Getting straightlined?

[Publius]

Lots goes into the claim that you shouldn't need to get help.

Ideally, you shouldn't.

But, we aren't all fast, quick, and agile.

Players do the wrong thing sometimes.

Players sometimes indicate they're going to do one thing and then do another.

Umpires sometimes misread a throw.

F3 isn't always well trained or adequate to the job.

Lots of umpires (particularly those who have worked pro ball) never, EVER ask for help on a pulled foot or swipe tag.

Certainly it's good to work hard to be in position for any play. And asking for help doesn't guarantee the correct call. You can be uncertain and correct on a play, while at the same time your partner can be certain and wrong.

These are simply competing philosophies in which neither side is 100% correct. In some leagues, asking for help is a good game mangement tool. In other leagues, asking for help is a game management disaster.

But, anyone who has worked at least 1000 games of the 2 man system at the HS level and above, and says he's never asked for help because he was never in his life straightlined (and by that I mean that your angle to the play was so acute or so obtuse that you didn't get a good look), has my complete and unrelenting disbelief.

To say you didn't need to ask for help is supportable, to say you've never been straightlined in a career that meets the previously mentioned criteria is unbelievable.

All that said, the big difference to me isn't whether you make mistakes, because you do, but whether you're willing to live with them in the quest to become better. Those that never, EVER ask for help are, in my experience, not only better, but they keep improving at a faster rate because bad calls are professionally embarassing. Since they alone bear full responsibility, they work harder not to make them.