{"id":101,"date":"2010-04-11T15:07:21","date_gmt":"2010-04-11T20:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=101"},"modified":"2010-05-09T04:23:02","modified_gmt":"2010-05-09T09:23:02","slug":"the-umpires-opinions-is-news-worthy-now-by-daniel-dee-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/101","title":{"rendered":"The Umpire’s Opinions is News-Worthy Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"
April 11, 2010<\/div>\n

\"joewest\"<\/p>\n

Following a thrilling opening series between the Yankees<\/strong> and Red Sox<\/strong> earlier this week, umpire crew chief for the series, Joe West<\/a><\/strong>, blasted the two organizations for playing a little sluggishly, even making the suggestion that there perhaps is a positive correlation between ability and rate of play.\u00a0 While everyone realizes that this was simply a case of an elderly, grumpy, obese man not wanting to stand up for an extra hour given his strenuous 3-hour work days, what I don\u2019t understand is why anyone even cares.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be real.\u00a0 Is there any more easily replaceable job in the game?\u00a0 We are talking about an umpire here.<\/p>\n

This scenario harkens back to the 90\u2019s when umpires first began to deal with MLB\u2019s attempts to standardize the game\u2019s officiating.\u00a0 When Questec provided a realistic and reasonable measurement of an umpire\u2019s ability to accurately gauge balls and strikes, and slow-motion video replay allowed the same level of evaluation with outs and safes, the game began to look a little differently.\u00a0 The on-base revolution throughout the sport was only possible once umpires were forced to call a more standardized strike zone.\u00a0 Well, a lot of umpires got upset and quit.\u00a0 Even West <\/strong>helped organize a mass resignation in response to bargaining disputes with MLB late in the decade.<\/p>\n

I guess I just don\u2019t understand a Major League umpire\u2019s complaint about anything.\u00a0 I realize that umpires must pass examinations over the rules as well as practical examinations, but it\u2019s not like these tests are the MCAT, or even the GRE for that matter.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying I know every single word of the rulebook, but what I am saying is that absolutely everyone could if they really tried to.\u00a0 Furthermore, these guys get to watch the game from the best seat in the house: the field itself.\u00a0 Come on now.\u00a0 That is so sweet.\u00a0 Complaining about a 3 \u00bd -hr game?\u00a0 Every other fan there, and umpires are really just interactive fans, is ecstatic about just being at the field and watching a little more of the game\u2026especially when it\u2019s Yanks\/Sox in the first series of the season.\u00a0 I think there is a small country\u2019s worth of folks who would wait in line to do Joe West\u2019s<\/strong> job voluntarily.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 11, 2010 Following a thrilling opening series between the Yankees and Red Sox earlier this week, umpire crew chief for the series, Joe West, blasted the two organizations for playing a little sluggishly, even making the suggestion that there perhaps is a positive correlation between ability and rate of play.\u00a0 While everyone realizes that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,6,11,14],"tags":[185,187,84,186,91],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}