[kcg NC2Ablu]

Originally Posted by wadeintothem

Thats terrible. You dont need a secret signal.. Rundowns are not rocket surgery. If you are boxing the play and you just say "I got 3" or whatever, then your partner SHOULD know that if the play is in that direction, its yours, if its in his direction, say 2, its his. You dont need to touch your ears or do top secret stuff, just speak. A good partner hears and understands what it means and knows what to do. I got other things to do that to watch an umpire to see if he his touching his ear. If I scratch my @ss in response, that means, speak, so I know what the heck you are doing.

First of all its not secret if you pre-game... second of all you are communicatiing with your partner. I have worked wiht a guy who wears hearing aids and cant here all that well so when you scream Ive got third he mau\y not here you. Third of all that signal allows your partner to keep their eyes on the action and let you know that he/she knows youve came down to help. Also what if you cant here them respond. now you have no signal no verbal and you sir are Fd because you dont know what your partner is doing and you dont know what you should be doing because you have to react to your partner in that situation. Also you knowing what you should be doing is great and the key to setting up success but your partner not knowing or even if your partner knows and doesnt let you know you are still screwed. BTW that ear thing is in the NCAA manual not NFHS so I am not saying go and do it and that mechanic was put in the manual by Ed Crane and Emily Alexander along with the other people in the national umpire improvement program Who really know what is good and what is not good. The low profile thing is like the same with asking for outs and giving the response in NCAA its done on the pants as to keep your arms in and not be signaling to god and everybody that you have two outs. The ear thing is not the only communication that should be done but it is CERTAINLY a helper.