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Boy, either you guys have exceptionally thin skin (and you're umpires???), or someone sees themselves in Elaine's comments.
I've been away from the board for several weeks (personal and business schedule), so I thought maybe there was some particularly strong vitriol I had missed, so I just went back to the original thread and re-read it.
All she said was that most of the umpires there were very good, but a couple were out of their league. She implied that they may have been selected by local politics rather than on merit.
I've been to a lot of tournaments, at a lot of levels (not 18U Gold, tho), and at every tournament I see an umpire to two that I wonder "why is he calling that level of game."
Can you honestly say you haven't seen the same? Honestly?
Were there umpires at the 18U Gold that did not merit being there? How would I know - I wasn't there, and I would not be qualified to evaluate them anyway. But, based on my experience with how umpires get assigned everywhere else, the probablility of there being an umpire or two there who were over their head is greater than 50%. I'd say maybe a lot greater than 50%.
Thicken your skin. Truth is truth.
Paraphrasing Mike in the tread about LL umpires...
I don't believe anyone questions the dedication to the game of 18U Gold Umpires. Just because we talk about them is no big deal, we talk about all umpires in the same manner.
And, like it or not, Elaine has a point. If you go to a NC, it is not a far-fetched possibility that you will see someone who you know just does not belong there and I don't see why 18U Gold would be any different.
[Edited by Dakota on Aug 23rd, 2004 at 02:07 PM]
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Tom
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