I think I've worked games from East Cobb in Illinois. 15 year old's playing in the CABA World Series. I believe they were from Georgia. To the best of my recollection they send competitive teams and they seem to do OK.

lets see what I can do to clear some of my intent as brought up here.

Money

Quote:

Originally Posted by Interested Ump The part I find untruthful is that umpires, the majority, DO officiate for the money. I would refer you to several discussions in the archives in 2007 about this matter.

I cannot and will not deny that money is a factor and an important one. Money should not be the exclusive factor nor should someone be in a situation where they are dependent on the baseball money. The season is relatively short, there are rainouts, cancellations, and other factors which can disrupt the money flow. Taking a part-time job anywhere would probably be more lucrative than umpiring when looked at on an annual basis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Interested Ump I am in the business of officiating and believe that good businesses in our line of work are hard to find. Success should be beneficial for all of us.

I fully agree and I believe in being successful as officials is calling out the bad ones, this includes helping bad officials find their way out of our sports. I would bet you have seen these guys that only are in it for the money. From my experience they tend to be the reda$$es who make everybody’s job more difficult. I also notice and don't shed a tear when they leave officiating after a short time. I firmly believe to transcend from an average official to a top-tier official you need to have a passion at some level in the sport, in officiating, and in your officials association you represent. There is so much more intrinsic reward to officiating than the extrinsic paycheck. I love my HS games and have earned the right to get more of these games than many other guys, just as I'm trying to earn the right to break into D-III/JuCo ball, but I will not turn-back a $25 coach pitch game either.

Wal-Mart

I will capitulate this may be a low blow. Of all the places I could have listed I specifically choose Wal-Mart. Overall when it comes to having a lack of passion for your job Wal-Mart employees and management take the cake. Obviously there are individual exceptions to the rule, but from my experience they are few and far between. Do I still shop there? Yes. Do I try to avoid them like the plague? Yes. I see Wal-Mart as a necessary evil. If given a choice I will go elsewhere, but often times they are convenient, have what I need and are lower priced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Interested Ump Why I umpire is for the physical nature of the work, I enjoy it and am very accomplished at it, I umpire with a small crew who are close freinds and family, for business purposes, I love the game and especially enjoy the adult semi-pro ball play, it is an offer to the communities I umpire in, several more reasons.

Amen, except we don't have semi-pro ball around here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManInBlue Because you would rather umpire. So it's not so much the money you want. Although, you wouldn't do it for free. You prefer to be on the field with something you enjoy rather than flipping burgers. The fact that you get paid to do this is a tremendous motivator. But you could do something else -if indeed money was your #1 factor in the decision.

Yes! I think we're all in agreement here.

Weather I agree or disagre, I love it when people get fired up about umpiring. It shows the passion which I was speaking of.

I would love both of you to come join my site and share your thoughts and views there as well as here.

Cheers!

Amazing. That is EXACTLY what I got out of the article.

Paranormal powers functioning normally. "Pretty clear" seems to get the job done.

Interesteding. :rolleyes:

Money

Quote: Originally Posted by Interested Ump

The part I find untruthful is that umpires, the majority, DO officiate for the money. I would refer you to several discussions in the archives in 2007 about this matter.

Philosophically accurate, reality short. There are many people here on this forum and in umpiring nationally that not only have officiating as a secondary, completely necessary income but have it as a sole income. I can think of a small % of umpires who do not need the money by their own admission and evidence in my 40+ years in officiating. Because they have invested and scheduled umpiring, it is a known and somewhat secure income, they often cannot abandon that choice unless a better job comes their way.


Although we suffer the transients and the “money only” guys, without them, many umpire organizations, and leagues, could not survive.

Thanks for the rebuttal.

Customer service is non-existent and officiating is a cutomer service occupation. I believe we have every right, if we do our jobs and take the grief we have to, to expect nothing less of those who don't take foul balls in the nutz.

Then you will have no problem knowing what a <insert> you act like. Or what my interp is on why you didnt quote anyone but flip off replies fully expecting everyone knows WTH you are talking about. :rolleyes:

Fitty no sense - good to hear from you!!:rolleyes:

I replied in direct line with the thread. Quotes weren't necessary for anyone with ANY basic reasoning skills. I mean it's not like I replied to one comment from the OP fifteen pages later. Get real, man. It seems apparent that you understood WTH I was talking about. So what's the prob? Just stirring the pot as usual, huh?

Your opinion of "what I act like" has no bearing on my life, my ability, or my willingness to post on this site. That's sort of like the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think?

edit to add - quote included so that Fitty doesn't get lost.

