PDad wrote:tcannizzo wrote:If SoCal umpires are not calling it shame on them.
And SoCal coaches should be called out for teaching their catchers to block basepath without the ball.
At the lower levels, coaches teach it because they don't know the OBS rules, possibly from having a baseball background.
At the upper levels, coaches take advantage of whatever the umpire(s) give them (e.g. a generous strike zone, not calling OBS or leaving base early, etc) because the difference between winning or losing is so small at the elite level. They're apt to teach OBS as long as they will gain more by preventing runs that would have scored than they will lose by having outs negated.
IMO, that is the problem with most coaches who complain about rules. Their job is to coach the game in front of them, not to take advantage of a particular call or rule.
I find that it is becoming more common in many different things, including sports, to concentrate on what the other guy is doing (rule wise) than improvement in performance at a higher level so they can out-play the competition instead of beating them on a rule violation.
