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One guy in my association wears his shinguards on the outside of his pants. Another woman calls pitches that bounce on the plate strikes. They refuse to change because they don't care, and they know the need for umpires is great. My association used to have much bigger problems, but about 4 years ago we got a new UIC. He is the one that got me started in umpiring, and has mentored a group of us on how to do things right. Add that to the competent vets, and right now we're building a pretty strong group of umpires. The bad ones are being phased out.
Don't think people can't tell who are the good and bad umpires. We know, my UIC knows, most of the coaches know.
The problem is there are simply too few umpires, and sometimes they have to use less dedicated folks to get all the games done. I'm not saying this is right, just that is how it is.
Do the best you can do - the teams deserve that. Try and find a good partner that you can work with repeatedly and who's commitment is similar to yours. If you have the opportunity to mentor someone, try and help get them on the right path.
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Sara
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