[jkumpire]

Coaches,

You need to understand something, and I am not sure you do yet.

Many of us work higher levels of baseball, or have at one time or another. The higher you go in the sport, the more importance there is placed on winning. And there all of us have seen managers who will throw their own mother under the bus to win a game. That includes trying to throw umpires under the bus, who are by definition the only objective people on the field.

When you umpire high levels of baseball, there is a level of callousness that you have to develop, because there will be times where hundreds or thousands of fans will make comments about your heritage, or say you are a %$*%^#)(_^_&*% because you made a call in a game they didn't like. It's not a whole lot different than what managers go through, their jobs rely on winning, and losing not only cost them their jobs, it kills them inside to lose.

Not only that, all of us at some time or another have seen managers do awful things to players, and umpires in a game. Geez, think about how many kids you know who were great players in your area, they go to college, and they are shunted off the team, or sit the bench for 4 years, or don't have a scholarship renewed when they get hurt or don't perform. Coaches on upper levels are paid to win first, and if they need to find player y who is better than player x, then when they find y, x is out the door and down the street. That is why HS sports are so great, it's your kids, in your town or area, warts and all. In college, it's who gets the most wins. You don't think such an attitude coaches have doesn't affect their relationships with umpires?

A lot of coaches and managers treat umpires with respect, even when umpires miss a call. But after so many times of being attacked for the right call, and so many cheap underhanded things like bad evaluations, saying nasty things in the press about us, etc. umpires get defensive. Most of us here are veteran umpires, we didn't quit when some guy tried to rip us open like an axe murderer for a call they didn't like. Unless you have been hung out to dry by some twerp of a manager in front of hundreds or thousands of people you have no idea how it feels. Just look at guys in MLB, they make hundreds of calls a game, and even when they are right, they catch flack in newspapers, radio and TV, and the internet. When a manager or player screws up, their fans are on some level forgiving. But let an umpire mess up, and he is ripped like a used sheet of paper.

So often a loss is not the players' fault, or the manager's fault, or even the other teams good play. People need to protect their ego by blaming someone, and guess who that is, the guy who calls the game fairly.

And you ask umpires not to have thick skin and a hard-nosed attitude?

You coches also have to understand that just like you guys will sit around in places and compare notes and complain about how good or bad a team, player, or umpire is, we sometimes do to. And since we can't sit down at a meeting with guys 3000 mileds away, we do it here. We don't rip you for your comments about us in private, don't rip us for what we say here.

And to the argument over who the customer is: The customer is the conference or authority who assigns us to the game. The lack of economic understanding was clear. The umpires are impartial, because they are hired and controlled by a conference or other organization, meant to be impartial. That's why X number of teams band together to have a conference, to set up fair competition between schools who want to win. Teams do not pay umpires in college BB, even though they cut checks. The conference, who selects the umpires to make sure there is no bias for one school or another, sets the rates, and sets the rules. IN HS baseball and other places, schools contract for game umpires, but they don't control the umpires, the rules used, or the judgements they make. They can decide to not hire a person again, but if they started only using guys who they like, they will get in trouble with the other group involved in the game, the other teamd who feels like they are cheated. So, Bob is right, the schools don't control umpires, conferences and sanctioning organizations do.

I'll shut up in a minute, but one or two more points: I am a member of the clergy, as some people on this board know. I do take my faith seriously, so I make it a point to "love my neighbor as myself", as most Christians do, because I know I am on display for more reasons than just my strike zone on a baseball field. That means I will put up with more stuff than many other people, even on a baseball field. And I have some great friends who are coaches, and players. I have gotten to know a lot of good people through umpiring, including coaches. But I have been burned by coaches and players who take advantage of my philosophy, and I get really irritated at them. And while I may not use the term "rats" for most coaches, I can still get pretty mad at them.

Also, you will notice that we are hard on each other as well. Look at the "smitty" thread on this site. That thread is up there because all of us as umpires have seen people who make all of us look bad. They are umpires, they dress somewhat like umpires, but their praxsis is not very good as an umpire. And these guys have made us look bad at one time or another. Most of us who are umpires here have a desire to be great umpires, because we care about the game, we care about kids/players, and we want to have a good reputation (and be paid well) as an umpire. Some object because we are harsh, others write this because maybe one day some "smitty" will read about how he is wrong in what he does, and will then get better as an umpire.

I have much more to say, but I'll let others talk ...