SA, this post (and this whole subject) make no sense! I leave you to your fantasies - enjoy!

At last, the voice of reason has spoken!

Can-he-leave-her
 

I understand your position about the chin strap. The original idea was safety. Worse things were said about the seatbelt. Wearing a seatbelt was once considered hoaky. The SUL, New View, and FX Shock have not matched promised expectations for providing great protection. All three are designed by product engineers. One was actually an innovative idea (SUL). But the other two were real hoakey.

Take a look at the future mask {similar baseball mask already used in Japan}.
http://www.hockeymonkey.com/itech-ho...ll-shield.html
Better pictures available through search engine.

The cantilever {upside down L} design alone offers more protection than a HSM. If the helmet is worn properly, it will absorb most of the blow and padding could still be inserted to protect the chin. All the advantages I mention above apply. Open face bars already exist. But wearing the helmet w/out the chin strap poses the same hazard we face today.

With all due respect, this helmet is now considered hoaky.

Mandatory Helmet Requirement
 

I regret my sarcasm about taking a hacksaw to a brand new product. I should have stated what any experienced official would have stated.

If you wear bifocals, the seperation between lenses is as wide as that bar. If the bar blocks your vision of the ball, then you are standing to close to the play. One has to understand the concept of angle versus distance to fully appreciate the fact. You are not looking into the helmet, your looking out of it. The converse is if the bar blocks you vision of the ball, pray for the bar to protect you and thank God it is still there.

The other hangup appears to be the chin strap. What other sport allows a participating member to remove a helmet during live action? Comments were made about the ability to take off the helmet in one motion. You need to remove a mask to run faster or see better. Those chinstraps promise additional safety and eliminate the need to carry the helmet around on the ballfield. Why would one need to remove an umpire helmet?

Any future improvement in safety will have to look hoakey. Check out the protection around the neck, forehead and facial cage. Compare it to forehead, face grill and throat guard on any HSM up to latest Shock FX designed for baseball. Make the call.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ima...8960367&sr=8-6

This is getting to the point where it's not even funny even if it's a joke.

Following advice
 

I understand why we remove the mask. The question is why do you remove the bucket so often? Wait a minute, you remove your helmet because we removed our mask. I am looking for any other reason you remove the bucket. Plain English, ball hit to LF, why take your eyes off the ball?

Okay I'll bite first. I take off the mask because I am really quick. When I go out on a fly ball, I don't want my mask to fling off in front of me and take my attention away from the play. If falling off when I take off isn't a problem, then I worry that it will fall off when I stop. That is the exact moment when I need to make my call. I can't be fidgeting around trying to catch my mask at the same time. Now how or why would a HSM lose its perch?

Well, do you need the protection of a mask or helmet after the ball has been put into play? If God thought we'd have better vision with bars in front of our face, he'd have built us that way.

Tim.

You remove the helmet for the same reason you remove your mask, not because you removed your mask. Do you think helmet wearers want their helmets bobbing up and down when they run? Why of course not. But you already knew that, because, as you often do, you are just messing with everyone's head here! :)

I have never been hit by a foul tip. I have, however, been hit by a foul ball.

I can't believe no one else jumped on this.:D

On topic, I'll stick with my mask.

We don't bother correcting umpires who emulate the stupidity of baseball announcers because they are proving that they are completely ignorant of the rules (as the statement from one zm1283 shows) and will never learn.

I await the onslaught of unintelligent announcer emulators :rolleyes:

Dumb idea
 

The thought of a plate umpire wearing a lacrosse helmet is just plain dumb. But let's agree on one thing - protection is not the issue. Lacrosse helmets, like football helmets, are designed to protect the head from all angles. Umpire's masks and helmets are primarily designed for protection from only one direction, the front.

The suggestion that a lacrosse helmet wouldn't provide adequate protection from a ball hitting you in the face is wrong. Lacrosse balls are hard and travel at high rates of speed - just like a baseball.

I'm not very familiar with Lacrosse, so just out of curiosity what type of ball do they use? Is it even comparable to a baseball going 90+ MPH and hitting you in the head? If not, why would you even consider wearing such?

From WikiAnswers:

"A fast shot in lacrosse, usually a sidearm crank, can travel between 100 and 110mph. Average speeds are in the 80-100mph range."


Fast enough for you?

He gone..........