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Originally Posted by blueump
Just curious why Rich is talking to the media in the first place. I thought that was also a no-no?  |
I am an independent contractor. We do not have an association, or so the league reminded us when we tried to negotiate collectively this season. I had no problem communicating to the media when they asked for comments. At least the Madison media asked - the home team's town weekly rag wrote a blasting article and never once sought comment from us.
This league has a history of sweeping incidents under the rug. Dave and I were the assignors the past three seasons and we would not let that happen -- we pushed for suspensions and messages to be sent where needed. After last year we decided we would not reapply for the job for this season (we got paid poorly and had to put way too much time in it, especially with the lack of cooperation we got from the league), but would umpire once in a while for them if our schedules allowed. This was the fourth game I had umpired all season for them (in over two months of weekly games).
I did not "return to the field." I did roll the balls down the hill (the field sat at the bottom of a hill) and, in retrospect, it wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done as they were thrown back at us by an older gentleman who looked like he was an 8-year-old girl throwing with the wrong arm. Nobody was ever in danger of getting hurt, although both of us couldn't help but laugh as we kept walking away.
The president of the league asked us to keep it quiet, but when I saw the results misrepresented (the game was forfeited when the umpires decided to leave) in Monday's paper, I emailed my ejection/forfeit report to the local papers. That was what prompted the madison.com article.
I am taking a lot of shots on that forum, but that's OK. Dave and I are not softies on the field, but the teams that behave and win in the league have come forward and supported us. One of the managers came by the night the incident happened and drank beer with the two of us and told us how he couldn't believe what the league had come to. I couldn't agree more.
OK, the details in a nutshell: We had a decent game and I had some words with the catcher, who was pulling pitches and then holding the glove and whining about balls and strikes. All I told him was he was never going to get those when he's pulling the glove and telling the world that the pitch was out of the strike zone. Now, I had ejected this guy from a high school game and a Little League game (and the league president said he wasn't a repeat offender, but was suspended last season for 2 games after being ejected, so what's the definition of "repeat offender"?), but to be honest I didn't even know who he was at the time of the incident -- only after I looked at the lineup card did I have that moment of revelation.
The first pitch of the inning: Catcher puts his glove knee high in the middle of the plate and the ball hits me in the chest. I'm in the slot. After getting hit, I look down and the catcher's glove is STILL in the same spot. It still hadn't moved. I ejected him at this point. His reaction was: "You can't prove it. You can't prove I did it on purpose." The home manager charged me and the first words out of his mouth were "What the ****?" I ejected him at that point. The pitcher WAS an afterthought -- when he asked if the pitch was a ball or strike, I got rid of him. I was stunned, to be quite honest. My partner DID end the game, but I was trying to get my bearings together and it was the right move I supported at the time and still do. Wearing a K-1, the pitch hurt quite a bit and I had people charging at me from three directions. The good part was I managed to eject all three of them -- all three ended up bumping Dave while he was keeping them away from me. One thing the YouTube video did for me was prepare me for my reaction when it happens and who has to go. And yet, I was still stunned that someone would do this.
To this moment, the league president is still saying he needs to "gather information" and has yet to talk to myself or my partner about this incident. On Friday, he was at an NBC regional we assign and even though he saw us there, never bothered to talk to us.
And so it goes. Not the way I was expecting to leave this league, but likely the way I will.