In think you are touching on the exact area I have issue with, so you are not so far from my disbelief as you thought.
How does the ASA function properly when it is so divorced and disconnected from the games? My point is that it doesn't, and the fault is its own. The structure it setup to isolate itself from the people locally was decided entirely from within. The distance it has created is its own choosing, you can't blame the umpires for that, but we all pay that price.
What I find so precious about the ASA it is so entirely inclusive, everyone is welcome to participate in softball. But it does so not at its own expense, but everyone else's. This cannot be a one size fits all, at least not possible the way I see it. SP and FP are two different games culturally, so different treatment is appropriate. Stricter governance and control for the good of the game is not that hard, unless you just don't care.
But just blaming umpires, that won't get you very far when no one is listening. Perhaps its not the "don't care" umpires, but the don't care governing body that is the problem.
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Originally Posted by Dakota
I'm hardly a "staunch ASA guy". Last year, I didn't even register with ASA.
However, as a front-line witness to the sanctioning food fight that went on here over the previous 5+ years, "ASA" (including ASA national all the way down to the state commissioner) has no authority over the individual umpire. He is an independent contractor and he owns his own gear. He can wear his shirt and hat anywhere he wants to. The ASA official-dom cannot even "punish" bad actors by not assigning them games or tournaments, since that is all done through independent assignors, who work agreements with the leagues and the tournaments, not with ASA. The state commissioner tried to lay down the law regarding ASA-logoed gear being used at non-ASA games, but, in reality, he had no law to lay down. The only hammer the ASA has is with their championship play assignments.
What do expect ASA to actually do? They don't control the umpires. They don't control the leagues. They don't control most of the tournaments. They don't control the assignors. The "don't care" umpires who wear whatever they have to any ol' game don't want to do an ASA national anyway, so even that "stick" is a wet noodle to them.
NCAA & the NCAA conferences have a much bigger stick, since they control the game assignments (I think... college guys here can correct/elaborate if they wish). You can't really compare schools (college or HS) to independent leagues sanctioned through ASA.
And, nobody would wear USSSA shirts to a non-USSSA event because, well, they are RED!  |