[SanDiegoSteve]

Maybe people are there to see you officiate. I know that in some of my games, I was the best thing there. People say that they don't come to see the umpires, but they sure love to watch us punch out a batter on strikes with a flourish, don't they?

Hell yeah, I'm there to add excitement to what otherwise would be an extremely boring experience for all involved. Would these critics rather see us just give a lazy, routine strike three call, or does putting a little pizazz on it actually fire up the fans? I submit that the umpires can and do add excitement to the game by being demonstrative and a bit flashy on the really close plays. To me, there is nothing worse than seeing a really close play, and then the umpire does a Tim McClelland ho-hum-I'm-bored-when-is-this-horrible-game-going-to-end style of lazy looking mechanic. It sucks the intensity and fun out the play, IMO. I'd rather see a Ron Luciano/Frank Drebbin style outlandish mechanic than see an umpire call that looks like he doesn't care to be there.

So, I say for you to continue doing the same thing you are doing. Let the haters hate, because that's what they do best. Let it go like water off a duck's back and carry on.