Abuse of umpires

[Jim Porter]

First off, I'm very happy to see my article sparking this discussion. Thanks to Jim Simms for bringing this up.

To answer Jim's original question, all searches I have done reveal no state to state study. If I come across any additional information, I will pass it along to you.

So, why do we need "special" legislation? Because we indeed work under special circumstances.

It is traditional for the public-at-large to hate the umpire. It has become accepted through the years that we, as sports officials, are required to put up with abuse - - that it comes with job.

When someone yells out, "Kill the ump!" no one thinks that's a threat. It's not even a threat when they're yelling it at us with their faces mashed against the chain link fence. It's not a threat when they're in our faces and bumping our chests. It's not considered a threat, even as they're following us to our cars, and yelling obscenities and cursing our families.

Nope, it's all a part of the job. If you don't like it, don't be a sports official - that's a popular attitude.

Since we are the authority figures - the "police" of sports if you will, that leaves us vulnerable to assault. Couple that with the attitude that we are required to accept a certain degree of abuse as a part of our jobs, and the issues become even cloudier. Add to that the fact that, historically, sports officials are abused while fans cheer, and that places us even further away from mainstream society when it comes to assault. That's right, when officials are assaulted, people stand up and cheer.

We do need special legislation, because we work under special conditions. An ordinary citizen, whom original laws were designed to protect, is not in an authority position, is not traditionally despised, is not expected to accept a certain degree of abuse, is not in a position where their very job places them in arm's reach of assault, and generally is not cheered and jeered by hundreds of people as a dad punches him in the face for a call against his kid.

Nope, we're in special circumstances, and we need special legislation to send a clear message to our would-be attackers. Legislation would be preventative - that's the whole point to having laws - to deter crime. By pushing for laws which recognize that we are in a job with special considerations, we take giant leaps toward slowing this assault trend down.