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Originally posted by cowbyfan1
Quote:
Originally posted by His High Holiness
Cowboyfan;
You wrote;
"I have earned respect from coaches, players and my fellow umpires."
Ok, I can understand how you might know if you have respect from your fellow umpires, but how in the world can you know if the coaches and players respect you. Have you:
1. Installed hidden cameras in their locker rooms to listen to their conversations.
2. Commissioned an independent survey to interview coaches and players about your umpiring.
3. Regularly get calls from your assignor telling you that he got postive feedback on your game from coaches and players.
If not, then you are engaged in delusional thinking. If you believe anything that they tell you about your performance, then you are even more delusional. Have you ever heard of an umpire saying:
"The coaches and players don't respect me."
Any umpire worth his salt is convinced that the coaches and players respect them. Have you ever heard of a automobile driver saying anything other than:
"I am a better than average driver."
Not likely. We all engage in delusional thinking by saying we are better than average. Most umpires do the same thing. I seriously doubt that coaches and players have any outside respect for you personally or your indvidual performance as an umpire. By custom, the decent ones among them respect the title that you hold. That's it.
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I am taking that I have their respect because this year to determine who called regional state playoffs we used rating from COACHES. I as a 3rd year varisty official was picked and ended up calling one of the 6A (our higest level) championship games. So obviously if they didn't think I could call they would not have rated me high.
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If you are not having problems in your games, it is more likely due to the fear that the local leagues or Athletic Directors have put into the coaches and players. You made a very telling comment in your post when you wrote:
"...and have had to dump 2 coaches (tho a few other deserved to be)"
Why didn't you do your job and dump those coaches that you admitted deserved it?
This tells me that you are a typical average umpire who sweeps discipline problems under the rug for a$$holes like me to clean up in the next game. Consider this:
You are a police chief hiring a policeman for a job and the candidate says to you:
"I have made 2 arrests for drunk driving last year but there were a few others who deserved to be but I let go." Would you hire this guy?
I can honestly say that since I had this epiphany eight years ago that I have ejected every coach and player that deserved to be ejected and maybe a few that did not deserve to be ejected.
I want policeman to arrest every drunk driver and even some who are not drunk but might be. A judge can sort out the innocent ones from the guilty later.
Peter
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By calling a good game I don't have the problems. While I have admitted I am not perfect I don't have the problems others do because it is looked at as being not the norm as far as missing things. I also treat the coaches with respect and not as rats until they prove they don't deserve it.
As far as the couple that I probably should have dumped but didn't, last time I checked I am there for the kids and I will do what I can to keep a game going. 2 of the coaches that deserved to be dump would have ended the game to a forfeit with the ejection. Maybe I am wrong for worrying about such things but in both cases the coach looked like an a$$ as opposed to me looking like I did not have control over the game. Sure it probably brought the game down a bit, but so would have a forfeit of an otherwise great game. The other I was a rookie and did not handle it properly (learning experience).
As far as your analogy about the cop and the drunk driver, I could twist it around to the father that slaps around his kid every chance he gets. Maybe the kids deserved it, maybe he did not. Who is going to sort that out? But last time I checked, this is a game and not a life and death situation that drunks or abusive parents are.
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Being a good umpire has nothing to do with summer baseball ejections. I worked 2 small college conferences (I'm in WI and that's as good as it gets around here) and as many HS games I wanted this year with zero ejections. This summer I was in double digits.
I am not there for the kids, to keep the game moving, blah, blah, blah. I'm there to umpire. If someone behaves in such a way that they need to leave, I'm going to stop and take care of business.
Someone who is there for the kids should realize that letting the coach behave badly is seen by those kids. If there's any message I'll get through to those kids it's that behaving in a bad way won't be tolerated.
If the coach pulls his team, that's his choice. I had a coach threaten that this summer after I ran him. I told him it was, as always, up to him. A parent stepped in and told the coach to get lost.
--Rich
[Edited by Rich Fronheiser on Sep 3rd, 2004 at 09:43 AM]