[socalumps]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

You get cold donuts and coffee at your clinics??

Gotta disagree with you, again. A signal is just that, a signal. Meant to convery a message. The best way to convey that message clearly to everyone in a ballpark is to give a universal signal, not some variant that you or I choose to use.

In your opinion, then, where should this morphing of signals end. Is it okay for me to point to the ground for a strike, if that is my desired strike call? Where do we draw the line?

I am also telling you that there are some signals in the groups of umpires you named that fail to convey the message. I have been at a MLB park where, due to my angle to the plate, I couldn't see the little side point, and due to my distance from the plate I couldn't hear a call. THAT umpire failed to communicate to me and the hundreds of fans around me. Had he come up with a big, clear, hammer, we all would have known what the call was.

To me, the hokey is with those people who feel we should "express ourselves" on the field rather than use the prescribed signals.

Since there are differences....who's prescribed signals?