Originally Posted by fitump56
Then you will have no problem knowing what a you act like. Or what my interp is on why you didnt quote anyone but flip off replies fully expecting everyone knows WTH you are talking about.

Which is why you quoted Donovan this time.

I think.

No, I'm confused. Please, clarify, why is it you pick and choose when to quote?

Emporer of Umpire Empire Empirically Incorrect ?

Maybe, maybe not. But EMPEROR is the correct spelling.

Bob

As Man In Blue would respond

Got it

Hey, I did too, where's my thanks? :D :D

Thanks Fitump and to all of you for visiting. I saw my traffic get a nice little bump directly from this thread.

Just out of pure shameless self promotion, by the volume of new visitors hitting my site from here I was expecting a higher rate of people becoming members. But no worries, my site is still new and I'm still developing it into what I want. When you visit shoot me (Umpire in Chief) a PM and let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.

Not trying to kill your dreams but the number of umpires online is a very small percentage (excluding the buying public). This forum has in a world of umpires a relative handful of posters and it would be deemd by all standards a success. There are a few quasi-forums, most runaways who have been TOSsed, have no day jobs and post about this forum. :D

Either way, good luck again.

Not exactly sure how to take this:confused:

The great thing about the internet is that its is unimaginably large and growing everyday. And nothing on the internet, to the best of my knowledge, is mutually exclusive nor collectively exhaustive. I personally cruise b/t 15-20 baseball/umpire sites a day and have for a few years. I even posted here under a different username until recently. Nothing other than my personal preferences (and my company's internet filter ;) )limit which sites I go to or participate in.

I am trying to offer something very different than most other sites. My focus is to be more than just a forum, I am really gearing for the ultimate interactive site for umpires. Some of my interactive features include:

• Forum
• Reviews - Where members can load and rate equipment, vendors and as of yesterday training & clinics. Share their thoughts on different things.
• Articles - As you've read. I create little articles as to what happens to spark my interest at the time. Members can not only make comments on these articles, but write their own. One person has already taken advantage of this. And I would welcome you, Interested Ump, to submit those of your own. I don't care if I disagree with you as long as its decently well written, germane, and not offensive.
• Links - An interactive link section where you can not only see what links I've posted, but post your own favorites. I really would like to get a comprehensive list of associations. As well as discover new sites to add to my daily surfing.
• Live chat - I am currently testing two live chat boards. One has voice capability. Look out for this in the next month or so.
• Blogs - I have a predetermined number of members in mind before adding blogs for members. Once I hit my magic number in terms of members I will start offering members their own blog hosted at my site where they can post their own experiences and control who views their blog everybody, nobody invited users, etc. I think this will be a nice feature.
• Classifieds/auctions - Very much like an Ebay where umpires(members) can sell their stuff to other members. This section is ready to go I'm just waiting on some legal advice.

As you can see I'm looking to offer something far different than what is out there currently. You've just inspired me to write a new article, thanks (should be out later today or tomorrow depending on how quickly I can knock out some work here at my regular job).

I am actually very pleased with the response I've received from my site thus far. Today is the 44th day my site is live and I am just shy of my 500th unique visitor by IP address, 31 members, not to mention the numbers of return visitors. This has far exceeded my goals for this point in the game, but I've still got a long way to go.

For comparison purposes some research I did stated that the conversion rate (unique visitors to members) is <5% for sites in existance less than a year. I am just above 6%.

Do I want to be the next Officiating.com or Umpires Resource Center? No, I am looking to be more interactive. Do I want the traffic and membership levels they have? Absolutely. Is there anything preventing anybody from visiting one, two, all or no similar sites? No. Those who host forums or websites don't mind (generally) others promoting their sites. I have/had a very successful political site for a while (It's still going, I just tend it a lot less than I use to) which was essentially a glorified blog with limited interactivity and I openly solicited people to from other sites to mine and visa-versa with no problem either way because we're not competing for their money.

Before this thread came out to draw attention to my site I was planning on a Shamless Self Promotion Blitz. Very similar to what Rob Drake has successfully done. And I probably will still do, but I have a few bugs I'm still working out and want things to be just a little better cleaned up and just right before doing anything like that. Besides this is Rob's time and I don't want to step on his toes, so I'll probably continue to hang back as not to steal his spotlite.

I'll post here again and PM you personally when my latest idea for an article is posted.

Ump-Emp no one is trying to offset your goasl, go for it, the more the merrier. :D