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Originally Posted by 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.
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Well, I'm a firm believer in giving someone a second chance. Sometimes, these guys don't realize how bad they are until the consequences catch up with them. Other times, these guys never learn.
I had tossed one guy after arguing a judgment call too much, then making it a personal issue (I don't remember what was said, but it wasn't pleasant). After getting tossed, he unleashed a flurry of profanities in my direction, and he continued to do so all the way to the parking lot. The league organizer gave him a one-game suspension.
It was at that point that I told my assignor that I wouldn't do any league games for that municipality anymore. I continued to do the church league games for a year, but decided I'd had enough of that, too.
The remarkable thing is that the other municipality shares a large border with the first municipality, yet the atmosphere is completely different. There, the players know that the town will not tolerate any crap, period. The tone of those games has improved dramatically since then.