[kylejt]

Everybody umpires for different reasons. Even LL umpires.

Me, I do it to teach kids how to officiate games, and that includes all the ancillary life lessons that go along with it. I couldn't care less about working post season games. I'll do it, if it's what my Juniors want to do, and I can help them out.

To me, it's just another volunteer job at the field. No different than fixing the plumbing, mowing the grass, or working the grill. All jobs you can get paid for outside the park, that need to be done in order for a local league to function.

("Oh, but we go to special schools, and have lots of equipment". So does our plumber, and that reel lawn mower costs about $7K.)

Some leagues pay plumbers, grounds keepers, cooks, etc. Others can get find volunteers to do it. Every league is different.

Some guys like to think that umpiring is a God given skill, to be envied by all. Swell. I'm sure some plumbers think the same way. Honestly, it ain't that hard, nor complicated, unlike plumbing. Or maybe it's just that my job is tad more complicated than either.

Not that I'm a zealot for volunteer umpires. Every local league can do what they wish, and so can every umpire. I don't care. I have a skill that I can help out my local league with, so I do. To me, it's just like coaching a baseball team. I've got a bunch of kids I'm in charge of for the season, and I try to pass on baseball skills, and life lessons.

But in the end, for all us umpires, it just comes down to officiating a game. Some folks try to take it as serious as heart attack, but it's really nothing more than than.