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Old Thu May 28, 2009, 01:46pm
Skahtboi Skahtboi is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Sherman, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hawk65 View Post
Yes it is a problem. It is extremely difficult to watch the feet and then watch a pitch whether the pitch is 60 mph or 40 mph. But there is another problem -- it is a rule! So how do you enforce it? Or do you? Do you let everything go and let the pitcher repeatedly get an advantage and flaunt the rule directly in front of you? We're supposed to enforce all rules -- not just the ones we agree with or that are easy to call.
This is not even a very realistic statement. Let me ask you this. Do you call an IP the pitcher who is one inch outside the lane? (Its a rule after all.) Or are you more concerned with calling the ball or the strike? Do you call the runner who left one nano-second before the release of the pitch out for leaving early? (It, too, is a rule.) Do you strictly enforce the one minute from the last out, including any warm up pitches and little team gatherings at the pitching circle, as the only time that teams have between innings. Do you keep a watch on you to do this? (If so, where do you keep it?) When calling NFHS, do you make every player lift her shirt so that you can assure that there is absolutely no jewelry being worn?

These are all rules. I could go on and on. The point is, being an umpire requires common sense mixed with an understanding of the rules. The umpire's first priority on the pitch is to judge it in the strike zone or not. That is what they most expect of us. Now, if, in tracking the pitch, I notice the pitcher upon delivery practically disappears from my periphial vision, then yes, I will slightly shift my focus, and when it happens again and I am sure she has violated the lane rule, I will call it. You can't see everything, even though the coaches expect you to. You have to prioritize your duties, and, as has already been noted by other posters in this thread, call the violations that you see when you see them.

Those stupid lines in NCAA have done absolutely nothing to help me in making this call.
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