[MD Longhorn]

Honestly, this was 3-4 degrees worse than any fan problem I've ever seen. I admit I handled a few things wrong... should have gotten the TD and/or UIC involved earlier, and I probably let my emotions get too high from the "You should have let it hit him" comment. I think my PU handled things as composed as he could have all things considered. I've never EVER seen "Coach, you need to get a handle on your fans" not succeed in calming things down. It was suggested later that we should have simply not reacted to the fans. In hindsight, that probably would have at least not added fuel to the fire.

I don't think abandoning this group is the best idea - to be honest, as a whole it's the best group of umpires I've worked with and the best UIC as well. I've learned more in several weeks with this group than I did in the last 10 years or so. And generally the players/parents/fans/coaches of these teams have all been what one should expect from teams.

I'm hoping to use this incident as a learning experience as well. I posted here not really to rant about the incident itself but rather to garner input regarding whether most of you guys out there simply completely ignore fan abuse - or use the coach to corral things when they get out of hand -- and whether using the coach to do so has ever backfired on anyone else.