[Mountaineer]

In our area, our board has a contract with the School Masters Association - the principals. That's who we negotiate our payment with. The schools in the greater Charleston area are required to use our association for softball games. When schools turn in their schedules to us at the beginning of the season, they can scratch umpires - it's the coaches scratch list not the AD's. Once the schedule is done there's never been the ability to scratch anyone. Our individual contracts are implied through our association. We send out their scheduled umpires and they know ahead of time who they have. Heck, when I left the field the other night the coach said - "See ya next week!"

I'm very, VERY tempted to keep this game on principal. I'm having lunch with a lawyer tomorrow - not for this purpose - but I'm gonna run it past her and see what she thinks. If this AD wins on this one - it could be bad for every other official, regardless of sport, in our area.