Wow.
First, I tried to make the email not too horribly long when describing the actions that transpired, and horribly failed.
Then I realize I probably didn't paint the picture of this guy very well when I described it here, if that is the response I got here.
I hope I'm not every umpire's worst nightmare. I'll have to consider that going forward. I think I'm pretty reasonable with my umpires, and work with them pretty well. Maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway...
I do work on the field as well, and work about as much as any of my other umpires. When I'm on the field, I'm an umpire, not an assignor or UIC, and I try not to even discuss assigning issues on the field. I back up my partner, even if I saw it differently from far away (and I know when to admit that he was closer to the play than I was when I do see things differently). I'm aware that we all make mistakes, and that I do as well.
And don't forget that my first inkling of a problem with this guy was when I was working with him.
I think anytime 1 coach calls to complain about an umpire, MOST of the time, it's just to grouse over a loss and misplace blame for the loss on someone other than himself. I don't place a lot of faith in a coach's opinion of a particular umpire --- it takes much more than one coach calling about an umpire to make me wonder if possibly they are right. I've even had the pleasure of taking the occasional phone call about how bad an umpire was that night, learning that the umpire in question was me.
However, when BOTH coaches complain, via separate phone calls, and the complaints are about generally the same thing - I think that does indicate a problem, at least with that particular game.
I'm confused that you seemed upset that I evaluated him from the stands. Other than working with him (at which point I really have more responsibilities to the game than just watching him), how would you prefer I evaluate him after what sounded like a legitimate set of complaints?
I could have lived with an explanation that he was having a bad night, he had sick kids at home he was worried about, or even that he didn't see things that way.
What bothered me most about the conversation was that he KNEW he'd made the wrong calls on some plays - not in retrospect, but when he made them; and he made the bad calls intentionally. Also, he made at least 2 calls he didn't even see, and didn't seem to see a problem with making such a call. Also, during the conversation, his attitude was very cavalier, almost like he was thinking, "Yeah, yeah, whatever - I'll say whatever I need to just to end this conversation, but have no intention of listening."
But even then - like you said, it was just one bad night. I honestly hoped that after we'd talked, he'd not intentionally make bad calls to get home early, and he'd only call what he saw. I also knew that if I showed up to watch - that would be the 1 game he called correctly (and he'd be nervous, knowing he was being watched, and that might cause him to have a bad game). My friend that I sent was a UIC elsewhere. I didn't even tell him why I wanted him to watch, or even which umpire I was concerned about. (Actually, I didn't even tell him I was concerned about one at all - I just asked him to show up and watch the umpires. It could have been because I wanted to show him how good an umpire was for all he knew.) But when he called, it was obvious to him, and he even made a similar comment, "Looked to me like this guy just wanted to get home."
If this guy had shown me any reason to keep him, I would have. He's been doing this a while, and even though I don't respect his ethics anymore, I do respect his rules knowledge. Like I said, though, most of my umpires complaints are that they don't get enough games as it is. Other than that 1 night where the two of us worked solo, I've not had much of a problem filling the field, and have even gone so far as to calling the league to ask if they minded if we worked with 3 umpires for certain games (getting permission (and pay) for this about half the time).