I post because it's winter. All my baseball friends are doing something else. My overall interaction with people is way lower in the winter. I want to talk and read about baseball. I'd rather do that with people who are umpires.

I even find the infantile arguments, name calling, and petty ego stand-offs entertaining.

D

i post because a lot of the time i am on the computer. pretty much everything i do is on the computer, as i am a senior computer science major and i have a job/internship in software development at the same time. there ends up being some down time here and there while waiting for things to compile, or things are slow, or i just feel like browsing the web, so i pop on here.

it is becoming more and more of a waste of time though with the way threads turn, and sometimes watching paint dry would be more beneficial.

OK,
 

Just a harmless question or two:

Has this site gone "downhill" since McGriff has dried up?

AND,

Since I do not see many "new" screen names aren't those of us that cause the problems been reoccurring posters here and are not "new"? (Man is that terrible structure).

Tee

Nah, we had just as many throwdowns three years ago. Many of them involved Rut, but we had plenty. This place is not nirvana and some members forget that thick skin is needed below any UnderArmour.

It's a shame that one can't disagree and toss a barb to an umpire. My goodness, the instructors at pro school are way worse than anything you see here. Those guys don't go dragging tail home thinking, "That mean man couldn't just answer my question politely?"

We see the same arguments, questions and opinions surface from time to time. Some deserve a carefully constructed jeer and others demand our respect. It seems that that is the real problem. We see fewer and fewer of those threads to begin with.

Wait a minute there. I have purposely stayed out of the rash of current stupid discussions just to show how much people argue without me being involved. They were getting into long before you got here on this site and the McGriff’s site. They will get into when the people on this site decide you are no longer important and dump you. That is what baseball umpires do on the internet. They worry about the opinions of other people and try to make themselves seem as if they have done more than what they really have. You should know Windbag, you have mastered that well. :D

Peace

In umpire school, the instructors are there to teach you a lesson, and many times they are simulating a coach. They are not acting as one umpire to another. Just like when I went to boot camp as a young man, where I fully expected to be yelled at and called names, because that is what drill sergeants (and umpiring instructors) are there for. Umpires on forums should be more interested in bettering the profession, and less interested in seeing who can write better, express themselves better, or who uses better grammar. It's one thing to zing or razz someone, but personal attacks, barbs, and insults, when done in a cruel, degrading manner, should be reserved for the likes of coaches only.

Smell the Pansies
 

I haven't touched a REPLY in 6 months. Finally, I jumped all over a good high fastball and it vanishes before it crosses the plate. The post in question had 3000 views and over 200 replies. Everybody was taking a look at it. But I didn't think the moderator would pull the plug within seconds of posting a very good analogy himself.

It was a clear give and take and I took more than about anybody. If I upset someone with my stubborn refusal to give an inch, I do hope that I also provide a little entertainment value by keeping the discussion open. After all, I was the main target from the moment I chimed in on page 1 and it was up to 12 pages. Do we have to discuss whether briefs with a cup trap (from softball) will replace the baseball jock strap any time soon?

I realize my side was the underdog and that it irritated the hell out some of the old guard. But I also looked back and saw that despite the call to pull the plug early and often, NEW people did pipe in with their own opinion. I also noticed that several other more questionable posts (Davies BH, Ruts ND, Bell Curve, etc.)are no longer available for my reading pleasure.

What's going on? To see T and BU buddy up to each other smells so sweet. I haven't seen one eteamz sleaze comment lately. The eteamz site is beginning to look a lot like this one. LDUB must be on vacation. I understand the meaning of civility because I called for a more professional response from the peanut gallery myself. Let's post a reason so we learn what anyone did wrong.

A pansy - flower with bright velvety petals.

Hmmm,
 

So if I agree with the loyal opposition I am "buddying up" . . .

Me thinks not, maybe it was science against internet legend.

