[aceholleran]

Six-man crews allow more overweight people to get "the nod."

OTOH (with a nod to Rita), I thought San Berdoo had the best crews, BY FAR. I saw more than one guy with his shoes shined and one with a ... gasp ... FLEX BELT!

Plus, most of them have NEVER done HS, Legion, etc. They are "dedicated volunteers," who are pillars of their community and make the same mistakes they have been doing for years. And no one can tell them differently. Ergo, they get worse.

This is why you see routine plays dressed up, balls that are skatey-eight feet foul bellowed out, umps standing at attention to make base calls.

As I have said, there is virtually no vetting process to do a regional. It's a lot of heinie-kissing at the local level--or years of service.

I knew a guy who was a classic example. Umped for over 30 years. And he was horrible. When I became UIC for my district, I worked hard to get rid of him. The solution: banning "the raft" for plate umps. He refused to buck up, so we stopped giving him post-season games.

Of course, almost yearly, there would be an article in the paper singing his praises, such as: "Harry Smitty has dedicated years of his life, blah, blah, woof, woof..."

I particularly think it sad when the level of play FAR outshines the level of officiating.

Harrumph.

Ace