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From gordon30307 -
And because of this you lost the DVC not because of the quality of your officials (Umps has many excellent offcials) but simply because you couldn't cover all of the scheduled games. If we all worked together this wouldn't have occurred. There are plenty of games to go around for anyone who wants to work.
From WCB-
I despise lies and loose ends, so here goes. I will explain what happened, without using names and ridiculing those involved.
The DVC asked for UMPS to make a presentation to the ADs for the next contract period. A couple of reps went on our behalf and were met with some concerns, but nothing unusual. One of the new DVC ADs is fresh from one of our rival groups's schools. He had a good relationship with that assignor and informed him of our proposal. That assignor then made his presentation, armed with the ammo he needed. I respect that he was able to get the job done, but dont pretend that he did not sabotage our proposal. Now, we will watch them flounder about, scrapping to fill those games. When the DVC crosses over and plays a team from the WSC or another conference. They will be met by three of our studs (not two available bodies), to see what they are missing. This is what happens when one group thinks that they can act with impunity. A few years ago, the same thing happened to Elgin and Wheaton (hey, we know someone who lives there.) Colleges. They left our group for greener pastures and called us to come back - no solicitation needed.
What this says about baseball organizations in the Chicago area is that the competition for the almighty dollar is fierce...nothing more. Yes, we have many umpires that are looking for good games. I hate to break this to you, but not all of them are worthy of the challenge. There are good reasons that those DVC games went uncovered. First and foremost is there are so many games out there, guys can decide that they dont want to work underlevel games. Communication was a problem - with rain outs and rescheduling, the pool of available guys changes daily. With regards to that, we dropped the ball and knew it. It was embarrassing and unfortunate for those guys that busted their a**es all year. Lastly, loyalty to a group is not what it used to be. We schedule our members at the beginning of the year and rely on them to call when they have an open date or a rain out kills us. Sometimes they get a phone call from another assignor who has a better game and they call back to say, Ive got a doctors appointment/my car broke down/my wife has to work late/etc. Its a joke.
Our group has been asked to take on some prime schools and weve declined out of concern that our core schools would then receive an inferior product. That is going to happen with the DVC and the core schools of that organization, as well. If you only have so many good umpires and you add clients, someone is not going to get the guys they think they should. So it then falls to independents to scramble and fill in. You may feel that you are just as capable and welcome the opportunity, but the proof is in the pudding. Baseball is an entirely different animal and the ADs demand accountability. Basketball games dont get rained out. I cant recall the last football game that got cancelled because of the weather. Yet, in baseball, you have a whole lot of games that are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Further, because most conferences alternate days of the week for games and you see what happens when Mondays game is rained out and they want to make it up on Tuesday. Uh, oh, those umpires are assigned to another game already!
Im praying for a whole lot of rain in March and April. By the end of May, theyll be calling us again. But this time, the price goes up!
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