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To err is Knoblauch
Posted: Tuesday October 19, 1999 01:50 PM
This is a memo to the editors of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Please enter the new word "Knoblauch" under the letter K as both a noun and a verb. The definition of the noun is "an official's decison, obviously wrong, as seen by everyone else but the official." The verb is the act of making such a decision. I knoblauch. You knoblauch. He, she, it knoblauchs. We knoblauch. You knoblauch. They knoblauch. The word stems from two umpiring calls, obviously wrong, made about plays involving scrappy second baseman Chuck Knoblauch during the New York Yankees' march past the Boston Red Sox during the American Legaue Championship Series. The calls, in games one and four, were so wrong that the umpries apologized no more than 10 minutes after the game when they saw video replays. This has brought about the call for umpires to use replays on the field to reverse potential future knoblauchs. The NFL and the NHL already use replay when "knoblauch" situations arise, so far with pretty good results. The NBA officials, do not use replay, but do confer with each other about possible knoblauchs. Only baseball seems to treat the knoblauch as a sad, inescapable, occasional reality of life. Sort of like dandruff. A ruling, right now, by commissioner Bud Selig, bringing in replay, could change all that even before the World Series starts. Ah, but that would be too easy. Better too, here's another new word. Selig. Verb. Definition: to do nothing. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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