No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!!

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I apologize in advance for this long and somewhat wandering post, but as the title of this post states: “It is really true that no good deed goes unpunished.” With that said please allow me to both brag and vent in this post.

I am sure some of you are familiar with my postings in the Basketball Forum and know that basketball officiating is my first love in officiating and umpiring baseball and fastpitch softball are second and (distant) third on my officiating priorities. So it was with great joy that Mark, Jr. (MTD, Jr.) became an OhioHSAA basketball official and baseball umpire this school year. Mark will graduate from Start High School in a few weeks. Mark earned four varsity letters on the boys’ swim team and was captain of the swim team all four years. He was a mainstay on four straight Quiz Bowl championship teams and was co-captain of the team his last two years while at Start. He performed in two plays and two musicals. He played tuba in the concert/marching bands all four years and was section leader and treasurer of the band his last two years. He is a member of the Mu Alpha Theta Society (mathematics) and the National Honor Society. He won the Start H.S.’s athletic boosters top scholarship award as the senior scholar-athlete of the year award. (I should disclose that my lovely wife and I are co-vice presidents of the athletic boosters but did not take part in the selection process, in fact we had to leave the meeting before the candidates were announced and the vote was held; we didn’t find out who any of the candidates for the scholarships were until they were announced at the award’s assembly.) He is ranked in the top five percent of his class and will attend Ohio Northern University next September on both an academic scholarship from ONU’s college of engineering and a U.S. Air Force R.O.T.C. scholarship. He will major in mechanical engineering and swim and play baseball for ONU.

Yes, Junior had developed into a fine young man despite having me as his old man. The bragging is over and venting and/or fun part, depending how you look at it, is about to begin.

The local H.S. umpiring association to which Mark and I belong uses TheArbiter (TA) assigning system. Our assignor has it programmed that it will not assign me any baseball or fastpitch softball games (FR, JV, or VAR) in which Start H.S. is a participant (home or away) and has it programmed the same way for Mark, Jr. but only for baseball.

And now the fun begins. On this past May 13th we received, thru TA, an assignment to umpire a boys’ H.S. jr. varsity baseball game at 5pm on May 20th (yesterday) at Toledo Christian School. TCS’s opponent was listed as Oregon (Ohio) Clay H.S. (CHS). On May 14th I sent a reminder email to TCS’ athletic director. In the my email I even stated that Clay H.S. was listed as TCS’s opponent on our TA contract yet the TCS website listed Lakeside (Ohio) Danbury H.S. as TCS’s opponent for the game. I wanted to make sure that this was the correct game on that date. I received no response for TCS’s athletic director.

Mark and I arrived at TCS at 4:05pm yesterday. Something didn’t not look correct; there were two teams, but there was no bus with Oregon City Schools on its side anywhere to be seen. In fact, even though CHS and SHS have the same school colors I could tell that the second team warming up on the diamond was not Clay H.S. We got out of my mini-van (don’t laugh, it is a Dodge Grand Caravan and is great for carrying umpiring equipment and uniforms) and I sent Mark out on a scouting party (find out who was the visiting team). Before he go on his recon mission, the TCS JV Head Coach walked by, and I asked him who his opponent was. And to our horror he said SHS (Mark and I were surprised because SHS’s last scheduled JV game of the season was on Saturday, May 17th.) I told him that our contract said that CHS was supposed to be TCS’s opponent and asked him when SHS become TCS’s opponent. He told us that CHS pulled out of the game over the weekend because it was playing in the Toledo City Athletic League (TCAL) JV’s semi-finals tonight and so TCS was able to get SHS to take CHS’s place (Note: SHS’s JV team was not good enough to make it to the TCAL’s JV semi-finals.) I told him that I didn’t think it was a good idea for Mark and I to umpire this game. He asked why? I told him that I was the vice-president of the SHS’s athletic boosters, Mark was a senior at SHS and a varsity swimmer there and that our younger was a varsity swimmer at SHS too. He asked if umpiring the game would cause us to be bias in our calls and Mark told him that it would probably cause us to favor TCS. The look on his face told us that he didn’t know how to respond to Mark’s comment, but told us that he didn’t care that we were from SHS, he just wanted to get the game played. By this time it was 4:15pm and there was no way that our assignor was going to be able to replace us. The diamond did not have lights and even if our assignor could have replaced us, it would have been doubtful whether our replacements could have gotten there any sooner that 6pm or 6:30pm and sundown was at 8:50pm. So with parents from both teams waiting to see their sons play baseball we agreed to umpire the game. Mark put on his plate equipment (Hey, do you think I am going to get beat up behind the plate of a JV game when there is a perfectly healthy 18 year old available to work the plate; besides he is already a ball/strike caller than I was after three years of umpiring and this is only his first year of umpiring.)

The fun begins: Bottom of the third (TCS at bat), one out, R1 on first, B3 at the plate, and the visitor’s (SHS’s) dugout is on the third base side of the diamond. F2 attempts to pick off R1, and his throw goes into right field. R1 rounds second and heads for third base. F9 throws to F5 who puts that tag on R1 but R1 is safe. I signal safe and F5 throws the ball back to F1 without blinking an eye.

Now the horror show begins: SHC Head Coach comes walking out of the dugout yelling at me: “Are you serious about that call?” To which I reply: “Yes, I am most serious coach.” SHS HC continues to walk toward me and I put up the stop sign and instruct him to return to his dugout. He walks through the stop sign and crosses the third base foul line still questioning me about me being serious about the call. I told him this conversation was over and that he was restricted to the dugout for the remainder of the game. By this time he is in my face telling me: “Stop f**king with me!” Of course he has now won a free “E” coupon for a ride to the farthest reaches of the parking lot. He now starts chest bumping me and continues to yell: “Stop f**king with me!” All during this time I am walking backwards while he is chest bumping me. By now Mark has reached us and steps between the SHS HC and me. When Mark stepped between the SHS HC and me the SHS HC chest bumped him and then told Mark that if Mark pushes him one more time he was going to make trouble for him too.

