still no one was playing but the announcers didn’t explain why. The announcers didn’t look at a replay of the play that was being reviewed nor did they even discuss it at the time of the review. Only when the umpire made his announcement did I know what was going on.

4. Announcers talked over the umpire’s announcement/explanation of a call, barring me from knowing what was going on.

5. I missed the plays because I had to figure out where the graphic was that told me the down/yardage (again, the announcers weren’t telling me).

6. Huddle Cam. I know what a huddle is and that camera was never in on one and only showed a huddle from that camera once in the time I watched. It’s really an on-the-field camera, and nothing more. It was no ‘treat,’ as one of the announcers said it would be.

7. “Is that what I’m seeing? Is that what I’m seeing?” – a quote from one of the announcers. He should be telling ME what I’M seeing! And, as I recall, nothing exciting was happening. That was the capper for me. I turned the TV off shortly before 9pm so I could listen to the radio.