[rjhouchin]

Scott:

I tried to send you a private response instead of a public one but you do not accept them.

First of all, you have my apology. Nothing that I said was intended to be directed at any individual in this forum.
When I used the word "You" my intended use of the word was the plural meaning Officials in general (in my experience) not "You" singular, as an individual.

I did not miss the line where you admitted to booting an occassional call.

It remains my opinion, despite all the clinics and training available today, that the quality of the officiating in general has been diluted by the explosion in the number of teams and has deteriorated significantly as has the quality of the play at the major league level.

I completely agree with your comment with regard to my father and have never regretted his position on the rules.
Even when we played pick up games in the yard or at the local parks, he insisted that we play by the letter of the rule book.

With regard to seeing you personally umpire a game, I refer you to the discussion of "You" above. The comment was directed at a general group, not you as an individual.
I have had umpires tell me, "I call a high strike zone" or
"I call a low stike zone." I have never seen, in any rule book, the term "High Strike Zone" or "Low Strike Zone."
The Stike Zone is defined in the rule book and should be called accordingly. Major league baseball has made a mockery of this rule.

With regard to your opinion of me as a coach I would respond, "Do you know me? Have you ever seen me coach a single game? Talk about making self-serving assumptions."
I have seen, however, thousands of games, and, as a general rule, have seen multiple errors per game, both on the field, from coaches and from the officials. I accept it as a part of the game. My issue remains with those officials who claim (1) that they don't make any and (2) that if they do, any consequences are still my teams fault for not having scored more runs. In a championship game, down by one run, the bases loaded, two outs and my .650 average best hitter at the plate, the youngest and non-experienced player on the team at first base stepped off of first and back on and was called out (game ending third out) for hesitation, my response was as follows. I told the offending girl (and team) that it was an unfortunate loss, that it was my fault for not having made certain the girl knew an understood the rule, however, that the sun would still come up the next day and that her dad (and I) would still love her. That girl is a highly succesful neurosurgeon today and still sends me a Chritmas card every year. Accepting responsibility has never been a problem here. You are way off target with your remark.

In a game I was watching recently at a local rec league, on a dropped third strike, the catcher picked the ball up and chased the batter to the pitchers circle where the batter then made a right turn to first base. The catcher lobbed the ball over the runner to the first baseman who caught the ball while in contact with the bag prior to the arrival of the runner. The ruling of the home plate official, "Safe - Obstruction".
I made the comment, to my dad sitting next to me, that the runner was out for multiple reasons. The "official" hearing this then ejected me from the park on penalty of forfeit of the team affected by this call if I did not leave. I had no affiliation with either team.
The batter was out for being out of the base path while being chased with the ball by the catcher, the batter was out because the ball arrived at first ahead of her, the first baseman, standing in fair territory, cannot obstruct anyone in catching a ball thrown from the pitchers mound and the runner, who ran into the first baseman in fair territory while she was catching the ball is also guilty of and out for interference with the play. This official was also president of the league. I will take parents out of the stands over his kind on any occassion.
I will take someone with no concept of the rules over the above types ( and they are rampant here) as well as the "high strike zoners" and the "low strike zoners."
In a game my daughter was pitching in, the home plate official actually kicked dirt on the plate and cleaned a stripe about 2" wide down the middle. My daughter walked down to the plate and cleaned it off with her glove, whereupon, the official ejected her. She was 11 years old, and devastated. She never pitched again. Most officials that I have encountered have no concept of the consequences of their actions.
You are correct, winning is not everything, however,
taking a loss, as a result of an obvious blown call by some mindless geek is no fun either.
With regard to the remark, "What the hell, they are only girls" I can produce the name of the league, the names of the board members and the year that this occurred. The official was banned from the league. (It is of no consequence to me whether you believe or not.)
I applaud your chairty benefit work, however, you are still paid most of the time. I am paid, NEVER. I spent over $ 8,000.00 to bring the King and His Court here for an appearance to "Benefit" the local college team. The game, held in the local Minor League Stadium, was video taped.
I have copies (just in case you doubt that too.)
Incidently, I can also produce the names of the ASA Official who tried to have me suspended for a year after my "white cane" remark and the name of the ASA Official who reviewed the video tape of the incident and agreed that I had been right (therefore refusing to suspend me) as well as the name of the coach my daughter was playing for at the time. [That same team went to Minnesota, from California, and was eliminated (while playing a Minn team with a Minn official, when our player was tagged between first and second with an empty glove {ball in the throwing hand} for a game ending double play, also video taped.]

All one can ask, from any human, is that they do the best that they can do. The incidents I have described are a long way from "the best that they can do."

Scott, I found happiness a long time ago. I sincerely hope you do the same. In following my daughters for 18 years, from age six through college (they took their team to a number four national ranking) I have been all over the US, Canada, Australia, China and Japan with them. The Fireworks tournament in Colorado, the Spring Break tournaments in Florida, Regionals, Nationals (including a third place finish - 16U at Rockford) and had a grand time all the way.

In summary, then, let me remind you that my issue was and remains, Officials who refuse to accept (1) that they too make errors and (2) that those errors do have an effect on the game.

Best Regards,
Bob