As much as I want to do a project rather than a paper, I think I have an opportunity in this class to explore a topic I have been itching to write about: umpires’/referees’ unions. In particular, I want to do a comparison of these unions and police unions. My current hypothesis is that umpires and referees function as police in the sporting context, and that they enjoy protections from accountability and punishment similar to those that real-world police enjoy, too.

The impetus for this exploration is the Twitter account “Welcome to the Ump Show” (@umpjob), which chronicles the worst performances of baseball umpires across Major League Baseball. I think this is DH-y enough to qualify as a pursuable research paper in this course.

I think it might be worth exploring the accountability mechanisms in other U.S. professional sports leagues, too, namely the NBA and NFL.

I am a reformed meathead who is deeply interested in using sports as a vehicle for building politics with people. This paper would be designed to activate readers’ knowledge about policing via a discussion of proto-policing through sport.

I need to get clear on some ideas and the scope of the research, but I’m getting there 🙏🏾🙏🏾