Please stop reading into everything David. Who cares who has what call and who has it when. You are talking about basic mechanics are the same at every level? In what sport. There is always differences. Believe me, if you work with enough ex-Pro Umpires, believe me, they will tell you things that are not in the the NF Mechanics book. And considering in baseball, many umpires do not even do Fed, but do levels that they do not have to take a single test to be an umpire, you cannot tell me everyone agrees. Many people do not even do NF ball, and I have not seen mechanics books personally in other codes. So I really do not know where you got that from but all areas are just not the same. Maybe you have, but I have never seen a mechanics book in Babe Ruth, Legion, LL, or any of these levels that people do.
And my point about "interference" was that you do not appeal "interference." This is not like a checked swing. You do not go to your partner and say, "did he interfere?!!!" You either have it or you do not. You do not wait for the other guy. And if you do not wait, then it is not your call. I think you guys need to get together on this, because that is not what everyone said. They said that this call was only the PU's call. I showed you references from the NF Mechanics book, you either accept it or you do not. But this was a NF game, so I really do not care about what other codes do as it relates to this game. When I do a level, I try to do what is acceptable for that level, I do not take things back and forth. At least I do not try to.
And let me say this, I officiate Football, Basketball, Baseball and have done Softball. I have not thrown out a coach in any of these sports in about 4 to 5 years. If I have had a problem, I would have had to do something at some point. If I had problems with people, I would have surely had to throw someone out. I have not even come close, and I personally take no pride in giving unsportsmanlike fouls, technical fouls, or restricting coaches to the dugout or throwing a coach out. I take it personally when I have to do such things, and I try my best to avoid those situations. By being approachable and open to discussion I have not needed to take these kind of actions very much at all. So if I have a problem with others, I sure would do better in this category by throwing people out on a regular basis. And as it relates to officials, the only officials that I have ever had any problems with in my career, were people that I did not even know or had hardly met. I had a guy once in basketball (fat and nasty looking official, with non-leather shoes) that was mad at my and my partner because we came in his association and in his words "we were taking his games." We were good, and he was mad that we did not "pay our dues" in his association. But every single official that I have worked with on the field or court has always got along with me very well.
And finally, umpires and officials to me are competition. Because if I do a game, that usually means someone is not doing it. So if I do varsity or college, I have to take the attitude for me to be there, that means someone is not good enough to be there, or I took someones place to be there myself. And believe me, if I am doing a varsity or college contest, someone wants to be in my shoes. So I do what I feel is right and what I was taught. I share my philosophies, if you want to listen you can, if you do not, I personally do not care. Your success and my success are going to be based on what I do, or what you do, not what we do together. And if we all agreed, then this board or any board would not be relevant in any way. I wish I had the power to tell you that what I think is the only way to go, but in the real world that I live that is not what is realistic. So if you have a different attitude about what you do, you are only going to grow if the people around you think you are doing what is right. I have to do the same
Peace.