Umpires and Writers Don't Deserve the Respect They Get

In last night's baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, at Shea Stadium, there was an incident in the top half of the first inning that really got me to wondering. Why are things the way they are? Did we, the fans, let this happen?

John Bowker, a rookie with the Giants, leaned back from an inside pitch and somehow the umpire read it as the batter using this maneuver to get the call so the ump harrumphed the word "strike." (There can be no other explanation for why the guy-behind the catcher- rang up Rookie Bowker.)

How does this work, when you are a rookie in the Big Leagues, the umpires put you through some sort of fraternity initiation process of "growing pains." How about the umpires going through the same thing? I just don't see any sort of rites of passage type thing happening to these bloated goats of baseball.

The same goes for the writers. They write things as if they themselves experienced such a thing. Like the word routine. What is routine about any grounder, pop up or fly ball? As long as there are elements of wind, sun, inadequate groundskeeping and (for the sake of argument) throw in the possibility of some heckler harrumphing words from the book of slang, that play will not be lounge-chair, sipping-your-favorite-libation, easy. Anyone who has played and not watched the game knows, routine is non-existent.

It's as if the scribes, in their over-exaggeration of everything had to develop catchall words and or phrases to describe what was happening. But in their delusional discovery of such syllabic deception they forgot to remember that it's the "routine" play that separates baseball from other sports. It's majesty and it's seemingly automatic nature is what makes the play so good in the first place.

I don't understand why the umpires have such autonomy. That they are not held accountable allows for their freelance in how the interpret the rules. Same goes for the hacks (writers) who just so happen to have the vote that gets those players who are extraordinaire into the hallowed halls of their individual sport's fame for lifelong worship. Entrance into the hall of fame should be based on unbiased votes of former players, coaches and announcers. In other words, All of those folks the league fines everytime they say the slightest thing against the officials and or writers.

If you can assess a fine on these players, coaches, managers and announcers for merely voicing their opinion then it should be these people who you fine who have the ability to elect a player into the Hall of Fame and nobody else. When the umpires get fined or the writers get penalized accordingly (similar to the way they deem necessary for the player, coach, manager and or announcer) then and only then should they be considered qualified to vote for someone's entry into their hall of fame.

Kevin Marquez