[NCASAUmp]

My $.02...

These are tough situations to navigate. You want to let the teams police themselves to an extent (they are allegedly adults, after all), but there are times when they prove to be utterly incapable of doing so. You did your best to head off disaster from the start by nipping it in the bud. That's the best thing you can do when teams start jawing at each other, and kudos for that. Too many umpires let things fester until it gets out of control, and then wonder why they end up with a bad situation on their hands.

But once tempers start flaring, it's a fine needle you have to thread. If you HAD run out there and quickly tossed him, he could very easily have decided to make you the target instead, or it could have diffused the situation immediately. Only you can be the judge, but even then, you still don't know how they'll react.

And really, what good would it have done to rush out there and toss R1 immediately? In reality, you're trying to save him from himself by putting yourself in the thick of it, which is not a good position to be in.

Here's what I might have done differently (and forgive me if I appear to be armchair quarterbacking it). When things really start going south, letting the game continue at its current pace may not be the best option. Sometimes, I'll stop the game, pull the coach(es) aside and calmly but firmly say something to this effect:

"Coach, the back and forth has got to stop, and it has to stop right now. I love a good game as much as anyone here, but it's getting a bit too heated for this field. So do me a favor, talk to your guys, let us make the calls and let's have a good game out there, got it?"

They usually get the message, but really, it's completely irrelevant. The game needs that momentary break for guys to just shut the hell up take a few breaths and let go of whatever just happened. It's not so much what I say to the coaches, it's the fact that the game needed that little break.

I'm also open to suggestions myself. This is an all too common problem in men's SP.