It’s Part of Baseball
Baseball certainly has its own unique quirks. What’s a quirk? A quirk in sports is simply an accepted event or behavior justified as “it’s part of the game!” Another common justification is “because!”
In hockey it’s fighting!
In football it’s, well, make up anything you want! There are too many to list. One in particular is the increased emphasis on “the dance.” You know, the touchdown dance, the sack dance, the ‘I made a routine tackle on a routine play’ dance, the interception dance, and the give me any reason to dance. That’s a lot of unnecessary quirks.
In basketball, and many other sports for that matter, it’s trash talking, and “I dunked over you!” Yeah, but you’re 6-8 and I’m 5-10.
And in baseball, wow!, this sport has got some brainless quirks. Like managers charging out of the dugout to verbally abuse the umpire. MLB is full of this nonsense.
You’ve all seen this scenario. There is a close play that an umpire has to make. The call could go either way. Now one manager is going to agree with the call and the other is going to disagree with it. So what does the disagreeing manager do to protest the call. By sprinting out of the dugout, arms flailing, getting nose to nose with the umpire, screaming , spitting, kicking dirt, throwing dirt, throwing his cap, throwing the bases, throwing the rosin bag, and generally acting like a 3 year old whose ice cream cone just melted and can’t get another one. In fairness most three years olds don’t act like that!
During the postgame interview the manager will justify this tirade by stating, “Well, you know, I’ve got to stand up for my team!” Really? And he probably gave a pregame speech about composer, overcoming adversity, staying focused and other pointless, hypocritical statements.
You don’t see this type of flamboyancy (as much) at baseballs lower levels, like, Little League and High School. College is quite capable of having a character flaw attack by a few coaches. A few Little League parents, at times, exhibit symptoms of judgment deficiency. But the unwritten rule of “it’s open season on the umpire” is still prevalent at these levels. It shouldn’t be a part of the game at any level. You can state your case without acting like a complete idiot. And the youth of America and its parents readily justify such outlandish behavior as “it’s part of the game!” Parents have got to do a better job!
It’s almost become a contest among some managers to see who can make the biggest spectacle of themselves. And they know the media will be there to catch it all because the media loves such things because it gives them something to write and talk about.
And the fans love it for the same reasons they like to see a car crash in NASCAR, a boxer get knocked out, a hockey player get cross checked, or a footballer get blind sided during a punt return. They just enjoy watching someone get abused. And as long the fans are forking out good money to watch these spectacles then certain behaviors will be tolerated. Like abusing umpires!
MLB needs to make these managers more accountable for their conduct! This thing of abusing the umpires is out of control. Whose fault would it be if an umpire hauled off and decked one of these overfed whiners with an uppercut? Obviously, the ump would be fired and the manager would have a long, insignificant list of justifications for his actions. How much abuse does a person have to take before he snaps? Try getting in your bosses face at work and see how effective your strategy is.
The best way for Bud Selig, the commissioner of MLB, to keep better control over these baseball managers is to start training ex-National Hockey League goons as umpires. Then the next time a manager came charging out of the dugout frothing at the mouth, kicking dirt, and screaming things about an umpires mother, he might have to wake up to old blue standing over him saying, “Hey, bud!, it’s part of the game!” Problem solved! Baseball just got better!
Help a kid smile today! It’s a Win, Win!
Ike
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