[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by David B

I have to agree. Having participated on many of the other boards for the last several years, its refreshing to read what umpires might be questioning about the rules.

It waste a lot of time dealing with obvious rules that anyone could look up in any rule book if they just would take the time.

I have to disagree with you, David. And with Tee.

Every umpire can improve, both self-image and application of the rules, by listening to/reading "stupid" questions.

Be honest. When someone posts a question that seems trés simple, our (my!) reaction is: "Gosh, I know that. Why doesn't he?" The teacher in eighth grade American History asks: "Can anyone explain why George Washington was not the first president?" One or two hands will shoot up - and explain when called upon that GW was the first president "under the constitution of 1787."

The students who already knew the answer don't "learn" anything. But their self-esteem is not shattered either.

In every learning environment, there are those who already know the material, those who have a guess, and those who haven't a clue.

Think about it: I took American History in junior high, went back to the course (in two semesters) in high school, and took the required two semesters of American history as part of my basics at college. I learned material in every course even though by college I already knew the facts.

I have a suggestion that would solve everybody's problem. We get one of the elementary questions: As soon as someone answers it correctly, everyone else can drop the thread. For example, this thread would have been two posts long under those guidelines.

Motcoach asks the question, Coach JM answers correctly: end of story. Those who know the answer feel superior, and those who don't will learn.

Increasing self-esteem is one reason.

There's a second, possibly more important reason; i.e., building a list of questions with "obvious" answers helps us train beginning umpires. (And coaches)

Over at eTeamz, there's a great little collection compiled by Jim Booth called "The Myths of Baseball."

So, I'll make this offer: Submit to me ([email protected]) your collection of "stupid questions." We'll build our own list. I'll make it a free article on the paid site, refer to it frequently, and update it periodically.

Of course, most of our list will echo Jim's, but our explication and explanation will differ. "Ideas" can't be copyrighted, and we naturally would give Jim credit for that idea.

Increased self-esteem ("Hey, I know that," as my hand shoots into the air) and explaing to candidate umpires that they should look for a coach to say this ("And here's your reply"): Strikes me those are certainly reasons enough not to shoo away all the beginners. (And remember, not every beginners is LL. Some are Pony, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, etc. - grin)

BTW: Youth ball features rules based on OBR, but each organization has its own quirks. That, for me, is sufficient to keep me interested. Someone has suggested a BRD for Youth Ball. We're mulling it over.