Be Like Umpires: Say No to Editing!

We here at the Roundtable have decided there will be no more editing of our articles. It doesn't matter if we spell something incorrectly. We don't care if our grammar ain't no good. No more of it. Editing can't be part of what we do. After all, we know we get our stuff right.

We learned that from umpires.

After all, umpires never get calls wrong. Which is why it made perfect sense for them to boycott today's conference call regarding replay and how it will be handled. They shouldn't be subjected to the idea of leaving an area in order to view a monitor when there most likely isn't an error in the original call anyway.

Even if they are wrong, how would they even tell fans, coaches, players, or the media? It's not like the calls that are allowed to be reviewed at this point are strictly dealing with fair/foul or home run/non-home run issues. Getting across that scoring would be borderline impossible! What is a fan going to think when they see a guy crossing home plate??

Because umpires are always right in every single call they make, asking them to exit the playing field and leave the athletes unsupervised makes no sense at all. How can these points be argued?

Let's look at the facts. The NHL only allows one official to speak with a replay supervisor and that obviously hasn't worked for them. The NFL only lets one official leave the field to view a video monitor to speak with a replay official, and that has worked so poorly that they've expanded it.

The NBA only reviews plays at the end of a quarter or a half or at a break in the action that allows officials to view the monitors while teams are separated. That hasn't worked very well for them either.

So why would we subject baseball to this? There has been no rash of missed home run calls this year, especially in the month of May, that would open up umpires to any sort of criticism. Ask Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Delgado, Geovany Soto, Dustin Pedroia, or (more recently) David Ortiz about missed calls. They'll vouch for the umpires. So will the Padres, because their fans have no questions as to if Matt Holliday touched home plate in last season's NLDS.

Ask Jose Offerman, he'll tell you that Chuck Knoblauch tagged him in the ALCS.

Every single umpire has the perfect eye sight to judge all the crazy ground rules at every park across baseball from as far away as a football field's distance.

Now, let's not get into the argument that many of the points made as far as reasons for boycotting today's call were incorrect according to multiple sources. Again, those are details that would confuse the facts.

It's not for any of us to argue how we would feel if something controversial were to happen in a game of major consequence. After all, umpires always get every call right. They don't miss balls and strikes, so why should there be any concern on these high-profile home run calls?

Since umpires don't need to be edited, we here at the Roundtable don't either. Our words are solid and our grammar impeccable (even if one of us can't spell "Pettitte").

So, thanks to baseball's umpires. Your perfection has given us courage to take stance on our own. Others could only be so lucky.