[ATI62]

Originally Posted by JIGGY

You speak as if there were some qualifications for scabs who were to work this season. I watched a little league umpire with no high school or college experience work a AAA game just the other day, .

I doubt very seriously if that is true. In fact I think it qualifies as a lie.

Originally Posted by JIGGY

To say you wanted to see if you are "good enough" is a joke. You aren't doing the real job, and even with that aren't doing well.

Why would you say he's not doing the real job? If he's on the field and getting paid it seems pretty real. Though you are certainly entitled to your opinion, usually the opinion that counts is the employers.

Originally Posted by JIGGY

If anything, getting such a phone call is really proof positive that you are not good enough to work that level of ball. How many phone calls did you receive last season to come work in the minor leagues?

Who determines who is and who isn't qualified? The umpires or the employers?
Last year the owners had a different method of selecting their umpires. The selection process has changed for the moment. You can have an opinion on the process, but your opinion apparently has no impact.

Originally Posted by JIGGY

If you want to find out if you are good enough, sack up and go to Florida in January. Spend the money, the time away from home, the bad hotel room, bad food, aching muscles, etc. to see where you come out. Bottom line, you know you don't have it in you. and a fool you really are.

The only good umpires in the entire country are only the ones who have gone to FL?
You talk like umpiring is equivalent to brain surgery. It's not
It's a worthy avocation for many, and probably a very fulfilling vocation for a few. It certainly takes time, energy, experience and drive to be good but going to school in FL is not a prerequisite to being capable.
Is a little league umpire a fool for wanting to ump HS? Is a HS varsity ump a fool for wanting to try the college level?
Why would an accomplished varsity or college ump be a fool for wanting to try his hand at the professional level?

Originally Posted by JIGGY

. But you didn't, and now you are trying to justify being a person with no integrity and poor character. You are willing to hurt a fellow man in blue, one that did have the guts to put it all on the line to pursue the dream, just so you can ease the pain of being a coward who never stepped up to take his shot at making it. If you have chosen to scab, fine, but you should do so quietly and in shame. Bragging about having accomplished something by working as a scab just highlights what a coward and a fool you really are.

How many HS games are the "pros" taking from the peasants?
Do the MiLB guys feel shame in taking games at the local level?
Because we don't have a union it's ok for them to come feed at our table, but replacements are scabs for going to their table?
It seems to me that they're striking because they don't have the guts to put it all on the line. They want the pursuit of the dream to be easier.

Who are you to try and put shame on a man pursuing his avocation?
There is no cowardice, shame or foolishness in umpiring a professional baseball game, instead, I'm sure it is a thrill of a lifetime for the replacements.
In the corporate world, if the guy above you gets peeved off and quits because he's not making enough, do you advocate that no one take the now vacant position in support of your "fellow" worker? I don't think so.
The replacement ump, unlike the union ump is on his own, lives or dies by his own deeds, doesn't have a union to file a grievance with when the soda pops aren't cold enough after the game. There is no cowardice in that.
In terms of foolishness, one man is living his dream relative to umpiring, another is watching from the cheap seats. Who's the foolish one?