Reason 10,001 I can't stand NCAA Officials/Umpires/Refs. Umpire ejects Louisville pitcher and suspends him for 4 games for saying "That's horrible."

Submitted by JamieH on June 3rd, 2019 at 10:44 AM

Yeah, the pitcher was being a bit snippy and maybe the ump should have warned him to shut up and just pitch.  But to eject him for this in an NCAA playoff game?  When the ejection carries an automatic 4-game suspension?  IMO the umpire is a power-hungry dick.  And there are way too many of those types in officiating in general.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2019-ncaa-college-baseball-tournament-louisville-closer-controversially-ejected-with-two-outs-in-ninth-inning/

 

Hold This L

June 3rd, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^

I don’t m ow what system is in place to hold these unpaid accountable. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can elaborate. But this is awful.

That’s just an ump who was in a bad mood taking it out on a player for pretty much no reason. “That’s horrible” doesn’t warrant any punishment whatsoever. 

mGrowOld

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^

Anybody so thin-skinned to eject a player for saying "that's horrible" needs to be a different profession than umpiring.  

Like today he need to switch careers and he's unwilling to do so the NCAA should help him make that decision by not giving him any more games to umpire.

cletus318

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^

You should think about it a little more. If an ejection carries an automatic 4-game suspension (which is super idiotic in and of itself), umpires should far more judicious about ejections. If you're going to take away four postseason games, it should be for far more than getting your feelings hurt over two words.

Double-D

June 4th, 2019 at 1:19 AM ^

There needs to be more accountability with Refs/Umps.   Especially in the revenue sports.   The money is clearly there.  

Increase the training.   Increase accountability.   Do background checks to include financial and fan bias.  Allow schools the opportunity to blackball one crew a season from their games.  

And pay the hell out of them for the extra work incentive for excellence.  The money is certainly there for it. 

swoosh

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^

I have been a ref for soccer for a long time now.  I have red carded players for reasons not worthy of a red card a few times, mainly because I was having a bad day, it happens.

 

I'll say being a ref or official is a tough job in today's sport.  Best line I have heard was this"

"Being a ref is one of the few jobs you have to be perfect at and get better"

Never understood that until I started reffing.  Is it fair sometimes, no it's not and I am guilty myself of taking my day out on a player.

 

Anyone willing to give ref/umping a try?

EastCoast Esq.

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^

How about using technology to referee?

I don't know how well it would work in soccer, where there are a lot of judgment calls, but it would certainly work in baseball. If a ball is in a certain area, it's a strike. If it's not, it's a ball. If a base-runner reaches a bag before the baseball meets the first baseman's glove, he's safe. Otherwise, he's out.

Give me accuracy over tradition every day.

 

We already do it for racing sports (Phelps once won a gold medal by a fraction of a second on a last moment half-stroke and the only reason it wasn't controversial was because the pads at the end of the pool recorded the exact moment when he touched). Why not do it in other instances where calls are black and white?

redjugador24

June 3rd, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^

Instant replay/technology has butchered the game flow and without improving the accuracy of calls in football - some of that is because of the dumb rules attached to the use of technology.  It may work great in swimming or other racing sports because there is a static finish line you can attach a sensor to, but that doesn't work or isn't realistic in many applications.  Calling balls and strikes is one example.... unless you're suggesting a move to a static strike zone with "x" and "y" dimensions, that never change depending on the height of the batter. Either way, sounds dumb to me, and not just because of "tradition."  It's perfectly ok to rely on judgment calls, and to get them wrong occasionally.  It's called humanity.

My suggestion would be to use technology to grade the umps, show them their mistakes afterwards, and incentivize them to get it right on the field.  

gremlin3

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:34 PM ^

So, you're argument is, "No one else will do it, so it's okay for me to be unbiased and effect outcomes unfairly?"

Be better than that or stop ruining it.  If you can't be fair and not take things personally, we're better off without those games.  May the best team/man win.  That's sports.  If we can't provide that, then get rid of them.

EDIT: Look, I get that it's a thankless job and refs are human beings, too.  And I also get that people who haven't/won't do it don't understand and thus are criticizing from a position of ignorance.  However, you have to agree it was wrong for the ump to do this and when you do it, it's wrong, and you have to strive to take that out of sports.

outsidethebox

June 3rd, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^

Sir, you need to concentrate on your day job and kiss that little ego trip you are on goodbye. I have played, coached and officiated aplenty in  my 66 years. Officials who feel a need to act in this manner and demonstrate the attitude you are trending are officials who do not know the game well enough, have not competed well and/or do not understand or appreciate the athletic endeavor. 

bronxblue

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^

And yet, if this player is having a bad day and says, I don't know, that the umpire made a bad call that was horrible, he gets booted and sits out a tournament.  

I get that refs think they are somehow on a higher moral ground because they enforce "rules", but they aren't and stuff like "I'm having a bad day, so watch out" isn't a justification.  

