Ba' Bye

[WhatWuzThatBlue]

socalblue1 -

I'm from the old school too, but I don't hand the problem to my assignor and never suggest that to any of my colleagues. My job is to handle the issue and report how professionally I did. In retrospect you can probably appreciate why some vets wouldn't handle it the way you suggested. Newbies may be better served by nvolving a more knowledgeable party.

At many schools, the site manager is the head coach. Leaving the parking lot/locker room to find a sprots information assistant or AD assistant is a challenge few invite. The baseball stadiums are usually fairly far removed from the campus around here.

You and I agree that we do not allow personal attacks. I was very careful with my wording - as careful as the coach who baited the umpire away from the field. My suggestion that it is far easier to handle it right away has nothing to do with being a quick trigger. Either way, we have some explaining to do and will look bad to the casual observer. I suggest that it is not tolerable to ignore and that our job is tough enough without the distraction. I can count the coach ejections I've had in the last few years on one hand. I don't find them very necessary because I'm blessed with really great skippers. They know we each have a job to do and the respect is mutual.

However, I tend to run into one mentally challenged pro washout who wants to vent every year or so. I've actually had a coach knock on our locker room to tell me that he hated my strike zone and doesn't like me. That guy is now heading up a really excellent D1 program and I see him once or twice a year. I remind him of the conversation and he smiles that it was his way of letting me know he was in charge. He figured that since I didn't react I was scared. Unless he reads this forum, he'll never know that I closed the door and told my partners that he wanted to know if I would date him and asked me to call him after the series. (Not that there's anything wrong with it!) Those guys kept a careful distance and it worked out for me too. They were less likely to get in his face and it made me look like I never told them about what he said. I get to see him in early April when he brings his squad up north - one of my old partners will be there too. He's still freaked out about it. Killing them with kindness is far worse than pulling the trigger sometimes!