Tee

[Edited by Tim C on Jan 17th, 2006 at 10:21 AM]

Rut, during your absence you should have invested in reading lessons. Tee proferred the idea that the antics of this board may be related to the demise of McGriffs. He asked what others thought and I wrote that the antics we see now are little different than what was witnessed three years ago. Even at the inception of this board there were still slings and arrows. The written word is blunter than a fist but that is all we have sometimes.

You failed to see that I wrote your involvement was in many of the fracases three years ago. You have been involved in a few recently (the race related ones, HS mask, etc.) but not like the way you wre scratching and clawing three years ago. To some extent that is because I have refrained from targeting you. Others get your goat and you seem to prefer antagonizing them. That suits me just fine.

I realize that football season is over and basketball is winding into the home stretch. In two months, you'll be putting on the mask and pads for baseball. Try to relax enough to see that I wasn't baiting you as much as pointing out that you were involved much more back then.

Peas

Why I came back?
 

Read http://www.houseofpitching.com/blog/

He has some of the the same issues I have, but you still ignore them. Read http://www.houseofpitching.com/blog/

Wow. Even the mere mention of “riseball” gets the passions going in some people. The ironic part in all of this was, the riseball wasn’t even the main focus of that blog entry. But, it prompted a flury of responses… “Prove your ball moves”, “You’ve dodged this for years”, etc. Then came the folks to my defense… “If you haven’ t played, then you’ll never know”.

Irony: I PROVED IT and NOW ITS GONE.

Irony - actually, I spent a good 8 hours on the math and summarized here to DISprove it - and THEN it was deleted. You kept insisting a round object can have LIFT. It cannot. Simply physics principle.

Here Goes
 

Why do I post on umpiring forums?

I suppose it's a great way to further my passion for the hobby of officiating the game of baseball. It is after all a hobby for me. Right now while my sons are still young and playing the game I have no aspirations to move beyond the high school level. I'm a relatively young man so that might change in the future, but for now, I'm happy doing what I'm doing.

By participating on these forums I've been exposed to upper level baseball officials that I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to hear from any place else. I live in a medium sized urban community and there just aren't that many extremely accomplished umpires here. There are good ones to be sure, but not good to the extent some of the men I've encountered on the internet are.


You can sit and read all of the rules books over and over and find yourself still not completely prepared to rule on some of the more stickey situations that are discussed on these forums. Reading and participating in these discussions allows me to stow away some arcane piece of knowledge that I may only encounter once, if ever on the diamond. When I do see it I'll be able to think back to one of these threads and remember how some of you suggested you would handle the situation.



Combining that with the opportunity to build relationships with officials from all over the country, and it's a win win situation for me. In the past year I've been invited to work games in the Netherlands, Holland, Canada, and all over our country. I've had more than my fair share of battles with certain people, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.


Tim.

Re: Smell the Pansies
 

I didn't (if I am the moderator to whom you are referring) pull the plug on the fastball rising thread. Nor have I deleted any other thread in the past couple of days. I have deleted some individual posts by PWL and BigUmp (and maybe a few others, if they referred only to those dleted posts).

"I realize my side was the underdog and that it irritated the hell out some of the old guard. But I also looked back and saw that despite the call to pull the plug early and often, NEW people did pipe in with their own opinion. I also noticed that several other more questionable posts (Davies BH, Ruts ND, Bell Curve, etc.)are no longer available for my reading pleasure."

What does "Davies BH" mean and why was it a QUESTIONABLE post? Questionable to who?? You??
I deleted my own post because it was going nowhere positive. I took a couple of mild shots at Rut and felt that it was getting out of whack.

I took a shot on the "Bell Curve" post and thought it was kinda funny. Why was THAT post questionable? To you, anyway??

Dave
******

Oh, I just deleted another one of my posts because it was a dead issue. Is that OK with you?

Check your profile to see if your email address is correct.

I used the "mail" button at the bottom of a post to send it to you.