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I guess LL should hire off-duty or retired MLB umpires to umpire an amateur game between 12-year-old (league age) kids that are under the direction of volunteer coaching staffs composed of Dads who were willing to give their time. We can get (I know he's gone) Eric Gregg and his truck-sized strike zone to handle the plate, Rich Garcia (Maier-man) to call fan interference, and Don Denkinger to make the calls at first. We can get the recent crew from Boston to make HR vs. Double calls. Heaven knows those pros never make mistakes like those Bozo LL umpires. How about Ron Luciano (also gone) and his theatric calls, or Dutch Rennert and his strike call. Those were certainly not worthy of a professional ump - OH WAIT - they were professional umpires. If we can't get the pros, maybe we can get the guys that called this year's NCAA CWS. Those opposite-batter's-box strikes were certainly interesting - even Tee commented on them.
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Rich my main comment is this:
I believe most of us gave koodos over the previous 2 years for the umpires at the Regionals and ultimately LLWS.
This year and I would think you would admit the umpiring has been sub-par to say the least
Therefore, what happened from the previous 2 years in which we saw good quality umpiring to this year?
The following is a pure guess on my part.
Perhaps some of the umpires selected during the past 2 years also did "other" ball even some NCAA Division I level ball. Perhaps Word got around that when Tournament time approached - The "heavy weights" would be chosen which would leave out the dedicated volunteers who yearned for a shot at a Regional or LLWS game.
Again strictly a guess but it does seem strange that the quality from the previous 2 years has gone down hill. "something" had to change
Pete Booth