What are your personal thoughts on current College Baseball Bravado?

[Orange12]

....and what I would call excessive celebration or outrage over nothing.

First take off the orange glasses.

Second, I realize this may have been talked about ad nauseum last year as this is one of the things Vol Baseball became known for.

Thirdly, all teams do this to an extent, so I am not just picking on us. GCU was like this yesterday.

Emotion is awesome (not talking about that), but I just don’t get (and I am speaking in general here) when any college baseball player hits a double in the third inning of a meaningless game…and then must do 10 seconds worth of hand gestures, fist pumps, and dancing towards their team, the other team, and the fans. It’s just weird, embarrassing, bush league, and juvenile to me.

For me, you show more swag by acting like you’ve done it before. I guess I’m used to seeing players methodically taking off their batting gloves and standing on second base locked in when the camera cuts to them after a decent hit…not 6 fist pumps, telling the other team to suck it, and F u, and then cheer leading the crowd.

I think all the antics can be a distraction sometimes when the games within the game become bigger than the game itself.

Cassius Clay started this and it has escalated gradually over every decade since. Not a fan.

 

[taylorvol]

Umpires were all over our dugout for their “antics” vs BC. I guess you can’t beat on the dugout padding with your hands, or cheer too loudly. They warned UT several times. Seems like umpires are trying to legislate the fun out of the game (at least at LNS). No one is allowed to step out of dugout to celebrate a HR or get too rowdy in the dugout. Seems like they don’t want baseball to be fun.

 

[cardvolfan]

Umpires were all over our dugout for their “antics” vs BC. I guess you can’t beat on the dugout padding with your hands, or cheer too loudly. They warned UT several times. Seems like umpires are trying to legislate the fun out of the game (at least at LNS). No one is allowed to step out of dugout to celebrate a HR or get too rowdy in the dugout. Seems like they don’t want baseball to be fun.

I really feel like Tony was losing control a bit on Tuesday. I actually think they gave him some leeway and didn’t want to toss him. That’s just my opinion. I’m not saying I’m right, but that was the feeling I had.

 

[GBOTango]

Zero chance. I'm not even convinced he gets drafted. He's absolute garbage in coverage and has character issues.

I really feel like Tony was losing control a bit on Tuesday. I actually think they gave him some leeway and didn’t want to toss him. That’s just my opinion. I’m not saying I’m right, but that was the feeling I had.

Yep, watch his press conference. He was pretty frustrated not only with the umps, but his team. Players are making mistakes that a good high school player shouldn't make. The cream will rise to the top, and I wouldn't be surprised if some veteran players sit. There are some good freshmen on that team who are alphas.

 

[MiramarVol]

It's the King of the Hill mentality. Used to play it on hay bales. When you're on top, its the opponents responsibility to knock you off. It's the King's attitude to show dominance, while it's up to your opponent to knock you off & shut you up. If it happens, you beat us good game. Other wise I'm gonna keep my foot on your throat. As for the umps, rag them, but don"t disrespect them and show them up. You can't play the umps and the other team at the same time.

 

[MiramarVol]

I really feel like Tony was losing control a bit on Tuesday. I actually think they gave him some leeway and didn’t want to toss him. That’s just my opinion. I’m not saying I’m right, but that was the feeling I had.

He was trying to garner some emotion from the team cause they were not responding nor showing the figh that BC was giving them. BC just wanted it more. Final score showed it too.

 

[JohnD13]

....and what I would call excessive celebration or outrage over nothing.

First take off the orange glasses.

Second, I realize this may have been talked about ad nauseum last year as this is one of the things Vol Baseball became known for.

Thirdly, all teams do this to an extent, so I am not just picking on us. GCU was like this yesterday.

Emotion is awesome (not talking about that), but I just don’t get (and I am speaking in general here) when any college baseball player hits a double in the third inning of a meaningless game…and then must do 10 seconds worth of hand gestures, fist pumps, and dancing towards their team, the other team, and the fans. It’s just weird, embarrassing, bush league, and juvenile to me.

For me, you show more swag by acting like you’ve done it before. I guess I’m used to seeing players methodically taking off their batting gloves and standing on second base locked in when the camera cuts to them after a decent hit…not 6 fist pumps, telling the other team to suck it, and F u, and then cheer leading the crowd.

I think all the antics can be a distraction sometimes when the games within the game become bigger than the game itself.

It's a game

 

[MiramarVol]

Yep, watch his press conference. He was pretty frustrated not only with the umps, but his team. Players are making mistakes that a good high school player shouldn't make. The cream will rise to the top, and I wouldn't be surprised if some veteran players sit. There are some good freshmen on that team who are alphas.

That's the thing. CTV is bringing in top talent every year. Many Veterans are plainly getting recruited over. Even though everyone is given ample opportunity to earn a starting position through Fall Camp and during the early part of the season. Scott is a prime example being a 5th yr Senior.

