Heck, Ive been only doing this umpiring gig for three years, two for HS, and Ive learned to talk to just the one guy, the HC. I learned early to talk to the one guy, or your asking for trouble.
DG, you keep talking about TWO, only TWO comments. How many is too many for you? How many til you reach YOUR limit? You must have a number. Is it 3 then? 4? 5? Its either zero, or under your system, as many as they want. You let them have the TWO comments, then the precendent has been set. They think they can make comments the rest of the game. And games after that with officials who wont stand for it. But have to deal with it, because you let them in YOUR game.
I learned early on, and my games go much smoother. As opposed to when I first started, trying to lend an ear to everybody. "Gee, yeah Mr Asst Coach, what do you want to talk about."
Youll catch on someday.

Tim - "considering the source", you don't even know me, but for a personal comment I would eject you.

Rich - we should agree to disagree, but comment is not personal so you can stay.

Chuck - you are too late to get in on this discussion. Go home. "How many is too many?" We are talking about TWO, not hypotheticals. But to answer your question I could probably handle several BENIGN comments, such as the ones THIS POST was originally about, until it got twisted into hypothetical and unrealsitic situations.

Tim - a partner I would not want.

Why is it that guys like you, have to accuse everyone of not listening, when they do not agree with your point of view?

The cases are very much related and just like anything in officiating/umpiring, handling things usually have a philosophies that are behind them. And no matter what the circumstances are, I am not going to tolerate assistant coaches to question calls I make. And that does not make me sensitive because I like to run my game a certain way that the <b>rules not only require</b> but is the regular and understood custom.

Peace

DG: The comments wernt BENIGN. And, instead of telling me IM to late to get in on the discussion, THATS what you should be telling Mr Asst Coach. Glad to see you finally get it.

For SMEngmann ONLY!!!
 

If you do not learn anything from this discussion, you should realize that only ONE INDIVIDUAL agrees with you on this. But it is obvious that the typical customs of myself and most umpires that are responding, think you got what you deserved. I can tell you that all of us do not live in the same area, nor the same state and all of us are not umpiring on the same level. Take this for what it is worth, but it is clear that most umpires (and you can ask others not on this board). I have been officiating and umpiring for about 8-9 years. I work varsity in all my sports and I do some college basketball and baseball. I am just one person, but what I am telling you is very typical of other umpires and officials I deal with. I am not telling you this to pump myself up, I just in my travels have come in contact with many that feel the same way I do, and much of what I learned to do was thru reading many books on umpiring and officiating and attending camps. I think I am a pretty damn good umpire and do my best to avoid conflict on the field or court. But there are just things that are not tolerated and your actions might not get you ejected all the time (no one action will) but it will get the attention of the umpire at the game. Especially if you run into an experienced umpire. I guess your hope is, if you feel you did nothing wrong, then you better hope you run into DG. Because it is obvious if your run into anyone else on this board that reponded to this post, you would have gotten the same result. And it would not have been an issue about whether we call you by your first name or not. Because I do not believe in calling coaches by their first name when I am on the field. But I would take issue with your other comments and actions. If you are the HC, I would give you more rope, but I would not tolerate many of your actions then either. I just would give you an opportunity to correct yourself by what I say to you and my demeanor. It is up to you to realize when to cut it short. If you do not want to get ejected, it is your responsibly to understand that at the very least.

Peace

"I like to run my game". So fortunate we are that the teams will assemble for us to run our games. When did the umpires begin owning the game?

Well last time I checked, you get paid to run the game. And when things go bad, you get blamed for it. When things go good, you get praised for it. So whether you like it or not, it is "our game." If it was not, then they would put anyone on games where the spotlight is the brightest.

Peace

JR - we agree on one thing (thank goodness). I don't call coaches by name, and especially first name. "Coach" is the only word I know to address a head or assistant.

I am sure we agree on much more than just one thing, but I feel if you handle THIS SITUATION, the way you suggested, you will create more problems for yourself. And problems you could have avoided in my opinion.

Peace

JR - I have never had a problem I could not handle. Trust me on this, I will deal as necessary. For this case it is best to agree to disagree.

See, I knew you just didn't get it.

Tee is a partner I would work with every day of the week. He would get his own calls and take care of business. I'd know exactly where he was going to be before I saw him actually go there.

You? I'd be cleaning up after you like I have with some of my partners this year who think it better to let coaches yell at you and fish for second opinions.

This is an unimportant thing. I know some top umpires who use first names and I know some top umpires who do not.

Re: For SMEngmann ONLY!!!
 

JR, I appreciate your comments both here and in the basketball forum. I posted this scenario here to try to learn something rather than to get other umpires to give me a shoulder to cry on. I'm not trying to justify my actions at all, and I thank everyone who's given me the feedback that will help me improve my communication skills. I knew by bringing this to the forum that I'd get some harsh criticism and some good feedback and I thank everyone for it. As an official in basketball, I try to conduct myself in my role as a coach as respectfully as possible toward the umpires in baseball and I have learned how many umpires feel about this particular issue. I still don't concede that I should have been ejected for this particular series of events, but with the knowledge that most other umpires see it differently, I will have to use common sense and change my behavior. Thank you all.