Federation ambiguity w/ "Distraction"

[Matt]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

I wouldn't say constantly by any means, not even seldom...but the crappy coach's rating is worth just as much as the great coach who "gets" how the game is played. I haven't had to eject, nor do I think this would ever escalate to a situation where a coach would eject himself, he'll just take it out on me in my rating and in MN, where rating does matter whether I like it or not, I feel like I need to consider that in how I approach things.

Bob J. I understand that they can never make a rule for every color combination but the rules specifically deal with "white issues"...my argument would be that if those who argue the ticky-tack would worry more about hitting than the hint of white somewhere, they'd be better off, but you can't get in that discussion on the field.

Thanks for offering your thoughts on this...keep 'em coming

You also have to remember--it's one game. If a coach lowballs you on a rating because of a conflict you had with him, it's a) going to stick out when the opposing coach submits his ratings, b) going to stick out in comparison with your other ratings, and c) not going to affect your overall rating much.

If any of those three things are not true, then your rating for that game from that coach is not your biggest problem. I got rated a 3 from one coach last year--it was quite obvious that low of a score was an anomaly and didn't affect my overall score by more than a tenth of a point. Also, the guys at state know who rated you what, and while I can't say this with 100% certainty, I think that they hold certain coaches' ratings in much higher regard than others.

The one thing I would like to see in MN is the overall ratings of those eventually selected--not by name, but just as a gauge for each individual umpire to see where he compared to the state crews. I really want to know if the grading system actually reflects reality, and that it's not a right-skewed distribution, as I suspect.

Originally Posted by RichMSN

They're part of the process here, too. Stop letting it affect how you umpire, it isn't worth the aggravation.

Exactly.