sh9912

Why do all of you people who have no clue about football keep making these ridiculous cocky comments..... The game of high school football is about heart and dedication. The players aren't getting paid. They are living a dream of the best game in the world. These are kids who are gonna go out and put up their best effort to win a championship. Alcoa is the favorite for sure no doubt. Its a game of lining up every play and being motivated to beat that person in front of you.......Its about something that all of you adults don't understand. I hope every one of the upperman players watch the movie hoosiers before they play this game.....Ben this is from Steve. Good luck and go out and prove what your players can do brother. Just remind your guys about what coach Mac always said...........who cares about who scores the most points or who's name is in the paper. The only thing they will remember is if we won the state title!!!!!!!

For this young man not to be in the final 3 is a joke. TSSAA is a joke....All they care about is money anyway. Those numbers from an undefeated team is enough said. He needs to just prove how ridiculous the TSSAA is and just win it all. If he does, the head joker at TSSAA should be there and apologize for the whole organization.

Again I am going to say that this whole situation could have been resolved if any of these three umpires knew a couple of simple rules. First of all, the fair/foul ball is the field umpires call not home plate. The ball reached and went past the bag so it is now the 3rd base umpires call and the HP umpires does not do anything. No signal, no yelling, no pointing, - He doesn't make any call. When the field umpire yelled foul ball the ball is dead immediately. What I meant about the crew chief is that he is set by the supervisor and when the umpires got together he would be the more experienced and veteran umpire and got the rule correct. I have been a crew chief in many TSSAA district tournament, region, sub-state, and state tournament games. Get the rules calls correct. You do not let this play go and put that batter runner at second base after the umpire yelled foul ball. It is dead and a strike awarded against the batter where he goes back to the box and completes his turn at bat. If none of the three umpires knew that when a ball is called foul it is dead, then we have problems. Just get together and get the rule right. Obviously the crew needed a veteran umpire. Yes the crew chief can get the crew together and get that call correct. Umpires do not have the ability to overturn judgement calls. They do have the ability and obligation to get together as professionals when a rule comes into play and get it correct. And yes during the course of a game there is a designated crew chief and yes he can get that crew together and get that rule that was blown corrected. As far as the balk goes, a batter can never cause a pitcher to balk. NEVER. This is another time called and dead ball and restart the play. This one is about as easy to figure out as the first play if you know the rules. As far as a coach bringing a rule book out on me as an umpire- absolutely not. When I see the rule book I am going to tell him to put it away immediately or I am going to confine him. As soon as I see the rule book I can confine him. This is a huge game and I can see where a coach might lose it and come out with a rule book. Just tell the coach to put it away, get together as a crew away from the coaches and get this rule correct. I am referring to the foul ball call. This is a no brainer. Umpires are human and yes we do miss judgement calls which is part of the game. I guarantee you when we miss a judgement call we know it quicker than anyone else and yes it is upsetting but we must move on and be professional about it and get the rest of the calls correct. Our job is to go into a game with the attitude that we aren't going to mis one call during a game. We must look good, hustle, be crisp and sharp on all our calls, and always be ready for the unpredictable. Never anticipate a call because anything can happen in a baseball game. Lastly, to all umpires out there- Never blow a rule and if you do just accept it and get in that rule book and do your best to study it and understand it to the best of your ability. If you do not understand it then get on the phone and call other umpires in your association and talk about it during your meetings. This will help you out tremendously. Good luck to you all and always remember to call strikes. Think this- It is a strike when it leaves that pitchers hand until you see differently.

This umpiring crew was obviously not very good. They should have had a crew chief and gotten both those calls correct. The home plate umpire has the ball to the bag on the fair or foul call. Once it reaches or goes past the bag it is the field umpires call. The field umpire called foul ball. The play is dead. This is a foul ball by rule because once it is called foul by any umpire the ball is dead. The home plate umpire should not have made any call at all. The umpires did the right thing by bringing all three together. One of these guys is the crew chief. He should have made this a foul ball. The balk call was also incorrect. The batter cannot cause the pitcher to balk. When the batter stepped out of the box and yelled time causing the pitcher to stop his delivery, The home plate umpire should have called time and restarted. There is no way you can call a balk without the batter in the box anyway. If the pitcher had gone ahead and delivered the ball without the batter in the box it is an automatic strike. These are simple rules that these umpires should have known. You have to wonder how they were put on a game at that level. I do think that the losing coach can report this to tssaa. They will then contact that associations assigner. Then the decision could be that those guys will not be assigned future playoff games unless they get better. Does anyone know what association the crew was from? I have been umpiring for TSSAA for 15 years. I read the rule book constantly as well as attend camps or clinics to keep myself sharp. I love umpiring baseball. The things you have to do to be the best umpire is know the rules, look good, hustle, attend camps, be professional and love and respect the game.

You are an umpire. I am an umpire. We leave the fans alone. Focus on the field, not outside the fence.

THIS IS THE PLATE UMPIRES CALL!!!!!!!! THE FIELD UMPIRE CAN CALL IT IF HE SEES IT BUT THE PLATE UMPIRES JOB IS TO GET THE MASK OFF AND COME OUT FROM BEHIND THE PLATE TO THE LEFT OF THE MOUND ABOUT 10 FEET FROM IT AND MAKE THAT CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! PERIOD END OF STORY!

I have umpired for 20 years. I have worked with a lot of good veteran umpires and worked with young inexperienced ones also. I do not think the umpire cheated, however that call should have never been made. There is not a single veteran umpire that I have worked with that would have made that call in that situation. Maybe one of the young inexperienced guys would have. If my partner would have made that call in a game I am working I would definately let him know that we do not need to be making that call. Thats a call that is never called. It is late in the game and you probably do not even have a box. I think the ump was inexperienced and for some reason was looking for something silly to call. That was totally a shame. If your the umpire that made that call and you are reading this, please learn from your mistakes and talk to veteran umpires. Learn the game and please don't look for something like that to call. Man, that was a game winning hit for the district championship.

This is a national federation rule and has been for years. If the umpires are letting the players go to the opposite side they are not enforcing the rule. If the umpire sends the on deck batter to the opposite side and something happens to him then the umpire is liable!!! Enforce the rule and make the hitter stay on his own side.

A few years ago I umpired a sub state game at Loudon against Alcoa. In tne top of the 14th the score was 0-0. Alcoa scored a run in the top of the 14th and held on for the win 1-0. There were over 50 strikeouts in the game. The starting pitcher for Loudon pitched 9 innings and struck out like 23 hitters. The Alcoa starter struck out around 13 hitters. It was a great game!!!

It doesn't really matters who wins this game. Both will be dumped in the region.

Why don't you quit crying about the refs. You are accusing a referee of basically cheating. I am tired of fans who are always whining and crying about officials. Befoe you whine and cry, you need to get certified and referee a year then you can have a whine degree.

If you want to see true division 1 basketball players, go to mtsu and watch teams like bolivar and jackson north side. Players like reginald delk and wayne chism are division 1 prospects, not j. bailey.

Does anyone know what happened to coach Sane?

Coach Willard Sane, assistant coach for the Cosby baseball team passed away. Do not know any details. Prayers from Cookeville.