brettjwhaley

If U3 signaled the ball foul by both voice and mechanic, then it is a foul ball. There is no changing that according to the NFHS rulebook. However, the head coach can elect to play the game under protest, so the blame has to be shared somewhat. If the coach knows the rules, he use it to his advantage. There seems to also be a misunderstanding of the designation of crew chief/Umpire-In-Chief. In any crew, the home plate umpire serves as the umpire-in-chief, meaning he assumes administrative control of the game by keeping lineup cards and communicating with coaches throughout the game on field conditions, crowd control, or field issues that crop up. He does not have the authority to overrule another umpire as each umpire has concurrent jurisdiction on the field. Normally, the more senior umpire would serve as a crew chief in the sense that he will contact the coach in case of inclement weather and coordinate the crews arrival and departure from the game site. He does not have the authority to overrule another umpire. You reference the entire crew getting together to discuss the situation. This is a situation where the crew would confer on rules interpretation. It seems that this did not help as they still got the initial call incorrect. This is proper procedure when rules situations come up and the calling umpire is not clear on how to properly apply a rule. On the balk, this also seems to be a misinterpretation. The batter can never cause a balk by leaving the box, holding up his hand, saying time, or discern in other ways. However, without seeing it I cannot be certain on this ruling. If a coach brings a rule book on the field, I will immediately confine him to the dugout. There are very specific actions that violate the rules and these are covered in the rule book the coach is holding in his hand. Now, that being said, you are unlikely to catch me in a situation where I do not know the rule. I expect the same from a coach. Many of you feel the need to bash umpires. Remember this when doing so, I have no interest in who wins or loses. I have no interest in little Johnny getting a hit or making outs. I have no interest in making everyone happy. It is not my job to make sure everyone is happy. If it were that way, there would be no umpires, catchers would call balls and strikes, 1st basemen would call bang-bang plays at 1st, and outfielders would call shoestring catches. The problem is that you need someone to whom the outcome means nothing to arbitrate the game. I do this not for the money, but because I love baseball. I guarantee you the $65 dollars we make for that game is not nearly worth what we go through be we do it because we love the game. I do it with an understanding that I am hated 100% of the time, by 50% of the people. In the end, I only have myself to please with my performance. trust me when I say this, it hurts when you miss a call. I hate the feeling I get, but to the untrained eye we miss any more than in reality. You always want things to go your teams way, but I only call what I see because it takes way too much effort to make something up. I am trained to react not think and that is what keeps me from favoring a team. That is not to say we are not human, I make mistakes, just not as many as most of you think I do. Remember these things when you are yelling at a guy who spends his spare time trying to get better at a thankless job.

Here are the Champions since 1998: 1998- Ezell Harding 1999- Moore County 2000- South Fulton 2001- Chattanoga Christian 2002- Temple 2003- Temple 2004- Unaka 2005- Middleton From my calculations, over the last 8 years: East : 4 Middle: 2 West: 2 Looks to me like no one has anything to be complaining about right now. If anything maybe they should expand basketball like they did football, but then again someone would complain. Let the boys play and quit whining please.

Are you kidding me? The people from Union City that are on here talking must have missed the first round of the state tournament last year. Underdog Middleton up against Tennessee Temple, #1 team in the state. Middleton has seen teams better than yours this year (Bolivar and Ripley, Mississippi. Beat Bolivar at Bolivar). As Marquis, Middleton's defense is like none that I have ever seen. They are relentless. Your boy will probably not even break 20. As for the best player Middleton has ever seen, He sits on Middleton's bench as an assistant coach, James "Buck" Burkley. He can and will come up with a defense to stop him. Great game tonight for sure but Middleton is through easy 76-63. Go Tigers.