Lessons Learned About Rats

[UmpJM]

Steve,

The degree of rancor of which you speak is well-earned by the coaching community at large. In general, the majority of coaches are rats, and they do cheat and lie to achieve their objective, which only concerns winning the game. They abuse game officials constantly, but I guess you think that it's ok to do this.

My experience is somewhat different than yours.

While there are most certainly "Rat Coaches" who will sacrifice their dignity, self-respect, integrity, common decency, and anything else they think necessary for the sole purpose of winning the game at any cost, in my experience those types of coaches are in the minority rather than the majority.

They are certainly more memorable than coaches who choose to conduct themselves otherwise.

And umpires most assuredly are the guardians of the game. We are the only impartial participants, and are necessary to the integrity of the sport.

I find myself pretty much in agreement with these statements.

Too many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the process of human perception and the degree to which impartiality contributes to the relative accuracy of that process.

Having a competent and impartial arbiter participating in the game improves the overall quality of the game for all who participate or even observe.

Without us, games would be chaos and meaningless wastes of time.

When I was a child, I would often play "pick-up" games with whatever kids in the neighborhood I could find. The games would often end chaotically, most commonly over an irredeemable dispute over whether a player was out or safe or some such thing.

But, in retrospect, I wouldn't say they were "meaningless wastes of time".

JMO.

JM