[AtlUmpSteve]

Tony, I don't disagree with any of your statements, but I think they are off the point. Universal background checks on game officials in any sport are (in my opinion) generically a waste of time, resources, and misguided.

The fact that any umpire ever created even one offense is true, but the risk is essentially minute. At no time is a game official in unsupervised contact with a game participant; the odds of catching a random offender are staggering, roughly similar to the odds that any two random people will meet in the universe. Clearly, other than the perception of needing to do something/anything to protect our youth, any rational person would undestand that the greater risk and more liklihood of a problem would occur when a child is left one-on-one with someone.

Obviously, many agencies are mandated background checks on head coaches; fewer mandate all assistand coaches. Practically no one checks the parents who simply help the team from time to time; and I venture to guess that absolutely NO ONE checks all the parents and assorted family members who might hang out with team, offering to help drive, taking the child "home", giving them a ride to "practice", or even slipping away from the crowd at a tournament ("I'll walk with you to the concession stand", or bathroom, or to go get your .......). All of these are clearly greater risks than the softball umpire on the softball field with 17 (or more) other ball players, 6 or more coaches, and unknown number of parents and assorted family members, all watching for an alleged misstep by the umpire.

My personal opinion is that umpires should all get background checks as a universal program AFTER there is mandated background checks of all coaches, parents, and family members of all participants. Add a couple hundred dollars fees to all participant registrations; then see how many of the general public outcry for universal background checks on the game officials. The irony is that the travel teams, who pay thousands in fees, don't care; it is the public agencies that run recreation programs, and have limited per player fees, that seem to think that they can minimize their exposure by mandating these checks on the most minimal risks.