NBA Preview

Okay, I'm a little late here and trying to catch up on some necessary posts.

So the NBA season is now underway, which is great since baseball is now over until spring and Football can really only keep me occupied on weekends.

First, I'd like to point out that I've added Jason Kidd to the list of Officiating Disaster Heroes on the left side of the page. This is due to me being a big fan of his, the Nets, and of the comments he made at the end of a 12/26/06 game against Detroit where he refered to the referees as the "Three Blind Mice".

"That's how I felt. That's how I think our team felt. It was the truth," said Kidd of his barrage after the referees swallowed their whistles on what looked like an obvious contact foul by Rasheed Wallace against Vince Carter in the final seconds. "I have no comment on the fine." (source)

Sources also say that Kidd informed other team mates to not say anything regarding the officiating of the game, and that he would make a statement on the team's behalf, to avoid multiple fines. Sure enough, Kidd was fined $20,000. Talk about taking one for the team.

And due to some offseason news you may have heard regarding a certain NBA referee, I've started a new poll to see how your view of the NBA may or may not have changed. Please take some time to cast your vote. Today is election day!

Instant Replay in MLB?

So the General Managers meetings are underway in Orlando. According to Peter Abraham, one of the topics being discussed is instant replay. The GMs of the game really have no say in the matter, but could influence a decision of the commissioner.

Personally, baseball needs instant replay. The biggest question to me is, how would you implement it? Are managers going to be responsible to challenge calls on the field, similar to the red flags thrown by coaches in the NFL? Perhaps a new job of 'Replay Official' should be introduced and work with the official scorers of the game in the booth along with monitors to watch replays, signaling to an on-field umpire when it is determined a call should be reversed.

At a minimum, I have felt that MLB needs to at least automate the strike zone. I had a poll running regarding the introduction of instant replay when I started this blog and automating the strike zone was an option. To me, this is the biggest grey area in baseball officiating. Home plate umpires far too often mishandle things in this aspect of the game. Balls are called when a pitcher misses his target, but still throws within the strike zone and strike zones vary depending on who the home plate umpire is.

The strike zone should not change for any situation, other than vertically to compensate for the height of the batter during his swing. Automating the strike zone can be done rather easily, as seen by the pitch location graphics shown on the television replays, and of course QuesTec. A strike or ball call can be relayed to the home plate umpire who would signal for a ball or strike, as he normally does. The job of the home plate umpire would then be a bit simpler. Mike Mussina would agree.

When the technology is available to improve the game, it should be taken advantage of. I hear arguments against instant replay in baseball stating that it would take the human element out of the game. This is ridiculous really. Human Element? By this logic, players should not watch video, pitch velocity should not be looked at, and players would be using bats carved by hand in the off season. Go see a vintage league game if that's what you want. Honestly, I hear they are great!

Landis to Bring Case to CAS

So, I wrote about Landis almost a month ago after he was found guilty of using synthetic testosterone in the 2006 Tour de France. As I hoped, Landis is appealing this ruling to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), despite the low success rate of appeals.

I thought I would start another poll for this. Take a minute to vote your for your opinion on Landis case. I think I covered most of them.

I'm also interested in what type of reception Oscar Pereiro will receive when he accepts the yellow jersey that was taken from Landis. This event is scheduled for Monday. It's kind of odd when you think about it. Will he be viewed as a true winner or will the 2006 race just go down as a disaster in general? Do you think whoever finished third was even trying to pass Pereiro or just conceded to the fact that they couldn't pass Landis, and considered the race a lost cause at some point?

Landis takes his doping case to CAS

The NFL's and it's Priorities

So let me get this straight. A player is found to be using steroids after running around the field like the Incredible Hulk and the penalty is 4 games, then going on to win awards and appear in the playoffs.

A player after laughing a lot and being kind of lazy gets caught smoking some weed, and he's now facing up to a year long suspension.

This is the penalty the NFL issued and hopes to issue against Shawne Merriman and Travis Henry, respectively.

