Quote:
Originally posted by brandda
Personally, if my kid is playing or I am coaching, I want the umpire thinking about the game, not about the song and dance routine that he is going to do in the third inning to entertain the fans. We are not commentators or entertainers. We are the voice of authority on the field. I believe that we need to act like it. Umpires who don't just make it harder for the rest of us.
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Every single umpire who works the LLWS, and at least the Eastern Region that I know of, at some point have a dance with Dugout. Whether it be the song and dance that you saw, or doing the YMCA as a crew in center, they will all eventually dance. They will be solicited by Dugout in front of the whole crowd, and the pressure to participate is great.
The reason it is done? To deflate the tension that builds at one of these contests. It is for the kids, to make them more relaxed, and so they learn that it's okay to have fun. They see the adults, the umpires, out on that field, cutting loose, and having a good time, and that does wonders for relaxing the kids and making them more loose. Otherwise, the tension would overwhelm them, they wouldn't have much fun, and we'd see far many more crying kids than we do.
I support LL's effort to decrease the tensions of those kids, and I support any umpire who has the cajones to dance a jig with a giant rodent in front of 37,000 people.
It's a good thing. Don't knock it.