Arb lover

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^

My experience is that most players don't lose their shit unless the call was so bad there was no excuse to make it, or more likely the ref knew instantly that it was the wrong call but made no effort to clarify or change it.

Be a man next time and own it. I say nevermind or change my directive at work when appropriate even though it makes me look a little iffy, so you can too. 

The inability to let others think you might be wrong is what made a big mess at state, an astronomical mess. Let's teach the children by our examples.

JamieH

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^

IMO this is a BS attitude.  Take your personal crap and shelve it.  I coach little kids soccer, and I coach even on "bad days".  I don't take it out on the kids or on the refs who are basically just trying to keep the ball on the field half of the time.

I realize there may be exceptions to that, like death in the family or something horrible like that that throws you off for a bit.  Or I don't mind a ref telling a player "I'm having a crap day--so don't push me."  But outside of that, do your job and keep the personal crap out of it. 

I was a fill-in umpire for pony-league baseball and girls softball when I was in high school and I will freely admit that I f'ed up several calls and wasn't a great ump.  But I never made a call on anyone because I was in a bad mood or didn't like them. 

Everyone knows the score with umpiring/reffing.  It's hard and you get yelled at a lot.  So, if you don't want those things, don't do it! 

andidklein

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^

Seems like umpires/officials have been more and more willing to insert themselves into the storylines of games. The best officials are the ones you don't notice, the shitty ones (Laz Diaz, Chad Fairchild and Brian Gorman) should not be umpiring little league games let alone MLB games.

ldevon1

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^

I don't know man. If you know anything about baseball, and umpires, it's you can't argue balls and strikes, and that call wasn't horrible. It looked inside, and he looked directly at the ump and said that's horrible. The 4 game suspension is probably a bit much, but that pitcher should have been thrown out. We don't know what preceded that, or if the bench had been on the ump prior to that, but you can't do that as a pitcher. At every level, you'll get ejected for that. 

umchicago

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:19 AM ^

you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.  it's pretty common knowledge that you can have a heated comment about a call.  like "that is a @#$#@# call!"  usually get away with that if it is short and you move on.  but if you go on and on and/or say "YOU are $#@##$#!".  you will get tossed.

"That is horrible" will not get you tossed out of little league unless it is done several times.

CRISPed in the DIAG

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^

Yes horrible. Especially the suspension. And baseball umpires seem to be more sensitive than officials in other sports, for whatever reason. MLB had to break their union in 2002 or 2003 in order to get any kind of leverage on the strikezone, FFS.

But it's basically an UNWRITTEN RULE [ducks] that players and managers don't argue balls and strikes in the middle of an at-bat. 

Sione For Prez

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^

Arguing balls and strikes is a surefire way to get tossed. But that's pretty much always after warnings or being over the top multiple times. These are high stakes games and if that umpire can't take a kid saying "that's horrible" one time* he should find another profession.

*I didn't watch the game live so I don't know the context of the rest of the inning or game to know if that kid did anything else previously to piss him off.

umchicago

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^

one of the primary reasons of "don't argue balls and strikes" is to prevent players and managers from confronting the umpire 10-15 times a game.  can you imagine if they didn't have that rule?  "chirping" about balls and strikes is common practice as long as it doesn't get out of hand and you don't "show up" the umpire.  this kid did almost nothing to show up the umpire and he certainly did not delay the game.

ldevon1

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^

We aren't talking court room. If you tell someone the call they made is horrible, that's an argument against his call. If he is walking off the field after the inning and says, I thought you missed one, and gets throw out that's different. Yelling at an ump that his call was horrible, is definitely showing him up. 

 

 

theintegral

June 3rd, 2019 at 12:14 PM ^

Incorrect.

The actual rules says " Rule 9.02(a) Comment: Players leaving their position in the field or on base, or managers or coaches leaving the bench or coaches box, to argue on BALLS AND STRIKES will not be permitted. They should be warned if they start for the plate to protest the call. If they continue, they will be ejected from the game."

Showing up the umpire or using "language" is cause.

andidklein

June 3rd, 2019 at 1:03 PM ^

I was at a game where you can clearly hear Verlander say, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" after the ump didn't give him the strike he wanted called (the ump was squeezing him all game long). Nothing happened. That's what should have happened in this case.

Cromulent

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:51 PM ^

You don't know anything about baseball. Unless the pitcher has been warned about his behavior that isn't remotely a good ejection. Umpiring isn't just about the rules. A good umpire with good social skills knows how to defuse a situation. The right move there is to tell the catcher to go calm his pitcher down and remind him of an ejection's consequences.

Please, don't ever think of volunteering to ref/umpire.

L'Carpetron Do…

June 3rd, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^

I got an unsportsmanlike penalty for saying "that's an absolutely horrible call" after getting called for a soft slash (this was club lacrosse in like 2003). It didn't come with an added suspension but I did end up getting benched the rest of the game. Wish I had said something worse and at least got my money's worth. Live and die by the whims of the refs I guess.