The first amendment

Since it's the Fifth of July and fireworks (or maybe gunshots) are exploding outside of my apartment again tonight, I wanted to make one more post before the end of the holiday weekend about the beauty of America. Tonight, I want to focus on two things that I, as an American, hold most dear: baseball and the freedom of speech. Nothing brings those together quite like managers who feel slighted, so I've decided to scour Youtube for such clips and bring the best of those to you below.

Blowup 1: The manager of the Rome Braves disagrees with an umpire's assertion that the flyball one of his players hit was a foul ball. The first minute his simply yelling and nothing special, but it gets interesting (read as: original) at the 1:10 mark.

Blowup 2: Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox holds the all-time record for being thrown out of the game. For years, the Braves have had an excellent farm system that produces quality major league players and seems to be training the managers in the same light. This clip features Phil Wellman, and more importantly features incredible comedic action the entire clip.

Blowup 3: I have no idea who this is or what happened. The manager didn't really go nuts, but I love this video for two reasons. First of all, it must be noted that this umpire had to work the field since it's tough for an oompa loompa to see over the catcher. More notably, I think you have to appreciate the effort that the umpire put into running the coach. You just don't see form like that from Major League Umpires.



Blowup 4: This is the most defensive reaction I've ever seen an umpire have.



Blowup 5: Just to prove that getting tossed isn't exclusive to the minors, I bring you a clip of former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver. The best part of this clip is that the conversation is clearly audible and genuinely funny. Be warned though, arguments with Weaver tend to be rather non-PC and contains extensive strong language.