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Old Sun Mar 28, 2004, 05:55pm
IRISHMAFIA IRISHMAFIA is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: USA
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Originally posted by IRISHMAFIA


And as I tell the umpires who work in my area, if you allow that to happen, you have no one to blame, but yourself.

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Incorrect! This is the decision of the "powers that be" that run the privately owned complex. For years the UA that umpires for this complex have asked the owners to keep the intoxicants out of the dugouts, and for that matter, out of the park during game time. The owners steadfastly refuse. The local PARD that contracts with them for slow pitch leagues seem unwilling to buck the owners on this particular rule as well. Game control is never an issue. You get drunk, speak your mind, and you are gone. No big deal.
What do you mean it is no big deal? Of course, it's a big deal if the umpires are walking away from the game because of it.

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As for tossing players simply because they may have had a few too many, we are strictly told not to do that, until they become verbally abusive to other players or to officials.
Do you have that in writing and signed by an officer of the management? If not, quess who is going to get sued when some idiot is on the field under the influence and takes a line-drive in the face? Are you that confident of your insurance to risk that?
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However, the varying levels of play diminish as the overall team level of intoxication increases. That, plus the continual aggrivation from drunk wanna be Ty Cobbs, is why so many able officials walk away from the SP game in this area.

How can you possibly be so crass, then, as to place the blame on the officials?
You place yourself in that position. Don't take it. Throw them out! Where the hell is your association? When I'm umpiring, I am representing ASA and my local association. If the owners are afraid of the players, tell them to go work the games.

There use to be a huge Independence Day tournament in Northern Delaware. It use to draw 160-180 teams, mostly from PA, North Jersey and the NYC area. Our local associations use to lose a minimum of two umpires a year due to the abuse the visiting teams would bring. They are away from home and think they are untouchable. Finally, my predecessor stood up at state clinics and told umpires that he would not work this tournament and suggested other umpires do the same. I couldn't disagree with him, but I worked a year as the UIC in an effort to save this tournament for ASA.

It was nothing more than a position to rule on protests and monitor the games. A Coors Light team from North Jersey had a player shove one of the umpires. Unfortunately, the umpire was a GAGA and just backed off. As the UIC, I would not stand for it and insisted that the director of the alleged sports club tell the team that player was no longer welcomed on the field. I was told the team would be warned and they should not do it when they come back next year.

The following general meeting of the local association, I joined the UIC in his assessment of the tournament and suggested they not work it as there is no support for them from the club pocketing some serious bucks from the tournament.

They had to cancel the following year as they couldn't get umpires to work it.

It wasn't anything against the sports club running the show, it was a matter of protecting the umpires who pay their dues and attend the clinics. If I never do anything else as a UIC, I will always do everything I can to protect the umpires who walk on the field and officiate the games assigned.

The blame I lay at the feet of the officials is that if you and your association allow such things to occur, shame on both of you.

I constantly fight the impression that SP is nothing, but a bull**** game with a bunch of swill-drinking, beer-bellied players. Meanwhile, there are people out there who have allowed this impression to permeate throughout the softball community and perpetuate the fallacy by kowtowing to those who ignore their resources because they cannot take their eyes off the dollars they are counting.

I am not blaming the officials for walking away, but for not exercising their right to take part in the governing of their association. I blame the associations for not protecting their umpires. Anyone in the business world will tell you there is a difference between signing a new account and contracting a good account. All work contracted is not necessarily good work.

It's not a matter of being crass, but a challenge for the umpires to take the lead in the future of the game of softball. No person should have to endure what many believe sports officials should take just because it is offered in a competitive situation. Wasn't it the governer or congressman from a Midwest state last year make the statement that there are times he thought a sports official should get hit? If I remember correctly, that state's assembly failed to pass a act protecting sports officials from abuse that same week. If the only way to provide the adequate protection and leadership is to dump some players, why would anyone hesitate?

JMHO,
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