J.V. Last on asshole Clay Travis

Eriehawk · Jun 2, 2022

Source: The Bulwark

1. Clay Travis, Little League Parent

This is a small thing. A trivial thing. But it stands for a much larger whole about what is wrong with our country. Conservative radio host / public health expert Clay Travis got himself kicked out of a Little League game for cursing at an umpire. Instead of being ashamed of himself, he’s on the air bragging about it:

Clay Travis went on a tirade against a little league umpire for calling his 11-year-old son and other kids out for rarely-enforced rule violations — and got himself ejected from the game in the process. . . .
He explained that the ump took a 10-minute bathroom break between half innings of the game, then detailed how the ump — shortly after his return — called Travis’s son out for batter interference on a play where the opposing team’s catcher attempted to throw a runner out at third base.
“If you’ve ever been to a little league game — I’ve been to hundreds — I’ve been to a lot of college and major league baseball games,” Travis said. “I’ve never seen this call.” . . .
Travis said he confronted the ump after he made the call. . . .
“So when he calls my son out, I say, ‘You’ve gotta be ****ing kidding me,'” Travis recalled. “That’s exactly what I said. I reacted immediately because of the significance here. It’s a one-run game … my kid’s been hitting well. Good chance that he’s gonna get a hit or put a ball in play, and potentially get two runs.”
The host claimed that the ump unraveled after Travis started giving him the business.
“The umpire comes undone!” Travis said. “He rips his cap off, the inning’s over. And he’s like, ‘You can talk about this on the radio if you wan, but you can’t talk with me here. You’re gone!’ So he throws me out.”
Travis argued that the ump, despite the fact that he was overseeing a game involving 11-year-olds, should be held to a professional standard.
“If you’re getting paid, I don’t care who the other people are,” he said. “You should be held to a professional standard.” . . .
“‘I don’t care who these boys’ daddies are!'” Travis said, mocking the ump. “Screw you dude! You’re a loser! You’re a really crappy job.”

Let’s unpack this, piece by piece.

First, batter interference is absolutely a call you see fairly routinely. Especially at the rec/Little League level where kids are still learning the basics of being in the batter’s box. You see it about as often as you see catcher’s interference, where an inexperienced catcher leans toward the ball and clips the bat with his glove. These are routine calls in Little League.

But the correctness or incorrectness of the call is beside the point. Let’s pretend that the umpire misapplied a rule: that the ump called a balk on the pitcher, even though the rules for this particular league had a “no balk calls” policy. Let’s pretend that the ump was just demonstrably wrong on the facts.

That still doesn’t justify getting upset at a kid baseball game. Travis says the play had “significance.” No, it didn’t. There is nothing riding on any of these games. No scholarships. No playoff bonus. No free-agent year. The only thing that’s on the line is the development of the kid’s character.

Second, the idea that Little League umps are getting “paid” and so must be held to a “professional standard” is insane. Umps everywhere below the college level are paid what is essentially an honorarium. Enough to cover lunch. Umping Little League is not a “job.” It’s volunteer work. A labor of love. It’s a guy doing a mitzvah for the kids because without umps they can’t play the game.

Getting mad at a Little League ump is like having your neighbor make you dinner and then getting pissed that it wasn’t cooked to your satisfaction.

And as for standards: The quality of umpiring increases as you move up in level. Anyone who doesn’t understand that the umps calling a Little League game will not be as skilled as the umps calling a college game is daft. The skill level of umps moves in relation to the skill level of the players. To continue with the food analogy: This is like going to Wendy’s and freaking out when you find that they don’t have foie gras on the menu.

Third: If there is going to be a discussion with the ump about a call, that’s up to the coaches. Not the parents. If you are a parent at kid sports, here are your jobs:

Get them to the game.
Make sure they’re wearing sunscreen.
Bring extra water.
Cheer for Jaden and Braden.
Use the car ride home to impart wisdom and life lessons.

You, the parent, have no business coaching from the stands or arguing with the refs. Most travel leagues make the parents sign an agreement promising not to do the kind of thing Travis is bragging about and warning that they’ll kick your kid off the team if you do.1

Fourth: I’ve seen parents kicked out of kid baseball games. And it breaks my heart, because whenever it’s happened, I’ve looked at their kid on the field and that poor kid is mortified.

If you throw a fit from the sidelines of a kid sports game, you’re not standing up for your child. You’re embarrassing him. You’re shaming him in front of his coaches and his teammates and a bunch of random strangers, too.

So even if you were right on all counts—on the side of the angels—why would you do that?

Here’s the thing: I could understand if Travis made a mistake. Maybe he was having a bad day. This happens. I am not always my best self. Neither are you.

But to publicly brag about it afterwards? To see this incident not as a regrettable mistake, but as a badge of honor?

What does that say about the state of our society? About our willingness to accept the idea that there are things we owe to each other?

floydmaster · Jun 2, 2022