Last night in the first game of the 1998 World Series, the pitch before the game winning grand slam home run was not a called third strike. It wasn't called, but it was a third strike. All replays showed this. Right down the middle, not too low and certainly not high. It was apparent to me that the umpire didn't want to call a third strike in a tie game with the bases loaded in front of thousands of screaming New York fans. He didn't call it. Next pitch--boom. The Yankees win. Well, the game ended a couple innings later, but they'd already won.
Umpires have been under fire as of late, as they always are in post season play. There was a big article in Sports Illustrated that was a lot of bluster and not much content. The umpire's union is God, apparently, and the rest of us are at their mercy. Umpires privately say they don't like to work the post-season, the union says they do. Everyone says some umpires suck, but the union says all Major League umpires are fantastic. The most interesting thing to me was that, just for working the seven-game World Series, an umpire makes more than I do in a year. Maybe that says something about my job, and less about umpires.
The deal is this: officials are God. In all sports. This happens day in and day out in everything. A call is made and that's that. No appeal, no argument. Well, you can argue, but you can't win the argument--which makes it more of a shouting match than a real argument. Deep down, I think this is good. I know someone has to be there to say out or safe. Someone has to make the strike and ball calls. Otherwise it's like playing basketball on the playground when everyone pushes and shoves and some guy keeps yelling "that's a foul!" But nothing happens on the playground because there are no officials. In a real game, where real money is involved, we need rules and regulations--and we need the cops.
But we hate the cops. Especially if they're picking on us (or our team). Every football game I see, there are bad calls on both sides. Sometimes I wonder if the refs realize they make a call and try to make up for it later (either with a non-call or a questionable call for the other side). NBA refs are the same way. And so are the baseball umps.
They don't want to be the bad guys, but it is their job. They don't get to be chummy with all the athletes, because a few minutes later they might have to call a third strike on that guy. Or whether a home run was interfered with by fans. Or a fourth ball. Or if a throw was interfered with by the runner.
Their calls make up part of the game. The fact that the calls are made by fellow human beings should make everyone feel better. But it doesn't. There's a good reason why.
Television.
Suddenly, because we can see everything, we all think we're experts. Televised sports have gotten really good at having a shot of almost every play that occurs. Especially at the end of a season. There's only a few (or one) game being played and at least 20 cameras is necessary to broadcast these bad boys. Every shot is the money shot. You've got the regular behind-the-pitcher shot, behind-the-catcher, the catcher cam (attached to the catcher mask), the celebrity cam (usually spotting actors on shows from the same network first and then those elusive celebrities who weren't paid to be there), all the bases are covered, along with play cameras that watch the ball, or where the ball might go, or what the left fielder is doing while the rest of the team is playing the game.
So we at home can watch from every angle and decide (long after a call was made) whether or not an umpire screwed up. And they do screw up. But we can't blame them, they're only human.
Regardless of how much all of these mega-athletes and umpires and coaches and everyone gets paid, they're all working a job.
Think about your job. Do you ever screw up?
That's what I thought.
Matt Worley doesn't want to care about the World Series this year, but there's nothing else on TV.