OK, here's my 2 cents worth.

I was at the tournament. And first, I was extremely honored to have been selected to this tournament. Now, here is my take.

First of all, I was always told from the time I was selected what the pay would be. And it didn't change between then and when I got my paycheck. I was also very pleasantly surprised when we got a travel "stipend". This, I was not expecting. I have heard of umpires in different associations who had to pay their way to prestigious tournaments, and didn't get any kind of offset for their travel. Now, I do know of umpires working extra games because certain umpires got ill/injured. This actually happened to me. I picked up an extra game, but the umpire I called for, turned around and paid me her game fee, since she was paid for this game. So it all worked out!

Now, I know the schedule for championship Sunday was changed "numerous" times. And yes, I did hear about umpires turning in games. What I never heard, was, why they were turned back in. But, there were some umpires who had airline flights booked for Sunday, so, this may have had something to do with them turning assignments back in. Of all the umpires I talked to who had Sunday games, none of them turned them back in. But then again, I was just happy to get a Sunday assignment.

Now, as for the umpires at this tournament. I had a blast and enjoyed my time their. I met some great umpires and even got to work with some of them also. I would be more than happy to go back.

Serg