blackwidow wrote:People have seen the video. Some have judged no big deal, others have said they would not ever play for this coach and others have called for more drastic measures or sanctions on the team. It’s called a discussion. This is a discussion board. No?
Calling it a lynch mob seems somewhat inflammatory..
There absolutely is a lynch mob mentality on the part of some of the participants in this discussion, and it is manifesting in worse ways elsewhere. I would not include you in this description. Those that have had no input other than shrill calls for "justice" and have completely ignored any of the salient points of discussion would be the lynch mob.
You cited an interesting psychological study that is almost certainly relevant to this incident. History has also shown that humans possess a strong capacity for a lynch mob mentality, and that it rarely produces justifiable results. Unfortunately, I don't have a similar study to cite. Best I could come up with is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-gblackwidow wrote:Blaming the video company for capturing the event, blaming the umpire for having a bad strike zone, blaming people for discussing and condemning these actions are all distractions.
The video (as opposed to the company) is absolutely relevant to this discussion, simply because it's a huge portion of the punitive phase of this incident for the coach and the players. I am of the same opinion as Skarp that 500K + views on Youtube is probably enough punishment for everyone involved. Add in the pages of discussion here and elsewhere, calls to college coaches, etc., and it's seems entirely ridiculous that the lynch mob seems to think this is getting swept under the rug. That's one hell of rug to fit all of this under.
The ump is also relevant here, too. We don't know that the ump was trying to send a message with his zone like we can be reasonably be sure that the coach was with the pitch, but it does happen.
anonlooker wrote:Copied this from ________, an umpire on the college board:
I can't see me or those I work closest with filing charges or suing over this. We would, however, circle the wagons and ensure that anytime this coach is involved in a game we're working his stay would be miserable and short. As to the sanctioning bodies' responses, I can't control that. I can control who I work for and who I recommend others avoid.
I will take it on faith that this came from an actual ump and I redacted his name because he may be a great guy and a great ump. That said, the only way he could ensure this coach's life would be miserable and short would be through the game. As far as I can gather, he is saying he would give this coach's team bad calls until the coach blows up and gives him a reason to kick him out. Of course this means that he would also simultaneously impacting the players' opportunity to earn a scholarship, and potentially decrease their safety on the field, but too bad, it's more important to win the pissing match. An umps responsibility is to de-escalate, not incite, and not all abide by this. I don't know that this happened here, and coaches share this responsibility, but the possibility is absolutely relevant.
