Friday, April 18, 2014
One-shot replay rule?
Poz proposes the idea that if we change the objective from "get the call right" to "get the egregious calls right", then we don't need to spend 2-3 minutes looking at plays from multiple angles. He suggests that the replay official gets to see it from one angle, one time.
Anyway, I found his point about how the rule book is written to have been funny.?
As you can see, this rule -– like more or less every rule in every sport –- seems to have been written by a precocious 13-year-old with a thesaurus. It reads like a book report someone writes after not reading the book.
As we all know, the rules of golf show no mercy, none more strict that ensuring that your scorecard is completed and signed. After completing your round, and having left the designated area without ensuring your scorecard is accurate and signed, you are immediately disqualified.
I've joked in the past, several times, that this would be akin to winning the World Series, only for the manager to not sign the scorecard before leaving the playing field, thereby handing the win to their opponent. Well, that's where we are now. Because a catch is not catch until all elements of the catch have been verified. That means holding the ball securely, and releasing it voluntarily. Theoretically, Endy Chavez could make an over the fence catch in Game 7 with a runner on base, up by 1, 9th inning 2 outs, and in his moment of jubilation runs several steps before trying to throw the ball (even though he has no reason to actually release the ball). Only to drop it on the transfer.
And that's because he'd be in violation of this part of the Catch rule:
In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional.
Except, if you read the Catch rule, it's not clear to WHAT this sentence refers to. Here's the definition in its entirety:
A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession. It is not a catch, however, if simultaneously or immediately following his contact with the ball, he collides with a player, or with a wall, or if he falls down, and as a result of such collision or falling, drops the ball. It is not a catch if a fielder touches a fly ball which then hits a member of the offensive team or an umpire and then is caught by another defensive player. If the fielder has made the catch and drops the ball while in the act of making a throw following the catch, the ball shall be adjudged to have been caught. In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional.
But, with some formatting, and not changing any content, maybe this is what the rule actually says:
A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession.
(i) It is not a catch, however, if simultaneously or immediately following his contact with the ball, he collides with a player, or with a wall, or if he falls down, and as a result of such collision or falling, drops the ball.
(ii) It is not a catch if a fielder touches a fly ball which then hits a member of the offensive team or an umpire and then is caught by another defensive player.
(iii) If the fielder has made the catch and drops the ball while in the act of making a throw following the catch, the ball shall be adjudged to have been caught. In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional.
So, is that last sentence, the one in question, part of paragraph (iii) as the formatted rule would suggest? Or, does the last sentence apply without additional condition, as the unformatted text would suggest?
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