We have all seen a bunch of the social media posts of a video clip of a game where their team was “wronged” by the umpire.
Some of the clips are very clear and give you a good look at the play in question. Other times the video is so far away or so fuzzy or so shaky that it is pretty hard to see much of anything.
No matter what the quality of the clip, the poster wants you to know their team got robbed and they want as many people as possible to jump on board.
I’ve spent more time than I should have arguing with umpires over the years. It’s human nature to want to fight for our teams when we feel they have been wronged and trying to get a call corrected when you feel like your team was robbed is part of the game.
But, once you leave the field, isn’t if over?
It always was for me even though I know it isn’t always that way. I once got ejected before a game even started because the umpire was still mad at me for what had happened the day before. When I explained to him that I had already forgotten about the day before he was even more frustrated and had to restart the argument.
Well, I’m guessing this phenomenon is what is going on with all the social media umpiring. We don’t get satisfaction from what happened at the field and we can not let it go. Rather than move on, we’re now more likely to the our case to social media to try to keep the argument going. We want to win the argument so badly that we just can’t let it go.
So what’s the point? It’s time to let it go!
From now on, no more “is this umpire an idiot” posts. We need to make a change.
More and more umpires are quitting because they don’t think it is worth the aggravation. Adding the specter of social media umpire bashing is just asking for more trouble.
We all get hosed on a call once in a while. The bottom line is that no one died, no animals were harmed and the sun will come up again tomorrow! Let it go!