 

[NEWDAYVOL]

It's a game

I get that you are saying "It's (just) a game" so players should have freedom to act like jack a$$es and D!ck heads. But if it's just a game then isn't that maybe the greatest reason to not act a fool over every single thing?

 

[EasternVol]

I want more antics, trash talk and confidence between teams and players.There's a reason why there was a lot of excitement and noise around the baseball team last year. You can say we looked foolish, but we won alot of games, and did so in exciting fashion. We were SEC season and tournament champs. If we would have won the whole thing last year, we would have been the best team in history and confidently so. That's how you do it. Leave no room for doubt. Tell them you are better than them, give them all the motivation in the world to beat you, and still dominate them.

I bet you’re big into pro rasslin.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

If you think our “antics” is what lost us the Supers then there’s probably no hope for you anyway

Respectfully, ....
There is an art to communicating with umpires! @preacherman20 ... feel free to chime in as you see fit.
The correct choice ... is to show them the respect they deserve BECAUSE they wear the uniform. They do NOT have to earn it ... they ALREADY have earned it!
Some may tend to disagree with me on this, because of some bad apples. But I firmly believe you show respect, they will gladly respond with respect ... or in some cases, they will grudgingly accept your respect.
Umpires have hot buttons. Players MUST not push those buttons. If a player is willing to push the button, said player is then responsible for being on the wrong side of the umpire and all consequences that follow.
I picked up a foul and raised my hand and said, "Yep, I fouled him." And I got a technical for respectfully acknowledging that I was guilty of the foul. Yes, that ref had an issue, and I accidentally pushed his button. That was on me.
It is not fair! But that is life. Life is NOT fair! We must learn to deal with unfair situations.

There are a couple of ways to look at last years Supers .... if you are thinking season long "antics" result in sending down a team of umpires to put TN baseball in its place ... then the answer is yes ... our antics cost us ... in several terms ... the umpires gave us a short lease and we crossed the "new" line that was drawn in the sand ... players kept behaving just like we had been doing all season and they struggled to adjust to the "new normal." Also ... the umpires, in an attempt to exert their authority and demonstrate who was in charge ... put our batters, pitchers and coaches "output" under a microscope .... does not take but a few calls to swing the mental state of a team (and the players and coaches? took those few calls poorly).
Notre Dame was a good team and played very well. Sometimes, umpires grant grace and give the benefit of the doubt. ND 'earned' a lot of latitude ... from my seat.

 

[preacherman20]

I won't jump under the bus but I will agree that the NCAA came to Knoxville in the form of an umpire crew that moved the line. The coat and cap were gone to the dugout. One of, if not, the best player was ejected. The strike zone went to a tin can. All to make sure we didn't get to Omaha. You can call that conspiracy theory but I believe it with all of my heart. They wanted anyone to win the Championship other than us because if we won it the entire baseball world would get turned upside down. All of our practices would be the norm rather than the "side show" as one old time SEC coach called it who I'm sure pushed the NCAA to shut us down. I have seen a different attitude this year as a whole. I think the coaching staff knows, either by reading the room or through direct conversations that last year would not happen again. I just hope that our fans read the room because there have been some episodes that will eventually hurt our team.
Being an umpire and having umpire friends, I also know that what fans do is not near as important as what players do. I would take a lot from a coach as long as you don't curse me or threaten me. But that leash was a lot shorter for players. I really did not care what fans did in college, HS was different. The fan behavior was not my concern in college as the college had security for that, but I know a lot of guys I called with were affected by it. Their strike zone got smaller, their close plays got different.

 

[txbo]

The crackdown started long before we got to supers. I noticed it during Kentucky series. Batters got a wide strike zone and had to start swinging at trash. Pitchers got a narrow strike zone and had to leave it over the middle of the plate.

 

[chuckiepoo]

The crackdown started long before we got to supers. I noticed it during Kentucky series. Batters got a wide strike zone and had to start swinging at trash. Pitchers got a narrow strike zone and had to leave it over the middle of the plate.

Good. It wasn’t just me.

 

[taylorvol]

What are the qualifications of a college umpire? I assume it’s not a full time job. Does anyone know how they decide to assign a crew for a particular series? How do they ensure there are no preexisting bias? For example, a LSU fan umpiring an Arkansas series.

 

[preacherman20]

In the interview process they ask all kinds of questions to determine the biases, but know I called UGA non-conference games back then. I was UGA football but couldn’t care less about their baseball. Just because someone lives somewhere or went to school somewhere doesn’t make it a bias. My wife is UGA grad but could care less. It really goes on if you have history with a coach or team. When I did high school ball, I had a particular coach in basketball that I blackballed him because me and him just did not jive, so it was not fair to his team or players. A good umpire or official, will blackball himself from certain situations. Most conferences try to keep the same guys together every weekend because they work good together but every now and then have to move someone around.