The SHS HC coach refused to leave the diamond after being told that failure to do so could result in SHS losing the game by forfeit. His response to being told that was: If you forfeit the game I will be waiting for both of you by the dugout when you leave the diamond. SHS had an assistant coach in the dugout for this game. The SHS AC was a volunteer parent. The SHS AC left the dugout and managed to get his HC to leave the playing field. Because the AC was not in uniform we asked him if he was an assistant coach with a supplemental contract from the Toledo Public Schools (TPS) to coach the team. We told him, that unless there was a person under contract with the TPS to either teach or coach present to become the new HC, SHS would have to forfeit the game. The AC didn’t like that situation and started to argue with me that he could coach the team because he had been an AC all year long. While he was arguing with me, Mark told the TCS HC of the game situation what the possible result could be if there was no able to assume the HC’s responsibilities for SHS. While Mark was having his conversation with the TCS HC, the SHS AC became so vocal with me about coaching the team that he too won a free “E” coupon for a ride to the farthest reaches of the parking lot. But we did not have to forfeit the game. A parent of a SHS player, who is a teacher at a TPS high school was in the stands and agreed to coach the team, and although he did not have a baseball uniform on, we did allow him to occupy a coach’s box when SHS was at bat for the remainder of the game.

How did the game end you ask? SHS had a two run lead going into the bottom of the seventh. TCS’s first two batters reached base. Their next two batters made outs, so with two outs, B5 rips a double that ties the game. R5 advances to third base on a failed pick off attempt by F1, and then scores on a wild pitch to win the game.

I now get to have a new father-son project: How to write a game report. I just love the bonding time we will spend together writing this report.

There are two morals from this story:

1) No good deed goes unpunished.

2) Never put your children in harm’s way.


MTD, Sr.

[Dan_ref]

Mark,

Really glad to hear you & jr are enjoying life together. Just 1 question... when will the Cliff Notes version be published?

[Mark Padgett]

I would have forfeited the game just for the chance to meet that coach at the dugout!

[socalblue1]

Mark,

Please tell us that you:

1. Called the assignor, association president & school administration ASAP

2. Filed a police report (Hint - it is a FELONY in most states to attack a sports official)

[umpjayfire]

1) I commend your biggest accomplishment of fine parenting
2) I think I know why he is only a JV coach
3)Padgett beat me to it, but I would love the opportunity to meet this guy behind the dugout, especially with an 18 yr old with swimmer's shoulders at my back
4)I like to commend my biggest accomplishment....I read the WHOLE post..pheww that puppy was long

[canadaump6]

I doubt that I would stick around to finish the game if a coach is chest bumping me and making threats. The police would be involved as well.

[ODJ]

So how did the HC and AC not know who you were, being involved with the boosters and such.

Well, yeah, he's an idiot, but is he blind too?

Gee, wonder why the JV sucked all year.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

There are two morals from this story:

1) No good deed goes unpunished.

2) Never put your children in harm’s way.


MTD, Sr.

As president of the boosters, I think this needs to be reported to the administration of the school.

I've worked one subvarsity baseball game in the six years since I've been in Wisconsin, but I do (as a matter of course) work subvarsity football (if you want to work more than once a week, you do in WI) and the coach behavior is typically more unpredictable and unexperienced.

Heck, you even invoked the zookeeper rule. I usually bypass that one

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Now the horror show begins: SHC Head Coach comes walking out of the dugout yelling at me: “Are you serious about that call?” To which I reply: “Yes, I am most serious coach.” SHS HC continues to walk toward me and I put up the stop sign and instruct him to return to his dugout. He walks through the stop sign and crosses the third base foul line still questioning me about me being serious about the call. I told him this conversation was over and that he was restricted to the dugout for the remainder of the game. By this time he is in my face telling me: “Stop f**king with me!” Of course he has now won a free “E” coupon for a ride to the farthest reaches of the parking lot. He now starts chest bumping me and continues to yell: “Stop f**king with me!” All during this time I am walking backwards while he is chest bumping me. By now Mark has reached us and steps between the SHS HC and me. When Mark stepped between the SHS HC and me the SHS HC chest bumped him and then told Mark that if Mark pushes him one more time he was going to make trouble for him too.

The SHS HC coach refused to leave the diamond after being told that failure to do so could result in SHS losing the game by forfeit. His response to being told that was: If you forfeit the game I will be waiting for both of you by the dugout when you leave the diamond.

With all due respect. Mark, whatinthehell were you thinking about? The coach swore at you and then physically attacked and threatened both members of the officiating crew. And to top it off, he refused to leave when told he had to do so under penalty of forfeit. There is nowayinhell you should have gone past that point imo. This is HS JV baseball, not college/pro. High school JV! Forfeit the game, write it up and push for the appropriate penalties. All prolonging the game did was give the Assistant Coach an opportunity to get his shots in too.

Take care of bidness and then get outa Dodge.

As an experienced official, would you have continued that game under those circumstances if it hadda been a different team involved than one from your son's school?

Jmo.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by socalblue1

Mark,

Please tell us that you:

1. Called the assignor, association president & school administration ASAP

2. Filed a police report (Hint - it is a FELONY in most states to attack a sports official)

Mark, FYI Ohio does not have special protections in place for sports officials (the bill died in the legislature a couple years ago).

Assault and battery sounds like what happened, probably misdemeanor grade. Still, getting the police involved tends to get people's attention, and the police report would be valuable documentation for OHSAA.