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Captain Picard’s Lesson on Winning, Losing, and Errors
Sorry to nerd out on this one, but there is a great Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called Peak Performance that puts some perspective into the challenges of competing in fastpitch softball. Even if you’re not a fan you might one to check this one out.
The part that’s interesting here is a side story involving Commander Data, the highly advanced android crew member. An outsider named Kolrami who is a grandmaster at a game called Strategema (sort of a holographic version of Space Invaders) comes on board and quickly irritates the crew with his arrogance.
A couple of crew members encourage Data to use his computer brain to take Kolrami down a peg by challenging him to a game of Strategema. At first reluctant, Data finally does it to defend the crew’s honor – and promptly gets his butt kicked by his flesh-and-blood opponent in about a minute.
Shocked, Data immediately surmises there must be something wrong with his programming and tries to take himself off duty until he figures out where the “problem” is. Captain Picard, who is captain of the ship, rather harshly tells him no he can’t do that, he needs Data, and that Data should quit sulking even though Data has no emotions and so presumably no capacity to sulk.
Then Picard tells Data something that every fastpitch softball coach, players, and parent needs to hear: It is possible to make no errors and still lose.
In our case I’m not talking only about the physical errors that get recorded in the scorebook. Playing error-free ball and losing happens all the time.
I’m talking more about the strategic decisions and approaches to the game that seem like they’re sound but still don’t produce the desired results (a win). Here’s an example.
There are runners and second and third with one out in the last inning of a one-run game. The defensive team opts to intentionally walk the next hitter to load the bases in order to create a force at home and potentially a game-ending double play at first if there’s time. They also pull their infield in to give them a better shot at that lead runner.
The next batter after that hits a duck snort single behind first base that takes a tough hop and rolls to the fence after landing fair and two runs end up scoring.
No errors were made, and the strategy was sound. But the result is still a loss.
Here’s another one from my own experience. Down one run with no outs in a game where they have been unable to hit the opponent’s pitcher, the offensive team finally gets a runner on first.
She’s a fast, smart, and aggressive baserunner, so putting the ball in play somehow could go a long way toward tying the game. The obvious solution would be a bunt to advance the runner to second, giving the offense two shots to bring her home from scoring position.
But the defense knows that and is playing for the bunt. So the offense opts for a slug bunt (show bunt, pull back, and hit the ball hard on the ground) combined with a steal of second. If the hitter can punch it through the infield the runner on first, who already has a head start, will likely end up on third and might even score, depending on how quickly the defense gets to the ball. Best case the batter will end up on second, as the potential winning run, worse case with good execution she’s on first.
Unfortunately, the batter does the one thing she can’t do in that situation – hit a weak popup to the second baseman. The batter is out and the runner who was on first gets doubled off.
Now, you can argue that the failed slug bunt was an error, but was it really? It was a failure of execution but not necessarily a mistake in the classic sense. It was just one of those cases where the hitter lost the battle to the pitcher.
The point is that sometimes, despite our best efforts and doing all we can to play the game correctly, things don’t work out the way we’d like. There are things that happen beyond our control that can influence the outcome of a play, an inning, or a game.
We can’t beat ourselves up over it or spend endless time second-guessing ourselves. We learn what we can from the experience and move on.
Sometimes we make different decisions the next time – and sometimes we don’t – and hope for a different outcome.
In case you’re wondering about Data, at the end of the episode he requests a rematch. This time he keeps the game going until Kolrami finally gives up in frustration.
When asked about it, Data explains that Kolrami entered the second game assuming both he and Data were trying to win and played accordingly. But Data’s strategy was to play not to lose, basically playing defense the whole time, until his opponent essentially forfeited the game, giving Data the victory.
Anyone who has played an international tie breaker can relate.
Not every decision you make on the field is going to work out the way you hoped, even if you’re making it for the right reasons. All you can do is learn from the experience and hope it works out better the next time.
Captain Picard photo by Stefan Kühn, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Umpire Dilemma
I don’t think too many people would disagree that we have an umpire dilemma in fastpitch softball. Actually it applies to officials in all sports but since this is a fastpitch softball blog we will stick to umpires. Those of you who see it in other sports can make your own translations.
Now, for the some the umpire dilemma comes down to one thought: Umpires these days suck. But the reality is that mindset is a big part of the problem we are facing today.
Being an umpire is an incredibly difficult job. Plate umpires in particular have to make hundreds of decisions each game, and often half the people in attendance thinks most of them are wrong.
