[Rich]

Originally Posted by Shmuelg

It's always amazing what you hear when you expand your circle of friends and acquaintances. We indeed were taught that a good umpire (bb and sb the same) is one you don't notice is there.

What I meant by "invisible" is that it's not as if the blue isn't there at all, but it's that the players, coaches, and fans are concentrating on the playing of the game, not on where the umpire is, what kind of call he's making, was is good or bad or "hey blue, ask for help" on too many instances.

My point was that perhaps I should change the way I make these calls, instead of enunciating the word, make it a bit more generic (yet still forceful), so the players and coaches won't say "Hey, that's Shmuel behind the plate there", they'll just know there's an ump there, and leave it at that.

Shmuel

Maybe you should stop worrying about being invisible. Unless you are a terrible umpire, in which case it would be a fantastic idea.