"Pending an appeal, Henry would be subject to a yearlong suspension if he
tested positive .... " (source)

Seriously?

I don't know about you, but this has MLB circa 1998 thru 2000 written all over it...

First Post-Season Umpiring Disaster (Well, kind of...)

Okay, so it really wasn't a post-season game. Stats are counted as regular season stats, which I guess is only fair. You can't ignore the stats in such a high pressure game. You can't count them as post-season because they are not on 'post-season' rosters and you can't include the Padres as a post-season team (well, at least now we know that). I thought it was odd when I first heard that these stats would be considered regular season stats. They are getting a 163rd game to accumulate stats, something most players and teams do not get. I guess the best way to look at the game is like an extra-innings game from inning 1. There's also the other case when 'if necessary' rain outs aren't made up.

But enough of that, and on to the actual game itself.

First off, I thought TBS did a great job. They were not shy at pointing out the flaws of the umpires at all, and if you watched the game, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I think other media outlets tend not to point such things out and think it may damage the integrity of the game. I think at that point, it's more insulting to knowledgeable fans than anything else.

Cal Ripken called out the extra outfield umpires for not being in position. They (LF-Fieldin Culbreth, RF-Jim Wolf) were practically positioned just beyond the 1st and 3rd base umpires and coaches. A little redundant, don't you think? It sure seems like a case of them going through the motions to get extra cash for an extra day of work. The purpose of the outfield umpires I would think is to get a better look at questionable home runs and to determine if fly balls were trapped or caught cleanly by an outfielder. These guys looked like part of their job was to possibly get a better angle on a call on the base path. Horrible job. I'm interested to see if this continues throughout the playoffs, even after Cal calling them out.

Now, aside from the umpires being out of position to make the call, I think the right call was made on the non-HR. The ball certainly seemed to bounce off of the top of the railing before coming back onto the field. Due to the outfield umpires being out of position, Tim Tschida at 2nd base was in the best position to make the call. After an argument from the Rockies manager, the umpires conferenced and left the call as is. Perhaps extra cameras should be installed to show such things better. Foul poles may be a good place for them. Then again, that may expose bad calls to the viewers and there still isn't an instant replay in MLB (yet).

The other disaster would be the final play of the game. Once again, I think the umpires got the call right. The execution of the call was is an entirely different story. Matt Holiday was attempting to score on a sac fly, beating a throw from right field. Michael Barrett had the plate blocked and lost the ball as Holiday slid. It's really tough to tell from the replay if Holiday's ever did touch the plate, as every replay had something (Holiday's body and Barrett's foot) blocking the view of the hand and the plate. Honestly, if you saw the slop Trevor Hoffman was dealing, it probably wouldn't have mattered either way.

There's really no excuse for why Tim Mcclelland took so long to make the call though. The same can be said for his strike calls throughout the game. This is just stupid. You are an umpire Tim. If you want to make a name for yourself in the industry, come up with a unique way to call strikeouts or something. We don't have time for your quirks.

Padres Season Sabotaged!!!

So now the question is whose to blame: Milton Bradley or first-base umpire Mike Winters?

If you think I'm going to blame the disgruntled man who was named after a board game manufacturer, you haven't been reading this blog long enough.

First off, Bradley was upset and reacted to what he thought was a bad call on a 3rd strike. So why would an umpire at first base need to further any argument 3 innings later? I'm sure working under crew chief Bruce Froemming would help uphold the integrity of these umpires.. Yeah, okay....

According to Bradley, Winters called him a "Bleeping piece of Bleep". Wait, is that profanity? I think you're overreacting here Milton! But if the Padres first base coach Bobby Meachum (uh, the memories!) is siding with this guy, you would think the umpire said something out of line, contrary to Froemming's claim that Winters simply told Bradley to "knock it off".

The rest of the story is now the beginning of the end to Milton's season. Manager Bud Black restrained Bradley, giving him a season ending knee-injury in the process. If I had to guess, if it weren't for the injury, Bradley would have been thrown from the game and suspended a few games, during a playoff push, nonetheless.

