I know I promised, but....
I couldn't let this go by...
jicecone writes:
"While they may have volunteered for the WS, I would bet big money that most of them have been trained while earning the buck, or during a certification process. At least this applies to some of the officials I know that have worked this series."
As a matter of fact, most LL umpires pay for their own training. Some are lucky enough to have their local league pay for some of it, the same as they pay for training for their coaches, fund-raisers, administrators, and others. Many rules clinics are put on by the local district. The regional training is $200/week, and is paid for by the umpires, unless the local league has a little extra money. ALL of the LL umpires gear is purchased by the umpires themselves, unless they want to use the often sub-standard gear provided by the league. Some of the officials do work with other associations for pay. Most do not.
It is unfortunate that you lump all volunteers in together. If you are watching a game that uses volunteer umpires, how do you know that one of them is not a paid umpire donating their time? But, as you are watching the game, your opinion of that umpire is automatically poor because of your pre-conceived notions.
The idea of using the terminology of trained versus untrained came up in another thread. That would be much more appropriate than paid vs volunteer or trained vs volunteer.
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