I’ve never looked, but you’d think someone out there is keeping track of “% of challenged calls overturned”. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it’d be something.
eta: I have no idea how you remember a bunch of this stuff about umps…they kind of all blend together to me, outside of the routinely egregiously bad or commendably good
It’s 50 percent memory (usually the really awful calls/guys stick the most) and 50 percent Google-fu. I recognized him in the video but couldn’t remember his name off the top of my head. When I saw the name I recalled his was the HPU for the no-hitter.
Mark was and is an umpire (a good one too) so I think his focus is on the umps much more than mine is.
Similarly, Mark was an OL each year he played football. When he watches games with me, he see much more OL stuff in real time than I do because he is watching them with one eye.
Makes sense, I’d forgotten that Mark umps.
2nd part reminds me of watching football with my dad. He was a HS LG/NT back in the 60’s, and I was a S/WR in the 90’s. He knew how to judge line play infinitely better than I did, and I knew a few things about modern football (they didn’t exactly throw the ball a lot back in those days) that he didn’t. Good memories.
When I coached, especially in the early years, I did a lot of scouting of future opponents. I trained myself to look away from the ball at times so I could diagram and report to the varsity coaches how the teams blocked or defended certain plays. Of course, my play diagrams had to start with formations and defensive alignments so I saw a lot more of what went on in those games than I do today.
When I played, I was a QB and played very little defense. My coaching assignments were DBs, WRs, and also the backs a few years. I called plays as a HS QB and in 7 of my 9 years coaching. I think I know (or knew) offense and some aspects of a defense fairly well. When I watch games in person these days, I try to watch other things than the ball as much as I can, but I was a better game watcher as a coach than I am now. All too often, I watch the ball.
ETA: no kidding about not throwing the football much in the ‘60s. I was born too soon. I could really throw the ball, but we only threw on 3rd and long and handed off to our big fullback the rest of the time. We had two TEs and a wingback if that tells you anything about our offense.
I read a book a few years ago called “Take your eye off the ball” or something similar.
The author did a pretty good job of outlining things a novice can watch during a play to better appreciate what happens.
It takes training for sure, but you see so much more.
Only three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad.
At-game versus on TV makes a huge difference.
Hockey is really this way. On TV, it’s a jumbled mess to me. In person, it makes much more sense.
Also, my seats at Texans games is in the end zone. It’s a totally different look than the one you get on TV, looking down the line of scrimmage. You see plays develop better. And it’s harder to miss holding penalties.
Ironically, the cardinal instruction for umpires is “keep your eye everlasting on the ball”.
Hockey and Soccer both
Who was your favorite player(s) back then?
Soccer is great in person, really good on tv too, if you have some idea of what you’re looking at. Kinda like baseball, if you understand the sport its great to watch. Basketball and football you can watch without knowing anything
When I coached? We had Roosevelt Leaks so he was my favorite.
That shit aint fair
Jim’s so old his chiropractor is a paleontologist.
Others may have thought so. We loved Rosey. His journey from 10th grade DL to All-America RB is a good story.
Bob Lilly, that was my dad’s hero back then
My daddy loves Lilly also.