[Steve M]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

I think that there is somehow this perception that we are the policemen of the park, either put upon us by the participants, those in charge of the league, the fans, ourselves, or some combination of all four.

This perception is, however, completely false. We are not the policemen of the park, we are the umpires of the game. And while our role is one of authority, our authority is not omnipotent, though there are times when we wish that it could be.

Addressing the concern you specifically address in this post, well, all I can say is that it's not our job to prevent every bad thing from happening. Sure, we can attempt to head things off at the pass by working craftily within the framework we're given, but realize that doing so is not our mandate. If a fan is a jerk, oh well. If they're that much of a pain, go to the captain of the team the jerk is "cheering" for and have them deal with it. If the game is completely falling apart and mayhem will ensue, tell the coach he can either deal with said jerk, or you're suspending the game until the police show up to take the jerk away.

Most commonly, you'll have someone on the other team that will get upset. Pull their captain aside, tell him/her that you acknowledge the problem, but that they need to just laugh it off and ignore it.

Contrary to popular belief, we're not the police. We're umpires.

Ya know, as umpires, we're not on the field to make sure that life is fair. We're there to enforce the rules as written or as interpreted by the "powers that be". I agree - we're not police (I'm not sure you could pay me enough to handle their job anyway), we're umpire.