Umpiring - More than rules

[PeteBooth]

No matter what Message Boards you visit, I would venture to guess that at least 85% of the time if not greater is spent discussing rules, however, understanding rules is not why I love to umpire.

I do not know about you, but I get bored in a classroom type atmosphere talking about the concept of "last time by" or 6.08c vs. 7.07 for the umpteenth time. Don't get me wrong, whether we play monopoly or umpire a game we need to know the rules, but personally I enjoy the fresh air (even though it gets cold or sometimes very hot) and the commodary with my colleagues. I do not have an ego to bruise so "bragging" about a game is not for me.

We can all purchase books and supplemental materials, and get a pretty good idea on the rules of the game. We might not be experts but we can hold our own If we do get one of those once in a lifetime plays there's good old 9.01c or 10-2-3g (for FED) and sort it out latter.

IMO, Mechanics and Game Control are what makes or breaks an umpire, yet they are rarely discussed on the net. In addition, whenever rules are discussed, there seems to be the thrashing that accompanies all good disucssions.

You can know the rules like the back of your hand but if you do not know where to position yourself or manage a game, no-one will care that you scored 100% on every exam that you took.

In addition, there are things like:
(A) - Family Life vs. Umpiring
(B) - Umpire Burnout
(C) - Getting along with your colleagues
(D) - Others Experiences and how they can help me
(E) - Politics

that are more of interest to me. So perhaps throughout the latter part of fall and the winter months we (as a group) can pick some topics either to discuss or get opinions on other than rules. I listed 5 above, perhaps there are more, but you get the drift

What do you think? If the aformentioned topics are of interest to you, I will initiate the first thread on Family Life and Umpiring to see how others have dealt with this and what advice we can give to the newcomer (to avoid divorce court - (G).

Pete Booth

[Edited by PeteBooth on Nov 12th, 2001 at 03:17 PM]