The "age" of diva umpires

[George Anderson]

Saying "precious" stats does not make your case endearing to me whatsoever. Especially coming from a guy referencing "digs" a few posts back.

I wasnt talking to you.

[kaldaniels]

I wasnt talking to you.

Statistical influence was a topic I had brought up and you responded to in the past few hours. Then to see you typing that remark...

[George Anderson]

First, where did I ever mention stats?

Second, your definition of "everyone" seems a little bit off. The players, Managers and umpires aren't everyone. They are the people being paid to put on an event. "Everyone" would include a much larger group than that and actually those who you define as "everyone" should have the least say of anyone IMO.

If the league or the commissioner sanctions such an arrangement, then go for it. Until then, call it by the rule book. My entire point is that it shouldn't be up to the umpire to make that decsion. The fact that the umps think it is just points to the whole Diva attitude that we're talking about here.

Finally, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm always talking about major league baseball games. When I'm talking about how umps should behave, whether replay should be used, or whether computers call balls and strikes I'm talking about major league ball games. I don't really care how games are officiated at the high school level. Flip a coin for every decision for all I care.

I hate dragging this thing out but why do you even care?

If it is September 25th and the Reds are 25 games out are you even watching them or even caring enough if an umpire has a little bigger zone than the norm? I know I am likely not watching them, I probally an more tuned in to the NFL or if I am watching them if the zone is say a little wider on the corners, as long as the umpire is consistent why would I care??? Are you going to jump up and down and demand your money back because the zone is just a tad bit bigger than the norm? My point is no one cares except a handful of diehard fans still watching their team glued to the TV watching the Questec with an agenda that either their team is getting screwed or all umpires are evil divas.

[757690]

True Story...Saturday I had a Varsity game with a school with a pretty strong program. They were playing a team that I figured they would likely beat. In the first inning the team I knew was good was up 11-0 and they were still batting. Now to this time I had called a pretty straight strike zone. I planned on eventually opening up the zone if the shellacking continued but this early in the game I wasn't going to do it. I was out of baseballs so one of the coaches for the team that was up came out and handed me the balls. He also looked at me and said "Will you please open it up?" So I did as I was requested and pretty much anything the catcher didn't have to dive for or didn't hit the dirt was called a strike and no one but no one complained .

Of course the manager that was up wanted to end the game quickly, he was winning. I highly doubt that the losing manager or any of the batters on the losing team wanted a bigger strike zone, they were still hoping for a comeback.

That's why you don't see that happen at the major league level. It's never over till it's over, and there have been countless huge comebacks in MLB history. I would imagine that an MLB ump caught expanding the zone because a winning manager requested it, would be fired on the spot for such a breach of his duties.

[Boss-Hog]

I should have done what my instincts told me to do several days ago, so it's now done. This thread is awful of example of the quality, civil discussion this site has always sought.