Umpire deliberately hit in face by pitch?

The first time I saw the video below, I was sure I was seeing a pitcher deliberately throw a ball to hit the umpire in the face, because if you look at the catcher, he's deliberately bringing down his glove and ducking his own head as if he expected it - and I have NEVER seen a catcher react like that. [At least, not when the ball is obviously high. If it's in the dirt, you have to lean over it to deaden it off your chest protector...but this ball was clearly high.]

But, if you watch closely, the ball actually appears to hit the batter on the helmet first, and then ricochets and hits the umpire's mask. Yet, because the batter doesn't react at all as if he'd been hit - which if it hit his helmet you would have thought he would have had some reaction! such as heading towards first immediately instead of trying to stop the runner at third from coming home...

But this pitcher can't have been throwing that hard...




What's really sad about this is the reaction of the people in the stands. You can hear them cheering. Some reports of this incident say that the umpire was swearing at the players...but seems to me the coaches would have said something if this was the case - not put it on the players to get their revenge.

In addition, apparently the pitcher and catcher had a meeting on the mound just before this pitch...

However...I'm still prepared to believe that the pitcher *was* trying to hit the ump, and just got the batter first by mistake...

Meantime...

If you do a google search on "coach tells pitcher to hit batter" (in particular in the News category) you'll find dozens of examples through the years of grown men telling little children, and big children, to throw at batters. Not to mention the fine example of professional baseball players - pitchers who throw at batters because a previous batter hit a home run, or because one of their players got plunked, etc.

The latest "outrage" is because a female coach told one of her young pitchers to hit an opposing batter. (Gee, a kid of 8 years old or so couldn't throw a ball with enough force to hurt anyone...). There's lots of comments on the website reporting this, claiming that this female coach just didn't know the game of baseball, and I'm thinking to myself, what are those idiots smoking? She's just following a long line of male coaches who've done exactly the same thing.

Milka Duno videos

There were 33 drivers in today's Indianapolis 500. Of these, three were women.

The highest profile driver of these was Danica Patrick, who was consistently in 6th place until she was hit under a Yellow Card and knocked out of the race.

Sarah Fisher was knocked out also, also hit by another driver.

Milka actually finished the race, and placed 19th.

Below are some videos that are months old:

May 20, 2007


May 6, 2008


January 2008

Danica Gets Dissed

Danica Patrick participated in the Indianapolis 500 today. She didn't win, but she was up to 6th place for a while.

There were a lot of cars on that track, and a lot of drivers. I venture to suggest that many of those male drivers (for there were only three women) were commenting to their pit crews via radio that they were too slow, but the author of the SI piece on this race chose to describe Danica Patrick's comments. He uses an interesting choice of words:

Patrick, who became a national phenomenon when she led late in the race and finished fourth as a rookie in 2005, had hoped to follow her first IndyCar victory, at Japan last month, with a win in the biggest race of all.

Dixon survives crash-filled race to capture first Indianapolis 500

But she never made a serious run for the lead, complaining incessantly about an ill-handling car while talking with her crew over the radio. She started fifth but quickly fell back and got no higher than sixth the rest of the day.

"I can't do anything," she screamed during one tirade. "I am sloooooow. I am damn slow."

Any hopes of challenging at the end were ruined by Briscoe's mistake in the pits. The Australian spun his tires trying to get out and slid sideways into Patrick's blue-and-black car, which rolled helplessly to a stop, its day done with a broken suspension.

A frustrated Patrick slammed her steering wheel as she sat motionless along the lane leading back to the track. Then, after being pushed back to the pits, she climbed out of the car, ripped off her gloves and stomped angrily toward Briscoe's Team Penske pits. A track security official cut her off before she could get there.

"Probably best I didn't get down there anyway," Patrick said.

So, she a complainer, and she has a tirade.

You telling me those other drivers didn't have "tirades" themselves - or whatever the equivalent is when a man does it?

The author (his name isn't given) describes the other guys as acting in a much more calm manner...)

Andretti apologized over the radio for his aggressive move. When told that his youthful teammate was sorry, Kanaan responded, "He'd better be. That was a very stupid move. Me being a good teammate, I didn't want to turn into him and take out two cars. So I give up today."

Kanaan has led 214 laps in his Indy career -- running out front in every one of his seven trips to the Brickyard -- but he's never tasted milk in Victory Lane.

"Every time I lead, something happens," said Kanaan, who finished 29th, the worst of his Indy career.

Of course, it's easy to understand Andretti's eagerness to get to the front at Indy considering his family history.

Mario spent the last quarter century of his career trying to win a second 500, only to be disappointed every time. Michael led more laps than any non-winner in the race's 92-year history. Marco was a straightaway away from winning as a rookie in 2006, only to get passed by Sam Hornish Jr.

Kanaan "responds", he doesn't "shriek" or "spit" or whatever word the author would have used if he were talking about a female driver...

Pat Summitt has made the big time!

Someone has written, sung and recorded a rap song about Pat Summitt's encounter with the racoon last year! (A racoon got on her deck and frightened her dog...Summitt hit it with a broom, dislocating her shoulder in the process).

Very funny:

LeBron James tells his mother to sit down

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill..for some reason someone thoughtthis was worth sharing on YouTube. LeBron and Paul Pierce fall into the crowd, LeBron's mother tells Paul Pierce off, LeBron tells her, "Sit your butt down."

I will say, though, that Paul Pierce spins LeBron round and round and deserved a flagrant foul on that!

I'm sure a lot of guys will laugh at this...

who think that sports is all about winning and not about sportsmanship anymore...

Opponents carry injured home-run hitter around bases

With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.

But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.

Read the rest of it at the link.

The story below is from 2006, I remember hearing about it at the time:

Canadians hail Norwegian coach's sportsmanship

The outgoing head coach for Norway's cross-country skiers has become something of a national hero in Canada, after he impulsively aided a Canadian competitor who went on to win a silver medal in Tuesday's sprint relay. The Norwegian skiers ended up fourth.

Kids, don't do this at home

"Incident during an ATP Masters tennis match between Mikhail Youzhny and Nicolas Almagro. Youzhny gets angry after at a close call and takes it out on himself."



I didn't really care for the reaction of the crowd....hopefully they gave him a standing O when he returned to the game.