Umpiring Moment of the Year

[UMP25]

It was not just one event but a series of events for me that stuck out in 2007. I had perhaps the weirdest series I've ever worked when I worked a 3-game weekend conference series with Bob Jenkins (doubleheader on Saturday, single on Sunday). The two schools were rivals in the CCIW Conference, and they happened to be two area teams, so they were quite familiar with each other. Moreover, the head coach of one team used to be an assistant at the other school. While there was no bad blood between the two teams or staffs, there were a myriad of freak plays, weird occurrences, rulings, you name it. I even had an ejection in game 1 of the series. It occurred early in the game, too.

To tell you how weird it was, Bob and I had a bunch of whackers and weird plays in the first two innings of the first game! We knew then we were in for one helluva series! I'm sure Bob would be happy to elaborate on specific plays.

BTW, when the 2008 schedule came out, I put Bob and me on the same series. We figured we're gluttons for punishment, and like one of my colleagues told me, "With Bob and you on the field, there's no way anybody can get a rule past you guys!"