[outathm]

As if anyone needed to really be told this, Appeasement does not work. I often go through this in my pre-game with my partner, but I worked with the same partner all weekend and I knew even a pre game was not going to help our game.

In an early inning the F4 picked up the ball and brushed against the batter going from 1B to 2B with the ball in her glove and threw to first Base.

I called both runners out and then all the fun started.

The First base coach, and a mom (why does every screaming mom sound the same?) started yelling that the girl missed her by 'a foot and a half'.

When the coach came to me, I told him " I was three feet from the play, saw the girl tagged and the then the out at first." He wanted me to go to my partner. I told him that I had all of the elements to make the call, I was three feet from it, and my partner was 75 feet away, since he hadn't come out from behind the plate.

The coach continued to ask me to go for help, and since I knew that nothing was going to continue until I did, I APPEASED THE COACH.

I asked my partner if he had anything different and he replied with 'I couldn't see a tag, the runner was in my way.'

I signaled the girl out again and then the fun began. The coach wanted to argue that my partner was saying there was no tag. I told him that I had gone for help, when help was not necessary, the conversation was done. AS he was walking back into his dug out he pointed back and said "That guy is an idiot".

Now, normally I would have ejected him at this point. I say normally, but yesterday, I w ejected a coach and after the ejection, the UIC, came to the field and told me that he was allowing the coach to watch the game from the stands, as long as he didn't coach.

Let my horrible mistake be a lesson to us all, when you have the play and do not need help, do not go for help to make a coach happy. They will not be happy no matter what.

I wish I could say that this is what I get for working 'outlaw ball' tournaments, but it was an ASA State tournament.