But will anything come of Mike Winters and his prodding of a loose-cannon type player? I wouldn't hold my breath. Todd Helton, the first baseman of the opposing Colorado Rockies, would be the only impartial person who was there for the entire exchange. He should probably speak out, but I don't blame him for not doing so. He is on a team that is also in a playoff race and a distraction like this really doesn't benefit him or his team. The only hope is if Selig somehow questions Helton on the interaction. Again, I'm not holding my breath.

I've kind of been routing for the Padres this season, only because they were my pre-season favorite for the NL West. To be honest, I don't really care about the Padres at this point. Winning the wild card does not give my pre-season division winner picks any credibility. If the NL Wild Card race continues to go down to the wire, you'll hear a lot about this incident in weeks to come in Southern California. Milton Bradley was doing pretty well on an offensively lacking team.

Ahh, another day, another official abusing his power with zero consequences....

If there's any justice, the Padres will keep winning


Update 9/26 4:16 PM

Okay, is MLB reading my blog? Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention, but not even an hour after writing the initial entry to this post I see the headline "MLB suspends umpire over confrontation".

Hooray for something actually being done! MLB, I am impressed.

Floyd Landis found Guilty

Guilty Landis will lose 2006 Tour title

I'm sure most have heard of the the case, so I won't bother with linking too many stories from the past year. The news has been pretty quiet about it since the hearing a few months ago. But today the verdict was made public and the results will force Landis to give up his 2006 Tour de France title.

I'm personally shocked. When I followed the hearing, I really didn't see how the USADA had a leg to stand on considering the sloppy lab techniques and the fact that I don't think the French can swallow the idea of a 2nd American dominating their sport. Nearly half of the interviews from French officials simply referred to him as "The American". The French people are most likely happy with the ruling, but doesn't this really give the whole sport of cycling a big black eye?

Hopefully, Floyd will do all he can to appeal this, and I'm sure he will considering the time and effort put into this so far. I doubt he'd give up now. I'm shocked that the panel of arbitration for the hearing only consisted of 3 members and that a 2 to 1 ruling was enough to find him guilty.

NFL Could Have 1st Mess of the Season on their Hands

No, arrests have not been made. Apparently, the Patriots are cheaters. A New England Patriots employee had a video camera and tape confiscated from the sidelines of this Sunday's past game in the Meadowlands. (source) Even watching the game, the announcers pointed out several times where the Patriots had it 'played perfectly'.

Now I have no idea of what was recorded and if the Magnificent Mangini was being spied upon, but the fact that there was recording equipment on New England's sidelines is just ridiculous. Is there a good reason to have such equipment? Are the Patriots making home movies about their Summer coming to an end with a trip to the Meadowlands? Recording of the oppositions' signals is illegal, but shouldn't the mere fact that the camera was there to begin with be the problem?

What's worse, is how the league will handle this incident if it proves there was some rif-raf going on. Has anything happened like this in the past and what is the best way to prevent it from happening in the future?

Do you suspend the coach? Perhaps, but then how do we know whether or not the head coach is actually the one responsible? And does the NFL have an obligation to get to the root cause of the matter, or just to merely find out whether or not the camera was there for the purpose of cheating?

Do you schedule an "if-necessary" rematch and force the teams to play a whopping total of 17 games? (Still less than a 5th of what NBA and NHL teams have to deal with). Or do you disqualify the Patriots from the week 1 match up, giving the Jets the victory by a forced-forfeit. Just imagine the chaos this would cause in the gambling world, legal or not. And you know the NFL has this aspect considered so you can probably scratch any rematches or disqualifications from the list of possibilities.

