Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser
I think that regardless of the sport you work, the ability to choose wisely (I work college baseball, HS varsity, and adult ball mainly, and avoid a lot of the youth ball on purpose, with the exception of Little League, which I support on numerous levels) on your schedule is key. Once we stop looking for reasons to go to the park and dread going is the time we should cut back or hang it up.
|
I believe that if you are an umpire, you should work all levels possible and treat every game with the same amount of respect and dedication. I don't prefer FP, but I would jump on the field and do the best job possible when necessary. I prefer the higher level of SP and don't mind working the recreational level, but I work both with the same intensity and commitment. I don't like working the fake players. You know, the guys who when talking to a girl in the bar is an A/B player that routinely carries his team to victory, but when talking about classifications, couldn't possibly play higher than D without getting their tail ends shellacked(sp?). But when working, I am routinely assigned to those games, and I work them the same as I would any other game.
The only time I have refused to work a certain game is a particular church league which lied out their ***. I had two absolutely terrible teams playing the back end of a cross-over (teams rotate fields after 1st game) DH. It was the 3rd inning at 8:20 PM on a field that loses light quickly at dusk and the sun had already dropped beyond the horizon. Visitors were up by 9 and there was absolutely no way I was going to get in two innings. The two other fields and the parking lot were already empty.
One team were players who had been around for a while didn't want to stop, but understood why. The other team called me every name in the book (y'all know how nice these young fundamental Baptist can be). They called the league president, told them I just called the game and left while the other two fields were still playing. Well, instead of actually picking up a phone and checking it out, he just rescheduled the game and called for an umpire.
I asked the e-board of the association to get the complaint in writing and that I would be anxious to address the accusations. Never happened. To the best of my knowledge, the league president had less backbone than Millard Filmore.
To this day, I will not work that league simply because of the lies. I can handle a lot of things, but I will not tolerate lies.