Do you ever pray for rain?

[PeteBooth]

[QUOTE=Hock9]Just looking to see if anyone ever has the same feeling I do: I like umpiring, I used to love it, and I wish that I liked it more than I do.[/QUOTE]

I know what you are feeling. There's the HS season, the summer season and the Fall season.

In my area the level of play has gone down. Also, the metal bat has ruined the game. Just look at some of the scores in the College World Series. The metal bat has made baseball a joke.

There's nothing like doing a wood bat game that lasts about an hour and 40.

There's talk here in NY state about having time limits in the Modified level. that would help.


I look forward to tournaments because most tournaments have time limit restrictions.

Unfortunately, in order to get some time off start getting used to saying NO when the assignor calls. I know assignors do not like to hear NO, but it beats getting Burnt out. My personal goal is to umpire FULL time for the next year or so, then strictly do the HS season which for all practical purposes is the months of March / April where the whether is not hot and for Once have a "true' summer.

Summary: Have a goal in mind and strive to stick to it.

Pete Booth

[BlueLawyer]

I pray for rain sometimes. Last week was a prime example.

Don't get me wrong- I love LOVE umpiring. I was away from it twice since I started and I missed it terribly.

But take last week for example. Two back to back nights of 7 inning AA Legion doubleheaders. Starting temperature about 95; humidity 70%. Start time for each night: 6pm. I am finding at my age that those kinds of schedules make me tired- and the games themselves would make me tired . . . and then there's the real job. On those two days following my two nights of double headers, I had a mediation and a hearing.

I figure conservatively that out of the 48 hours in those two days, I worked 32. A rainout that second night would not have hurt my feelings at all.

So yeah, not so much for lack of love of baseball or umpiring as just needing a rest. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all"- Patton. My game (especially my zone) suffers when I am physically exhausted.

Strikes and outs!