Friday, September 9, 2011

Message from Ryan

Just saw this on GKB's FaceBook page, from Ryan, the ref of the BC!BT! vs. Shockers game last night:

"Hello there. I just wanted to address something from last night on here, if I may. Not sure how many people from "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow" check this page but I'm opening apologizing for any calls last night you may have thought were wrong on my part. I realize there were a couple calls last night that were very close that you guys may have thought I missed. I'm not perfect, and I may have missed them. But I promise you, this is my third season reffing and I will get most of those calls right. The only problem I really had was the reaction I got from the team. If you ever have any issues with a call that ANY of us refs make, PLEASE address it when the ball is not live and back to the pitching mound. I have no problem talking things over with the CAPTAIN of the team about a call.

Just remember, we're doing the best job we can as umpires. We're not perfect and shouldn't be expected to be. None of us have any problems talking about a close play or call if it's brought to our attention respectfully. Thanks, guys! -Ryan"

I didn't see the questionable call(s), nor did I see Knowlty Poo run off with the ball in the middle of the game. But what's with beating up refs lately? Bad calls happen all the time, regardless if the ref is paid or if it's us reffing our own games. Certainly we haven't forgotten that only the captain should be arguing calls.

I don't know. Just seems like a lot of people lately have been covered by the slime in Ghostbusters 2... which was created by the shitty attitudes of New Yorkers.

Example one... SuperJam Slip-n-Slide Game?

20 comments:

Nate Dawg said...

Agreed. Calls are going to go your way sometimes and against you sometimes but the refs are doing a great job in my opinion. Way better than last season. If you expect professional reffing then find another league.

Chandler said...

I'm not sure "you people" CAN find another league that won't have issues.

WAKA - We ref ourselves, and people are delusional if they don't recall how many fights and issues there were about that. Especially teams like "Team Fab" provided refs that didn't know the rules AND didn't even want to be out there.

Kickball Society - Uses a paid ref at the pitcher's mound, who refuses to accept safe/out calls from the team provided refs at 1st and 3rd. Also, I swear some of their refs were homeless people that Wayne found at the local shelter. It's also the only league I've played in that always had an issue with ref's getting the score of the game correct.

So that leaves TBCS which is a completely different style of kickball with stupid rules... and they use 2 paid refs (one at home one at pitcher).

Nate Dawg said...

I ref the KBS league and I am regularly told that I am the best ref they have. I'm not saying that I am awesome or anything but that kind of tells you that the reffing generally sucks and is inconsistent.

Chandler said...

And you used to be homeless...

Nate Dawg said...

Shhhhh

FRANK said...

lol. One issue I have is, and not to open a can of worms, but it seems that the jammers argue every call, close or not. I kicked a double past the third baseman and at least 3 feet fair. The jammers bitched about it questioning if it was fair, and holding up the game.

I am not putting all of the blame on the jammers though. I think that when they see a ref not speaking up and making a definitive fair/foul call or motion, they immediately start yelling, because it leaves room for question. I do think they need to be more vocal, and we need to chill out more. We're 30 somethings getting in fights over kickball.

FRANK said...

And not to highlight the Jammers, I think almost all of the teams do this, when there is not a definitive call either way

Ryan said...

Frank is right. Most of the times I have seen an argument it could have been remedied by the ref being a man/woman and not a boy/girl. If they speak up and firmly. Then no one will talk back. But if they don't make a call or they whisper it...

Which is exactly what this Ryan kid did last night during the BCBT/Shockers game.

There was a bunt that was rolling down the line, straying towards foul territory, he meekly calls it fair. The ball still rolling, does in fact roll into foul territory. He refuses to come and look again and never really speaks up. The breaking loose of hell commenced shortly thereafter.

Smithkey said...

1)Bito is right. People need to speak up and make a call with confidence loud enough for everyone to hear them.

2)Volunteer refs need to be alert and know the rules and what is taking place around them. Having some chick ref first who has never played a sport before in her life is not a good idea

3)Nate is right. He was the best ref in KBS

4)Johnny and GKB are making an effort to continuously improve the league and I am impressed by their efforts. Things will get better

Rob said...

That first base ref didnt even make any calls. She just stood there. Ryan was calling all the runners safe or out at first.

Chandler said...

Then it sounds like Ryan should have called that ball "foul".

Alison said...

I thought the ref of the Ballics-Nuts game last night did a good job (field #1). I don't know his name but nice work to him!

Rob said...

HE called it fair

Chandler said...

Bito should have over-ruled him...

RÜBS said...

you...have...to...be...kidding me frank. you clearly do not remember CJ losing his shit when jonathan didnt get the extra base on a "past" ball and matt p holding a ball in protest because he felt he did NOT bobble the ball so our player just kept running. and your play, we didnt hold the game up, the ref was asking the third base ref to make a call. and not to take anything away from your kick BUT since you were running and prolly NOT looking at the ball, our defender from his vantage point thought the ball was foul because as a veteran player their was no haste in his effort to play the ball. THAT particular issue was the cones. the third base, home and outfield cone were WAY off. your ball literally slalomed through the cones. that was the hold up and the question.

the reason we argued more than you IF we actually did is because we had more questionable plays go against us, you had few but argued those few.

quite FRANKly, i think the game took a crappy turn on the first play. i think matt p was genuinely surprised when he was squirted with a water gun. But when you sign your team up for the slip n slide/water gun game because we did not have enough time to make water balloons expect to get wetish. I mean what would have happened if we actually threw water balloons during game play, the way the theme game has ALWAYS been played. ask my former teammates that wear brown shirts now.

thank goodness you guys are a fun team and not a competitive team because you would have made us put the water guns away, oh wait, that did happen.

but that is the ugly truth, WE ARE COMPETITIVE, my team has just barked the loudest for the longest so we were the hat, an ass hat im sure.

but at the end of the day, same ole ref issues, our volunteer ref rarely pay attention-our team has prolly been guilty of that as well, the side boundaries i have see so far have been off and at the moment these refs lack experience.

i had a great time last night and had not one inkling to complain about any part of the game even though that there were some CLEAR irregularities because while we lost, we were in the game until the last inning and i enjoyed playing one of my old rivals and against some of my former teammates.

you wanna reference age as a gauge, well in my age i have learned that we are all shades of each other competitive and fun, you are fun on the surface and competitive at the core, we are competitive on the surface and fun, less fun in most peoples opinion but fun none the less at our core and nothing more.

see yall on the field, at the bar and in playoffs. we will be the team arguing ALL the calls.

we can hug it out next week, much love :)

FOR SALE:
Water Guns, hardly used, like new

Chandler said...

Ruben, there is no home-base cone. You have to line up the 3rd base cone, outfield cone, and HOME PLATE.

The lines were straight on that field. Souder set them up and I double checked them.

Chandler said...

Also... if anyone disagrees with the foul cones... you guys gotta figure that out before the game starts. Maybe during the 100 practice kicks everyone takes.

But like I said... don't use the strike-zone cones at home plate in drawing your foul lines. Those are in foul territory.

RÜBS said...

i dont discount they were good to go for game one but game two, ill tell ya, they were off. and i was referencing the shorty cone, i thought they all had to line up.

Chandler said...

Yeah shorty cones at home plate aren't supposed to line up with base cones or outfield ones. They are 2 feet into foul territory an just represent the strike zone width.

Litman said...

I'm sorry for yelling. Even the Shocker that was coaching first base told me it was a shit call after the next pitch was thrown. I'll try not to yell anymore. I'll even give you a hug ryan. BCBT is sorry.