[Tim C]

Jim Mills has hit the nail directly on the head.

I have never tried to hide that my priorities when it comes to umpiring.

1) Money

2) Power

3) Love of the Game (way down the list)

Now I don’t think there is anything wrong with that philosophy. I feel the nothing is worth doing unless it can be measured (i.e. I would never think of playing golf without keeping score). Earning money gives an umpire two distinct advantages:

a) You can buy new gear and be as professional as possible,
b) You clearly separate yourself from a group of noble volunteers that truly work “for the kids”.

The main challenge as I see it is that programs want more (more games, more participants, more fields) with less . . . hey dollars are harder and harder to find. There has to be a break point.

In my humble opinion bfair missed one major point: “I don’t think today’s youth respects authority as much as the generation previous.” b, tell you what, if you didn’t umpire, referee or officiate sports during the Vietnam War era you know nothing of disrespect. It was far worse than ANYTHING you see now.

All sports in my area (Portland, OR) have a shortage of officials. There is a very complex reason:

1) Many high school sports start games as early as 3:30pm. This means that a normal 9 to 5 worker must find a way to leave work and get to the game in time for the start. This means that MANY of the umpires in our group are from a small group of people, educators.
2) Many high schools have developed a “no-cut” philosophy in sports. If someone wants to play they will field a team. This dilutes the pool of available officials even farther.
3) The advancement of Women’s (Girl’s) Athletics. Title Nine not only said that the teams will be available but they will be equal. This means that the same number of officials now work two gender’s of athletics.
4) Cronyism. Young officials have the burning desire to move up the chain. When I was a newbie I thought I should have had the biggest game in town every night – but I was cradled and taught my time would come. New officials, at least in my experience, now want to move up faster than the status quo wants them to, couple that with all the classes, clinics and training devices now the INVESTMENT by some of these people is enormous AND they want to advance to gain those funds back.

So I selected to retire from umpiring this winter. It really doesn’t matter to any of you WHY I called it quits after 33 seasons and 3,146 games however the reason fits this thread.

I got tired of the “shit”. Sorry I know no better word.

I got tired of fighting through traffic to get to the site, I got tired of my partners showing up 3 mins to game time, I got tired of players never thinking they did wrong, I got tired of coaches beefing about rules that didn’t even understand, I got tired of fans (just because they’re fans).

In the last two years I spent over $3,000 on gear, $2,000 on training, I studied all types of rules hard, I fought with the UIC of the Internet. What did it get me, little satisfaction and no respect.

I think we are heading for a problem with finding officials. As long as the economy is good there is little reason for people to gravitate to a profession that has few rewards.

I have spent a large portion of my umpire life training and teaching new umpires. I was told this year that what I was teaching was a travesty . . . was NOT the “way to do it!” So, with a little self pity, I said screw it.

At 51 years I know that I would never be as good an umpire as I once was . . . it was easy for me to walk away . . . I will miss the smell of newly cut infields, I will miss the look of a newly lined field, I will miss the battles between pitcher and hitter, I will miss seeing a young Shortstop go into the whole and throw out “the fat kid”. I will not, however, miss the devalued respect given to people who have worked their entire lives to be as good as their simple talents allow them.

There is a problem and it is just beginning.






[Edited by Tim C on Jan 30th, 2001 at 10:52 PM]