The NFL has to be hoping the issue will prove to be meaningless.
Some sources say that possible future draft pick(s) may be taken away from Patriots. This may seem fair and reasonable, but this was a game that occurred during the 2007-08 season. Why should some bad decisions made by the 2007-08 Patriots personnel affect the 2008-09 or 2009-10 Patriots, who may be a totally different team by then. There's a good chance whoever turns out to be responsible may be fired by the organization by then. So they would be punished for hiring someone that wasn't trustworthy in the first place.

And how would the Jets be compensated for being cheated against? Being they are division rivals, the lost draft picks may help the Jets out directly. But what if the 2008-2010 Patriots are not the team to beat in the AFC east? (Hard to imagine, but it's possible) The Bills and Dolphins would benefit just as much as the Jets, unless of course, the revoked draft choices were awarded to the Jets.

I really don't have a solid answer on what should be done if these tapes prove wrongdoing by the Patriots. But what the NFL really needs to do is keep better track of who and what is on the field at all times. Football is a unique sport by the fact that the sidelines are littered with tons of reporters, TV crew, players, coaches, etc... Each team basically has their own travelling circus with them on their side of the field while the NBA, NFL and MLB pretty much have a relatively small, well-defined area. Interpreters aren't even allowed in baseball dugouts. I'm sure there are plenty of security measures in place by the NFL as to whom is allowed on each team's sidelines, but they probably should be doing a better job regarding what is allowed on each team's sidelines.

NFL Preview

So another long grueling 17 week season of NFL football is now upon us and referees must be as giddy as ever, so get those little yellow pieces of cloth ready and dust off those instant replay monitors!

To start the season off, I thought I'd start a new poll to see which major professional sport readers think is most affected by the in-game officiating. Please take a moment to cast your vote over on the left hand side of the page. Personally, I think NFL referees are the worst, but will give the league credit for the way they carry out the rules of instant replay.

I had a cousin, who like a lot of sports fans, enjoyed watching football in bars. He had somewhat of a conspiracy theory where the halftime of every NFL game was the time where all of the bookies across the country would make their phone calls in order to have the game's outcome work to their favor. "The fix is in!" he would then yell throughout the remainder of the game, while I'm sure he was mocked by others watching from the bar. A few months ago, this would be a pretty far-fetched allegation. Nowadays, not so much. I wonder if he still has the same opinion.

Angel Hernandez and Crew

August 30th, Red Sox at Yankees. Big Game.

Watching the game, I was thinking about making a post here praising the umpiring crew for the effort made in getting a call on the field right, after calling a brief conference on the field. A missed tag of Kevin Youkilis was initially called safe at third by 3B umpire Mark Carlson. However, Kevin clearly went out of the basepath, stepping onto the grass while avoiding the tag of Alex Rodriguez. Now how Mr. Carlson was watching for a tag, and was right on him not being tagged, but missed somehow didn't see how far Youkilis strayed from the basepath. After a brief Torre arguement, and a brief conference of the umpiring crew, I applaud the fact that the call on the field was reversed and correctly made in the end.

As for Terry Francona: he did what he needed to do. As a matter of fact, if any manager does not exit the dugout to protest after a call is reversed, he probably shouldn't be managing in the first place, regardless of whether the final call on the field was correct.

But anyone who watched this game should realize that I am not writing to applaud the overturn of the initial disasterous call on the field.

Joba Chamberlain, 100-MPH pitching Yankee sensation, enters the game and pitches a scoreless 8th. After several runs were tacked on by the Yanks in the bottom of the 8th, most fans were wondering who would pitch the ninth. As it turns out, it seems Torre made a nice gesture by leaving Joba in the game, with an opportunity to earn his first major league save on what may be one of the biggest regular season stage's possible.

What happened from there is now history. After retiring Ortiz and having the third pitch to Kevin Youkilis sail over his head and into the wall, another pitch was thrown in the exact same location, with the exact same velocity of 98 MPH.

