human-element Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Chipper Jones Predicted The Way The One-Game Playoff Would End Two Weeks Ago
As many have noted, two weeks ago, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked Chipper Jones what he thought of the one-game playoff. He said he thought the new double-wildcard, play-in game system was "stupid," because it potentially puts the second best team in a given league in the position of playing...
<em>USA Today</em> Just Couldn't Wait To Troll Braves Fans And Everyone Else About That Call Last Night
Like the call that handed the Seahawks the win over the Packers two Mondays ago, the ruling in the Braves-Cardinals death match was complex enough to trip up the layman. The call on Golden Tate's "touchdown" could, if you squinted, have been justified based on a slippery understanding of the concept...
The NBA Is Finally Doing Something About Flopping
It's been a big story over the past few seasons: NBA players—in increasingly large numbers, rather than in isolated instances of Divacs and Lambieers and Reggie Millers—had outsmarted the league and taken advantage of the difficulty on officiating NBA games by just falling on the floor all the tim...
Michael Morse Ran The Bases Backwards, Swung With No Bat, And Re-Ran The Bases Forwards Tonight
I'll get you up to speed, so you can just skip all the official review in between: First inning, bases loaded in Busch Stadium for Michael Morse. He hits a long fly ball which bounces off the top of the outfield wall, hits the Energizer ad behind the wall, and comes back into the outfield. The ball ...
Someone Is Actually Sticking Up For The NFL In This Labor Deal Mess
It was bound to happen. Call it Murphy's Law of Contrarian Journalism. Two weeks back, it was ESPN's Darren Rovell looking to blame the NHL lockout on "die-hard fans," and now Ashley Fox, his colleague at the WWL, has stepped her toe into the shitstorm that erupted Monday night. Seems we've really a...
Adam LaRoche Hit A Ball About As Far As Possible Without Hitting A Home Run
Bad break for the Nationals on this one. Adam LaRoche took Cliff Lee deep over the wall at Citizens Bank Park. Unfortunately, it hit flush with a small fence on top of the wall, bounced straight up and back onto the field. Jayson Werth thought it was a home run. Adam LaRoche thought it was a home ru...
Chelsea Beats Reading Thanks To Ludicrous Blown Offside Call
Chelsea dashed the dreams of an upset-minded Reading when a clearly offside Fernando Torres broke through to give the Blues a lead today at Stamford Bridge they wouldn't relinquish....
Umpires Still Blow Call After Consulting With Each Other And That Is OK
Mark Reynolds and Buck Showalter were ejected in the fifth inning last night's game against the Tigers in Detroit. Reynolds was tossed after disputing a call reversal and Showalter for backing up his player....
Four Umpires, And Not One Knows The Count
Yes, the job of the men in blue can sometimes be a dangerous one. But most of the time, the gig is just a matter of calling what they see, while also keeping track of exactly where everything stands. Simple, right? Well, things got a bit confusing for all involved during Carlos Lee's ordinary at-bat...
Visual Confirmation That Mario Seneca Is The Most Sensitive Umpire In Baseball History
Last night, we told you about minor league umpire Mario Seneca, who ejected the music guy/college intern working for the high-A Daytona Cubs for playing "Three Blind Mice" after a questionable call. Today, video of the incident has surfaced (thanks to the Daytona Cubs themselves) and it confirms o...
Minor League Umpire Ejects Ballpark Music Guy For Playing "Three Blind Mice"
If there's one thing umpires love more than ejecting players, it's ejecting non-players. That goes for managers but also fans, mascots, and other ballpark patrons. Tommy Lasorda once complained to umpire Bob Davidson that Youppi!, the Montreal Expos mascot, was jumping up and down on his dugout. (Da...
Joe West Gets Clobbered Upside The Head, Starts Bleeding, Does Not Break Into Song
It was a tough night behind the dish for Joe West, who got knocked hard in the ol' noodle by the follow-through of Carlos Lee's swing. The game was delayed for a few minutes while West was attended to by the Braves' medical staff. Sadly, as far as we know, he did not pass the time by humming a few...
Mike Schur Is "Ravenously Hungry" For More Replay In Baseball
According to Bud Selig, "the appetite for more replay [in baseball] is very low." Because what would baseball be if it were not for that certain "human element?" However, in this week's excerpt from Slate's podcast Hang Up and Listen, Mike "Ken Tremendous" Schur (last seen around Deadspin in Septe...
FOX, Umpires Conspire To Confuse The Shit Out Of Everyone Watching The Mets And Braves
Here is an almost three minute long clip from this afternoon's Mets-Braves game. The scene: bottom of the fifth, one out, one on (Martin Prado on first), Jason Heyward at the plate. Heyward lines a 1-0 pitch to left and then, well, who the hell knows what happened....
Umpire Sam Holbrook Tossed Zack Greinke After Just Four Pitches Last Night
On the off chance you thought a new day had dawned, here's some bad news: umpires are still assholes sometimes....
MLB Umpires Reverse Blown Call, World Does Not Collapse On Itself
For about 5 seconds last night, the bottom of the seventh in the Indians-Rays game was over. Tampa Bay was trotting into the dugout after getting the benefit of a blown call on a bobbled ball at first by Carlos Pena. Then something crazy happened....
Yerrrr Out-Out-Out-Out!: An Animated Gallery Of Every MLB Umpire's Strike-Three Call (Part 2)
Enjoyed our first batch of strike-three calls? Well, here's another heaping helping for you. This collection includes such notables as Jim Joyce, Angel Hernandez, Balkin' Bob Davidson, and the legendary contortions of one Tom Hallion, who may have the greatest punchout in the history of umpiring. Sc...
Yerrrr Out-Out-Out-Out!: An Animated Gallery Of Every MLB Umpire's Strike-Three Call (Part 1)
At last, after 72 entries, we've completed our Better Know An Umpire series. We hope you've enjoyed learning more about the human elements in blue, the men who wander anonymously through the sport, even as they make the game all about them. Next time some stooge in a chest protector screws your team...
Angry Baseball Takes Out Aggression On Umpire Brian Gorman's Face
Not really sure how we should interpret this one. Was it a completely random occurrence? Does Eric Hosmer have some beef with Brian Gorman we don't know about? Or are the balls, after so much atrocious umpiring this season, finally rebelling in a futile effort to regain control of the game they've m...
Prince Fielder Found Himself In A Rundown, And Somehow Emerged Safely
Prince Fielder hit the deck no fewer than three times during tonight's Tigers loss in Arlington to the Rangers, but did so no more bizarrely than here in which the portly first baseman ran his way out of a rundown, waving his arms like a man fleeing a burning building along the way....