[greymule]

This thread is going down a dangerous path.

I agree. I'm going to delete my last post.

In terms of the violence and the abuse of officials, the townships around here always start the year spouting something about zero tolerance, but the problems don't go away. This is why so many umps will not do the "men," SP or even modified. Back around 2004, after several years of umpiring a modified league without particular incident, I had a guy physically threaten me and, after I tossed him, promise to be in the parking lot when I got there. (He didn't show up.) In the game that followed, a batter threw his bat violently (immediate ejection, of course) after he looked at a third strike, and then screamed obscenities at me until his vocabulary ran out.

The league gave each player the standard 2-week suspension for an ejection, but I refused to return, arguing that for their over-the-top behavior, those players should have been suspended for at least the rest of the season. I don't miss doing that league.