[tcblue13]

Partner issues have given me more trouble than anything else.

I was doing 3 games last week (NSA Men's Modified) that had 70 min time limits. My partner was the PU in the first game. F1 would be ready, F2 would be ready, B1 would be ready, BU (Me) would be ready, and partner was still in the dugout wiping down with a towel and drinking water. The guys on the field commented about it. But, he has that reputation. When he was walking up before the game, 4 other umpires were breathing a sigh of relief that they did not have to work with him and when I asked why, I was told that he was the slowest umpire in the land. The two games in which I was PU went significantly faster even though he wanted to call the third game when it started raining, "We can't let them play in this; the outfield is already slick."
It was not raining that hard and the season is winding down with few opportunities to make up games. In my judgement, it was not dangerous to play so we continued as it rained off and on through the rest of the game.

While I'm ranting There was one play in which a player attempted a bunt which went straight down and hit the batter on the leg as he was beginning to run so I killed the play by loudly calling "Foul ball." BU comes running in and yelling, "Was he in or out of the box?" I told him, "He was in the box." He said OK and walked back to his position in the field. I felt like he was showing me up and that he did not think that I knew the rules. To be honest, it peeved me. I am considering calling the UIC. Would you?

Thanks for letting me get that off my protector