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How about the view from just a working stiff? I don't assign umpires. I don't UIC at tournaments.
My local association only has 3-4 big tournaments per season (that our association contracts to supply umpires for), plus local league games in a half dozen communities. We're a pretty small assiciation.
I always block out the weekends for our tournaments. Sometimes, though, I have gotten burned when the tournament was smaller than expected, but it was too late to find other work. On one of those occasions, though, our assignor did find me another tournament (on his own volition) before he called to say he would not need me.
Once I book a game, it is a commitment by me to do that game. It doesn't matter what other opportunites come up. If I want to do something else, it is my responsibility to find a replacement for the game I agreed to do. At least, that is how I conduct myself.
I don't have the same loyalty to our state tournaments as I do to the local association's tournament. I think that is because the state association has been in constant turmoil from the JO perspective for several years and there really is no one to have loyalty TO, except for the institution.
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Tom
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