[kylejt]

I had my first umpire meeting last night, and it included kids as young as 11. We've been working with Junior Umpires since 2000, and are pretty darn good at what we do.

We don't umpire at the level that kid in the video was working. But I let a lot of things slide for little guys that I don't for teenagers. And one of those things is clothing. It's really tough to find pants loose enough to get shins under. If they can, fine, but I don't get wound up about it. If they can't afford black shoes, I won't make a big deal of it. I do go to the local Goodwill and stock our umpire room with lots of hand-me-downs.

Bottom line, worry more about attitude, confidence and knowledge with the younger umpires. Once they get 12-13 you can work on getting them properly dressed, as the gear starts fitting them better. One of my goals is to get as many kids as I can working in the All Star tournaments, and there they have to look sharp.

But there's no way I'd grind on this 10 year old, who obviously digs what he's doing.