By Joe Joe Wright

Well now I am in a pickle with high school baseball season ending and basketball winding down my topics to talk about in sports are getting smaller. Now come August I can start back on high school football but in the meantime I have got to wing it. So for the next 3months I will be trying to put together some “where are they now” and “do you remember when” articles. I suppose I will discuss the beleaguered Atlanta Braves as they are fun to pick on. But the topics will get depleted for awhile.

One subject that is still hot and heavy in everyone’s mind is the John Creek @ Lee County Baseball game. If you follow Facebook and in particular the Sport, sports and more sports sight then you know that subject has been bashed about soundly. Arguments from all sides of the subject are valid and of course ridiculous as well.

However, let me go ahead and say that the GHSA cannot stop being stupid. I have written about them countless times. Their playing politics rather than just doing their job is going to be their undoing. First of all is the rule!! The rule is the rule is the rule period. As with all rules they usually come back to a judgment call. The play at third base is just that a judgment call. Here is what happened as best as I can ascertain. With the bases loaded and the score tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the 7^th inning with two outs. Lee County walked in the winning run. Head Coach Brandon Brock appealed that the runner coming from second did not touch third and thereby would have completed the play. As a result the run is nullified and the game went into extra innings and Lee County won the game and the series. By rule that would have been correct in the National Federation of High Schools rulebook. Ah! But enter the real problem depending on whom you ask. The Johns Creek coach appealed the decision. At first it appeared as though the 3^rd base umpire and the 2^nd base umpire both agreed that the runner did not touch third base. This is a judgment call and NOT DISPUTABLE!!

Well until now. The first round of appeals went with Lee County. Oh! But that wasn’t good enough. Next Johns Creek from North Georgia gets a second appeal before the GHSA executive committee. Apparently the 20 minutes that the umpires took on the filed reaching a decision on whether or not the runner touched third base sent out a subliminal message to everyone that they were not sure what happened. I haven’t heard on this part from a reliable source but it is aid now that the third base umpire was unsure. I find all this hard to believe. The video that was taken from the stands is from about 130 to 150 feet away and small. Many people say he touched third it is obvious. Many also say the umpire turned and walked away. What I see and I trust that more than others is his foot is close to bag but you can’t see it touch and also the umpire doesn’t turn away completely he still has eyes on the play. Either way it was a judgment call and

It is not arguable and the 2^nd base umpire had said he touched it. That should have been the end but oh no! Someone convinced the GHSA that he didn’t touch the bag and the call is now reversed. Also GHSA says they didn’t review the film, yeah right!!!!! If I saw it they saw it. This entire episode stinks to high heaven. GHSA cannot be trusted to enforce their own rules. They are spineless and fold like a crumpled piece of paper every time they are challenged by the legislature or anyone else. The phrase “ you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything” comes to mind.

What the big block brains at GHSA may or may not understand is this. You just completely undermined that entire umpiring crew. They will never have creditability again. They should retire, I run ball tournaments every weekend and I wouldn’t want them. There is a huge and I mean massive shortage of umpires statewide. Well many will go ahead and retire now and others will not join. Why? Because appeals are going to be coming down the pipe galore. Two to three years from now and  if and it is a big if GHSA is still in charge they will be requiring a video of every game. The expense of a baseball game is about to escalate. Based on the video there is not conclusive evidence to over turn that call. Which GHSA said they never looked at anyway. Oh that’s right that’s MLB that has instant replay. Wow! Could have used it the night we hosted Lovett in football with that one referee throwing flags everywhere. Well I guess it is coming. BAD BAD decision for baseball in general!