In What Serves as the Perfect Storm of Self-Importance, Louisville Closer Michael McAvene Got Ejected and Faces a 4-Game Suspension During the NCAA Tournament for Referring to a Call as "Horrible"

Louisville closer just got tossed from the game for saying “that’s horrible” to the umpire. What a joke #NCAA pic.twitter.com/oedQhzjyU3

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) June 2, 2019

WATCH: @LouisvilleBSB Head Coach Dan McDonnell stands up for closer Michael McAvene during the postgame press conference. McAvene got ejected for saying "that's horrible" during the 9th inning of Louisville's 9-7 win over Indiana. pic.twitter.com/QJE9Tso55k

— Natalie Grise (@WLKYNatalie) June 2, 2019

Official statement regarding RHP Michael McAvene’s ejection and resulting suspension: pic.twitter.com/ii9B683VRe

— Matt McGavic (@GeneralWasp) June 2, 2019

As far as college baseball is concerned, this is the perfect storm. The volatile front that is put on by umpires with fragile egos who have no qualms with abusing their power in making split second decisions that can alter the outcome of games, meets the cold front of a moronically strict institution whose rigid rulebook proudly over-punishes the "amateur" athletes they are actively exploiting while offering them no form of recourse. An ejection during the most pressure-packed moment of an NCAA tournament game, plus as automatic 4-game suspension during the postseason, all for harmlessly referring to a borderline and potential game-clinching call as "horrible" in an entirely non-threatening way. Such a shit-storm of injustice raining on the head of closer Michael McAvene and the rest of the Louisville baseball program could only be the result of a ruling made under Murphy's Law...if Murphy was a sanctimonious prick with an authority complex whose law was designed to be without amendment as if it were written in blood. 

Who knows, maybe the NCAA eventually changes their mind and acts in the interest of common fucking sense, for the first time ever, by overruling such a diabolically dumb act of discipline. That said, the fact that they didn't immediately do so speaks volumes about the objectively bad business of an organization that brings in billions on the backs of under-appreciated ball players. Their support of their own insanely sensitive and self-interested official, who could not possibly have been more in the wrong, in sticking to a nuance-free script that favors absolutely everyone else above the featured talent is hardly surprising. What it is, however, is disappointing, and that's saying a lot as the expectations of even a baseline level of intelligence out of the NCAA were already non-existent. It can't possibly be put to words, because "horrible" doesn't even come remotely close to describing the stupidity of such an undeserved suspension.