[WhatWuzThatBlue]

Before Rut railroaded the topic, another member commented about my dealing with abusive coaches at the plate conference. He asked what happened and how I handled the situations.

In the first sitch, we were working a college double header. I was working third for the first game and figured to have a coaster for the second. During the first game, the pitcher successfully picked off a runner who had strayed to far from third. If was a nutbuster for the coach who was six feet away. The throw was high but in time and I punched his player out. The guy lost it and we're taught to just ignore it. My plate partner came out and got between us and I pretended that I was watching The Horse Whisperer for the fifth time. (Blah, blah, blah...) The game ends and his team loses by a run. Off to the locker room and my first base partner starts complaining about some dirt that got in his eye and scratched the cornea. I offer to grab the dish and he gratefully accepts. We come out for the pre game and the coach thinks I've got it in for him. Before I can even tell him about the situation he says that I better toss him now because he will be all over me during the game. I look at him and oblige. Believe it or not, he just stood there with the dumbest look you've ever seen. "What? You can't throw me for that." The assistant came out and dragged him away. I explained the situation to him and he just shrugged his shoulders. That game went smoothly and I was back there a few weeks later. He walked out for the pre game and said to the other coach, "Watch what you say. This guy takes us way too seriously." The other coach laughed because he had heard what happened and said, "Why don't you just throw him out now, he's going to be all over you during the game." I smiled and said that I'm sure we'll all be on our best behavior. No hitches and his team again lost. I've seen him a dozen times over the last few years.

The only other time I had a coach say something to me at the pre game was when he barked about a call that was made against him a few weeks before. I had never seen him before, so I just listened. Since I was working first base for the first game, I usually just smile and nod. This guy was adamant that I kicked a foul ball call on him against Creighton. I said it wasn't me and he went crazy, telling me that in his thirty plus years of baseball, he knows remembers every umpire who ever screwed the pooch. My partners looked at me and I asked him when the game was. He told us and it just so happened that I was working with those two guys at another school that weekend. We all looked at each other and started to laugh. He grew angrier and wanted to know what the problem was. My partner was about to explain when I asked him to take the line ups first. Once they were in his hands, he explained that we were working at one of his conference rivals that weekend and that we were several hundred miles away. He looked at me and said, "You look just like that guy though." I smiled and said, "I'm sure a lot of outs look safe to you too." He turned red and we never heard a peep from him for either game.

Oh well, this is just the kind of thing that happens when you think you've seen and heard them all. As a correllary, I've also been told that I'm neither fair nor good plenty of times. They used stronger language but the point was the same.

Has the Time Square ball started to drop yet?