TA. This is a subject htat has been debated endlessly and will continue ad nauseum.
I guess the first question to be answered is; who are the volunteers that work the various Series and how were they chosen.
In LL, volunteerism is the driving force for favorable assignments. Seniority is also huge. Seniority is where the major problem lies. Some of these WS umpires are, and have always been horseshit. Why? inadequate training. There were no adequate training programs when they started umpiring.
This has all changed, however. In the past dozen years, the training programs have improved dramatically. There are thousands of properly trained volunteer umpires that are at least as qualified to work with the paid veterans.
Do I see horseshit paid umpires? Absolutely!! Why? because they are inadequately trained, although they, along with volunteers, think that they ARE well trained. These guys should be classified as "Buggy Whip" umpires. They were necessary when horses were our primary source of transportation.
When the automobile came into vogue, the buggy whip was history.
Our "Senior" umpires have simply failed to
modernize their techniques with our modern times. TA, I am betting that you are an excellent umpire. Are you? Are the mechanics you use from the '50s or the '90s? I'll bet, from your posts I have read the past couple of years, you are a '90s type of umpire; you try to learn something every game. I would venture to say that most "newer" umpires strive to learn and learn and learn. I'll bet that our "Senior" umpires mindset is that "I have been doing it this way for 25 years" They would be wrong and it is impossible to convince them otherwise.
This is where the "good ole boy" network rears it's ugly head. Favors are owed and paid off. My good buddy, but shitty umpire, has earned a shot at the glory. And, he gets it.
Hence, the fallacy that ALL volunteer umpires eat shit and bark at the Moon.
Because I AM a volunteer umpire, I am embarrassed by some of the shoddy performances I have witnessed the past few days. When it comes to National exposure, LL should put its best foot forward and show off some of the real talent that has been buried by our "Senior" lords.
When I worked the WRLL Tourn. in '98, I was surrounded by "good ole boy" incompetence. Out of the 14 umpires assigned, only six were competent to be there. Frustration? In Spades.
When all these favors have been paid off (probably another five years or so), the real talent will manifest itself.
I'm 57. I am, or was on the list to work the LL WS. In the West, that equates to an 8 to 12 year wait. In the South, I understand there is an umpire with 6 years total experience working the LLWS.
You think you get frustrated just watching these abominable umpires. Think how frustrated umpires like me are watching guys that couldn't get a local assignment during regular season.
Thanks for listening, TA. I get pissed like this once a year along about this time.
Dave Davies
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quote:
Originally posted by T Alan:
I have watched the Big League Championship Game, the Pony championship Game, something called the "Senior" Babe Ruth Championship game, all on my Dish.
These games, alng with the current LLWS, have one thing in common.
The umpires in all these games are working for FREE.
Now this is an easy explaination of why I have seen HORRIBLE umpiring in all these games - but my question is -
Why do these "World Series" championships establish the most important administrative job (umpiring) simply to people who will work for free RATHER than spending some money and have upper level qualified umpires do the games.
I have simply given up watching these games. It is not worth my frustration.
T Alan
Member that is Large