How did I come to hundreds? Well, figure if each pitcher throws 100 pitches in a game that’s roughly 200 right there. Add in force outs at bases, tag plays, interference or obstruction calls, runners tagging up, infield fly rule, illegal pitches, runners leaving early, fair/foul calls, etc. and you get a large number.
Complicating all of that is sometimes these plays are happening simultaneously, such as ball/strike and runners leaving early. Kind of difficult to see both, especially at the upper levels where things happen very quickly.
They have to get each one of these calls right too or they’ll likely find themselves featured on one of the many Facebook or other Internet groups dedicated to fastpitch softball. In tournaments, umpires may work seven or more games in a day, Which means they could be making, say, 250 decision x 7 games, for a total of 1,750 decisions in a single day.
It’s statistically unlikely that they will get every single one of them correct, no matter how hard they try. Perhaps some day we will have impartial robots to make all of those decisions. But I’ll bet even then there will be parents who think they’ve been programmed to cheat their teams out of a win.
Sometimes umpire do this without a break, and often in oppressive heat and humidity while being on their feet ALL DAY. My back hurts just thinking about it.
They also have to know all the nuances of an arcane and ever-changing rulebook from memory. It’s easy to know the stuff that happens all the time.
But when it comes to the things that rarely happen it can be more challenging. Of course, there will always be some “helpful” parent more than willing to correct them from the sidelines if they get it wrong.
The real issue, however, is that being called out on the Internet is the least of their worries these days. This female umpire in Mississippi was one of the latest to find that out.
The verbal abuse umpires often take is bad enough, especially in a world where a lot of people seem to have lost their ability to filter their thoughts and think every one must be shared with the world. But when did people start thinking physical assault was an appropriate response to little Sally getting rung up on a bang-bang tag play?
What all of this has led to is a shortage of umpires as older ones retire and younger people pass on the idea like my wife seeing mushrooms on a pizza. They may love the sport and want to help, but a small dose of crazy parents convinces them to find something less stressful or dangerous to do with their spare time, like bungee jumping or extreme sports.
In an ideal world, every game would have a minimum of two umpires. One behind the plate, and one in the field.
Two umpires allow them to work as a team to get closer to calls on the field, to get a second opinion on a checked swing, to have one watch balls and strikes while the other watches for illegal pitches and runners leaving early, or to consult with their partner if they’re not sure about a call or rule.
But in today’s world having two or more umpires at high school, travel or rec league games is becoming increasingly difficult. In fact, it’s becoming more difficult to get one umpire to all the games that need to be covered, leading to more widespread cancelations as these Google search results show.
So here’s the dilemma. Given everything said above, how do you get more people to raise their hands to become umpires to not only backfill the current shortage but also enable the sport to continue to grow?
One obvious answer is for all those parents, coaches, and other spectators on the sideline who think they know so much to take some classes, become certified, and strap on some shin guards, chest protectors and masks and do the job themselves.
Riiiight. That’s gonna happen.
The real solution is for the people on the sidelines to start acting like decent human beings and show some respect to the officials who are giving up their weeknights and weekends for very low pay so the kids can play. I know it sounds simplistic but it really is the key, especially for drawing former players into the ranks.
Many will try it but leave because of the verbal abuse and sometimes threats of violence. It’s not worth it to them to listen to the constant insults and jawjacking or take the chance on getting clocked in the parking lot.
Cut all of that out and you not only attract more young people – you keep them, reducing the number you need to attract in the future.
None of this requires legislation or any grand gestures either. It starts with each individual.
If you just worry about you, and maybe your significant other if he/she has no filter and/or anger management issues, you can make a difference. As more people adopt this attitude the epidemic of umpire abuse will subside and you’ll not only attract more candidates – you’ll get better, smarter ones.
You know the old quote “Be the change you want to see in the world”? That’s what we’re talking about here. (And no, Gandhi never actually said that, although he said something close.)
The point is you can help turn the tide. Be kind. The only good reason to chase down an umpire after the game is to thank him or her for taking on this normally thankless job – even if you didn’t like the way they did it.
When I was coaching teams, we would have every player say thank you to the umpires after the game, even if we didn’t think much of that umpire. We did it as a sign of respect not only to that person but to the position and to the game.
Give this idea a try. You may find it makes the games a lot more enjoyable for you and everyone around you.
This post has been updated to correct that the female umpire was from Mississippi, not Missouri as previously stated.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 