Bad sports, good sports: An umpire should never be the show
Have you ever paid to watch a baseball umpire? I didn’t think so. Someone needs to get that message to Joe West, as he has never seemed to understand that during his long career calling baseball games.
West, often referred to as “Cowboy Joe West,” is in his 32nd season as an umpire for Major League Baseball. He has always stood out to me, mostly due to his willingness to get right in the face of whomever dares disagree with him, even when the disagreement has barely been stated. I have often felt that he was actively seeking confrontation. This never made much sense to me. An umpire or referee has a responsibility to call a fair game, enforce the rules, and stay out of the way.
This week, West spoke out against the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, complaining of their slow play and lack of urgency, going so far as to call them “embarrassing” and “a disgrace to baseball.” Now I agree that baseball games are too long, and some rules are needed to speed things up. Still, West’s comments were way out of line for an umpire.
This isn’t the worst thing West has done, mind you. During an on-field brawl involving the Phillies in 1990, West was shown lifting pitcher Dennis Cook and slamming him to the ground. I would expect an ump to help break up a fight. I would not expect one to be an active participant. This is totally consistent behavior for West, though. He has always been so anxious to be part of the show, that he has put out two country albums, the most recent one in 2008. Maybe some Red Sox and Yankees players will want to offer up their opinions on the music. I am sure they’ll have great things to say about it.
Bad sports, continued:
2) A 15-year old girl who was participating in an auto race in New Zealand died last week from injuries suffered when she crashed into the concrete barrier. Some of Samantha Mouat’s family was in the stands watching at the time of the accident.
3) What better way is there to celebrate a hockey title than to beat the crap out of the coach? During a drunken celebration following their third straight championship, a bunch of players for the Acroni Jesenice team in the Slovenian hockey league decided to assault their American coach, whom they blamed for a car accident that involved the team’s backup goalie. And I thought the NHL was bad.
Good sports:
1) I have to admit that I took a lot of enjoyment from watching the video of Texas Stadium being imploded on Sunday. I suppose that comes from hating the Dallas Cowboys, the stadium’s main tenant, for my entire life.
2) There was an awful lot of hoopla surrounding the Masters last week, most of it centered around Tiger Woods and his return to competitive golf. At the end of the tournament, though, it was Phil Mickelson putting on the green jacket. Mickelson carded 67s in three of the four rounds, scoring a one-under 71 in the other. He won by three strokes over Lee Westwood, with Woods five back.
3) Talk about making the suspense last: the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers not only waited until the last game of the season to decide which of them would earn the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, but they actually made their fans last through regulation, overtime, and a shootout before wrapping things up. The Flyers won 2-1 and will meet the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday
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Alan, the family was in the area when the stadium imploded, and it was quite the event. Me? I watched it from the comfort of my room, on television.
Attended some games there, in the mid 80s, when I lived in nearby Dallas … except I was rooting for whoever was playing the Cowboys. I was a little leery on my first visit, as I was wearing more-than-a-little Steeler regalia … but it turned out I has A LOT of company in the stands. Dallas fans really like rooting for winners … later that season, when Chicago came to town in the course of their drive to the Super Bowl, and massacred Dallas 50-0, roughly two-thirds of the stadium was rooting for Duh Bearz.
Anyway, no tears from me when Texas Stadium went down. But a while back, when Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium went down? THAT brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks for the comment, Jeff. Can’t say I am a Steelers fan either, but I don’t have the hatred for them that I have for the Cowboys. I rooted for the Steelers in the Super Bowls of the 70s because I didn’t want the Cowboys to win.
It doesn’t surprise me that there were a lot of non-Dallas fans in the stands in Dallas. How could someone, in good conscience, be a fan of the Cowboys?
Things aren’t necessarily so good in Pittsburgh these days, though. Looks like Big Ben is quite the bad dude.