-=> Alan Hess took a called strike three for saying to All <=- 
 AH> Richie "Loudmouth" Phillips had another press conference before the
 AH> game, in which he spouted his usual rhetoric about the integrity of the
 AH> umpires and the respect they deserve.  Then, Barnett and Garcia go out
 AH> and demonstrate exactly why the umpires have no integrity, and don't
 AH> deserve respect.  Fire them all! *adh*
You confuse split-second judgment with integrity. I think the two are far
removed from one another and screwing up at one does not imply anything
about the other. Split-second judgment leads to occasional errors with
absolutely no implication about integrity. Unless you are going to claim
that any mistake is evidence of lack of integrity, and that would be an
interesting statement for you to make.
Now, as far as the respect issue, that's entirely up to you, but it
almost sounds as if you are bringing up the spitting incident...which is
entirely unrelated. I don't care what bad call was made, you are free to
disagree and have no respect for the umpire, but your behavior still had
better be within certain standards.
You mention Richie Phillips. I do not like the man nor do I like the
methods he uses. One thing that he has pushed forward on behalf of the
umpires is that post-season (and All-Star game) assignments are not based
upon merit but rather are based upon a rotation system. In other words,
you get a postseason assignment because it is your turn, not because you
are one of the top umpires -- and this is in the contract with the
umpires association now. This is different than the NBA, NFL and NHL,
where post-season assignment go to the top officials only. And thus there
is no incentive for umpires to improve -- that plus the tenure issue that
you have mentioned in other posts. It would seem to me that if an umpire
knew he needed to be rated highly to advance, that would put additional
pressure on the umpire to DEFUSE situations, not inflame them. You would
get a much higher rating by staying out of trouble. Perhaps major league
baseball (when it has a true commissioner) will push this issue with the
umpires association. Incidentally, a few years ago, the Yankees lost a
postseason game because of a blown call, and Steinbrenner wanted to MLB
to change this policy. I wonder what George thinks of the latest blown
call?
... File not found. Should I fake it? (Y/N)
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