Rats either--

dont bother to know rules or--

learn rules to twist to thier advantage. they see no other reason to do so!

Is the term Rat used perjoratively or tongue-in-cheek or both?

Is that your entire experience with coaches?

ANY umpire whos been in the 'game' long enough....this WILL be your experience-- if its not, then you arent umpiring games of conseqence.


if you want to study the back ground of the term "rat' you need to do a search here--if you are not familair with the term then you are brandnew to umpiring!

:) I think I have enough experiences and game counts to say that my overall experience with coaches has been as varied as their's with umpires. A lot of good, bad and mixed. I catch the drift of the word Rat and, no, the term is common only here as far as I know.

I'm with you until here. No asking, it's time to remind the coach he's over stepped his bounds and to exit, Stage Right.


Draw it tight, sharp and quick.

Depends on the Rat.

Having worked in four states and having close friends in at least ten others, I know the term to be common in many areas of the country.

Originally Posted by Interested Ump
Is the term Rat used perjoratively or tongue-in-cheek or both?Glad to hear.:D

Are your association officers and league officials (district and school athletic coordinators) aware that you write in such a derogatory manner about the coaches, in at least some cases, of their member schools?

Coaches like you are the main reason that the term "rats" is so widely used.

Just saying.......:)

Why should we care what the school district administrators think? I only see AD's at playoff games anyway.

They sign your checks, for one thing.

Coach, I suspect some are. Just as we are aware of the derogatory terms and language used by certain area coaches towards umpires.

The term Rat is an old one and, in part, refers to the fact that some coaches, while appropriately acting as lobbyists for their teams, take that to such an exteme that, during the game, what they say becomes suspect and disbelieved. Some of the top Spokane area coaches have outright lied to me and tried to cheat during games and admitted it afterwards, shrugging it off as, "part of my job."

Hard as it is for some beginners to believe, we accept that, although we still consider it dishonest and rat-like behavior.

Off the field, I have an excellent relationship with many of the coaches who display this kind of behavior on the field.

SE USA, FL presently (if I ever get a flight back instead of missing them -duh). Never heard Rat. Others terms less kind, by the truckload. :D