[JRutledge]

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
It's funny, you chastised me for name calling when I said that your name was appropriate to you officiating philosophy. Yet, I've read nothing but venom from you lately. You may dress it up in flowery parlance, but mastering our language does not mask the sentiment.

I must have stuck a cord with you. I do not recall that I have mentioned anyone specifically.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
You seem to have difficulty with anyone who is a more accomplished official than you. "Big Dogs"...does that refer to anyone at a level above you?

I can only speak for me; I have no problem with anyone accomplishing anything. There is always someone out there better than you or more accomplished than you are. If I have learned anything from all my sports that is one thing I have noticed. Even at the major levels, there are officials that have reached higher levels than many working on regular staffs. Again Windy, you do not know me really at all. So please be very careful what you think you know about me and what you want to perceive. But if you call yourself a "Big Dog,” I have to ask you why? What makes you better than everyone else out there? Were you not at some point in your career at the bottom? Were you never on the field and did not know things? If you consider yourself better than everyone else around you, I think that says something about what lack of confidence you have in your own ability.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
If I'm not mistaken, when I back up my opinions with on field examples or talk about my training, you asked why I feel compelled to post my resumé at every turn. Sorry, but when I support a claim with real world experience, I don't go back to my LL days.

There is a way to do it and there is a way not to do it. I have talked about many games and levels without trying to belittle people for it (I have learned this the hard way myself). I was once accused of giving my schedule or talking about my levels. But I always try to make it clear that I have been fortunate and got help from others in the process. Everything I have accomplished in officiating was because someone pulled me up and gave me a chance. Now once I was there I had to perform. That is the reason I have continually gotten opportunity after opportunity, but to suggest I am jealous is silly. I have not even worked 10 years. But I have been working varsity and college ball most of my umpiring an officiating career. I have nothing but more to accomplish, but I know my place. So not sure what I would be concerned with. I cannot expect to go to a Super Sectional without first being Certified and having some playoff experience.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
HHH, Carl, et al have distinguished resumés. Why chide them for that?

Well, I have never gotten upset with Carl about what he has done in his career. I have disagreed with him because I have believed that he lives in the past at times. But that is not different with any older umpire that is used to doing things one way when they were coming up, now the landscape has changed and philosophies have changed. But that does not mean I have never learned from Carl or taken on his many philosophies.

Peter on the other hand, likes to insult everyone not on his level of baseball. He just seems to like insulting people because they do not agree with his position. I really do not care what his level is at all.

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
If you differ with their opinion, be logical and eloquent enough to challenge them. But don't come here and ask for me to abstain from negative threads and name calling when you are living in a glass house.

Windy, I have been very logical and very eloquent in challenging them. Just because you disagree, does not make it so. But Peter spends half his time trying to call people names, but I guess you consider that eloquent? Peter has been upset with me and insulted me and I for the life I me do not know why? I know I have said things over the years, but what would make someone so worried about me that they have to constantly get personal? And when you have disagreed with me, you give a resume than take issue with the points people say. You even have given examples in other sports but have yet to admit being wrong on any level to back up a point of view you hold. You call that eloquent and logical?

Windy, this was not directed at you. I in no way was talking about you specifically. I really am talking about anyone that might try to convince the rest of us that they have "achieved" certain things to keep those things in perspective. Even the things I have accomplished, I do my best to keep them in perspective. There are guys in MLB, the NFL and the NBA that you have never heard of. You could not recognize them if they walked right by you. But for the most part there are people that we know them and all their many accomplishments that have worked in at those levels for years. So there have been always people that have achieved more than you have. And there are a lot of guys that made it to those levels, only to find themselves back with the rest of the pack. You might have been there, but have you done 11 College World Series as an official that I saw speak at the IHSA Convention? You tell me why he is so humble?

Peace