How many of you armchair quarterbacks have yelled at an official for making what you deem is a ‘bad’ call during a football game? Or, watched a baseball game in amazement when the umpire called an out when the player clearly looked safe to you as he slid home? Regardless of your personal ruling, the call either stood or was reviewed and overturned—that day, on the field, by the officials.

Well, apparently the need to win these days is so great that the court system is getting involved. We’re not talking Super Bowl, the World Series or the NCAA Basketball Championship—the tournament I’m referring to is a youth baseball state championship! And, the kids are just 11-12-years-old!

Nonetheless a judge in Hernando County, FL has been asked to decide whether a youth baseball team should be placed back into the running for a state championship. The boys were eliminated from competition after a hotly disputed umpire’s call that initially allowed the team to win after a player on the opposing team failed to step on home plate thereby missing the game-winning home run.

Or, did he? The argument is that while he did miss home he was “physically turned around by his teammates and made to touch the plate.” Assisting the player in such a manner, according to the officials, “goes against the rules.” The opposing team disputed the call up the ranks of the youth baseball organization all the way to the state level, but it was still upheld.

The protest then went to the league’s commissioner who overturned the call and reinstated the losing team into the tournament. Here’s the kicker: the team who thought they won—and were practicing for the next round of tournament competition—was kicked out. That team has taken the issue to court stating the commissioner “didn’t have the authority to overturn the call.” Now a county court judge has been asked to decide the outcome of a kids’ baseball game.

Now I will admit there have been a few occasions on which several parents—my husband and myself included—disputed amongst ourselves a referee’s call during a soccer tournament in which my son was playing. In fact, we even had it on tape because my husband is always prepared for just such an incident. Unfortunately, during one recent experience the ruling cost us a chance to compete for first place. Yet, we reminded ourselves that these kids are just 8-9-years-old and we tried to set a good example by remaining calm, respecting authority and accepting the call as just another one of life’s lessons on how things aren’t always fair.

At stake for the kids’ baseball team is a chance to represent their state and compete in the league’s World Series, comprised of 11 Southeastern states. Only 12 teams can compete in the statewide competition meaning that if the original winning team is reinstated another team will have to be eliminated. The judge gets to decide that, too.

You be the judge. Should the courts get involved in deciding the outcome of youth baseball games? Or, should everyone ‘play by the rules’? Leave a comment and let us hear from you.

Linde Hyder, i9 Sports Mom Blogger

Full Story: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/14/150606/court-weigh-disputed-umpires-call/news-breaking/

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