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Old Wed Jun 15, 2011, 10:29am
MD Longhorn MD Longhorn is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Katy, Texas
Posts: 8,033
Every group has "That guy" as we've talked about before...

I also think every area has "That place". Most of us who care enough about our profession to come here likely work in an area with similar minded officials. I, too, have had the occasional trip to "that place" with most of the symptoms you mention. Others I'd add.

No pre or post-game with partners.
No idea what the ruleset is (Thanks for having me out - is this ASA, USAAA, or something else? "I don't know, it's just softball rules")
Either no, weak, or over-the-top plate conferences.
Umpire/coaches... or Umpire/Board Members ... or Coach/Board Members.
UIC's with zero rules knowledge - just a willingness to schedule people and organize.
Umpires spending every single half inning chatting with someone outside the fence.
Random (or no) belts. Regular football cleats (plastic).
And worst of all ... the bubble chest protector.

Game mechanics:
Had a guy who would work from A with Runner on 3rd. OK.....
Had a guy who seemed to randomly point at things - the pitcher, a base, whatever.
Had a guy who liked to echo my ball/strike signals.
(OK... that guy was the same guy - all 3 mechanics).
Umpire who made his safe calls while moving toward the play... kind of looked like a dive bomber.
Walking s---l---o---w---l---y from C to A after a passed ball scored R1 from 3rd. Slow enough that I had to hold up the pitcher.
Worked with one guy who bragged about his ability to keep up with the batter as he came up the line toward first from PU. When I asked him what he could see from that close to 1B while moving, he didn't understand why that was important.
IFF: "I thought you were going to call it."
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