What happened then is unexplainable. Rather than issuing a warning, a rookie pitcher with less than a month of major league time under his belt is tossed from the game without any hesitation by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. The word ludicrous comes to mind. Was he throwing at him, trying to knock him down, or did he somehow just lose control 2 times in a row? Who knows. There didn't seem to be any motive for retaliation, but honestly, we as fans don't know everything that happens on the field and no player will ever admit intent during a post-game interview. But to eject the young man is absolutely inexcusable and shows a complete lack of common sense in enforcing the rules of the game.

Meanwhile, Joe Torre says it right:

"That's absolutely ridiculous," Yankees manager Joe Torre said about the ejection. "Unfortunately, in a lot of situations, the umpires do not apply common sense. And I've seen it too many times. And something has to change. Either they have to school them or do something that certainly gives them a feel for the game better than they showed today." (source)

Torre's words: priceless!

Update 9/4/2007
I've been away for the weekend, but I'm sure you've heard the news. Adding insult to injury, Joba has been suspended 2 games by MLB. (source) This coupled with Roger Clemens' suspension after incidents on August 7th in Toronto seem to indicate that any priorities in MLB are a joke. Angel Hernandez was also the behind the plate in that game. Coincidence?

Bobby Cox - We Salute You!

Forget Barry Bonds, Bobby Cox has recently set a record to be proud of by becoming the manager with the most career ejections from major league baseball games. We applaud this type of management and standing up to umpires.

"It was the 133rd ejection of Cox's career. He picked up his 132nd in the opener of a series against the San Francisco Giants, eclipsing the mark initially set by the Hall of Famer known as "Little Napoleon,'' who spent his long managing career with the New York Giants in the early part of the 20th century. "(source)

Now I've never been a fan of the Braves, and frankly, the tomahawk chop has irritated the hell out of me since the first year Braves fans ripped it off (the 2006 post-season was a blessing). But to surpass a guy nicknamed 'Little Napoleon', Bobby will certainly be a first ballot inductee into the Officating Disaster Hall of Fame, if there ever is one. This may also go down as one of those records thought to be unbreakable, along with the DiMaggio's hit streak and Cy Young's win total...

Unfortunately, Bud Selig was unable to attend this joyous occasion. I mean what to baseball commisioners do, really?

Umpires Have It Easy

Imagine an umpire. Any umpire.

Now imagine a referee from the other 3 major professional sports standing next to him.

Okay, now which of these 4 guys is not like the others, leaving striped shirts and whatever protective gear out of this?

The umpire, of course.

If you're like me, the basketball and hockey referees in your mind are probably middle-aged, slim, and maybe even slightly athletic with the football referee maybe one notch down on the slimness and athletic scale. These guys are pretty much chasing players down on a rink, field, or court non-stop in between making their ludicrous calls.

Now to the Umpire: I'm guessing most of you pictured an overweight, out of shape balloon waddling around like a penguin on the base paths. Why? Because they can. When was the last time an umpire had to move more than 40 feet to make a call? Hardly ever.

The problem with this is that they should not be allowed to be that out of shape, regardless of the square footage they are responsible for. Mobility should not be compromised.

Sure they don't have to move over 40 feet to make a call, but sometimes they need to move 5 or 10 feet to get into position in a matter of seconds, and where they need to move may not be as obvious as up or down the field (as with other sports). These angles are important. But apparently not so important to MLB to have at least a smidgen of some type of fitness criteria when hiring these oafs.

Mr. Selig, things need to change!

A Blog is Born!!!

Hello! This is a first post to a blog that I have contemplated starting for some time now.

First off, I want to say that I would like to keep this blog as unbiased with the least amount of 'whining' as possible. I am not here to blame officials for every loss of my team. I am here to point out inconsistencies and poor judgement.

Secondly, this blog is not to criticize officials as a whole. I know it seems like they are all jerks at times, but there are some who do a decent job, as strange as that sounds. The bad calls are the ones that stick out in our minds most. These are humans like you and me, who are trying to do a job. (On the other hand, this may be the first and last time I point this out.... haha)

So feel free to email me with an idea or concern regarding the state of officiating in our sports today. And I hope to see you back here....

-saucy