Look at it this way, his chances of going home with a GLM, are better than most!

Coach JM:

-Rude remarks in this thread: *"Newbie posts link to youtube video of 10 yr. old umpire"
*"I mean, at least he didn't "drop trou" in front of a bunch of 1st Grade girls"; come on, how long before I live that one off?

-You mentioned: *"Did you notice the 1st video you posted said it was the kid's 1st game on 9/18/2008? And the 2nd has a date of 10/04/2008? That's a little over 2 weeks elapsed time".
*Response: The kid in the second video was bigger, but had the same voice. My guess is it's the same kid, a couple years later.

-*"What makes you think I was upset? I wasn't.":
*Response: Post 24 in the thread led me to believe you were upset, but I could be wrong.

-"Do you have any idea how foolish and petulant it makes you look to post links of videos of this kid umpiring and berating his appearance? (That remark was "impartial", not "rude", BTW.)"
*Response: I was making a point. Age is irrelevant in umpiring. Uniform standards apply to the level of baseball that one works, not how old someone is. If the person in the video is going to call himself an "umpire", a profession I'm sure most of us here take great pride in, he should try to look the part. I have no sympathy. Many people here nailed the uniform standards into me, so I smartened up and bought the right stuff. Now everybody is defending this kid's poor attire under the premise that he's young? Come on. No excuses in umpiring. I coach pre-teeballers and I would want them to have better than what this kid is providing when they move up to teeball.

-Why did I change my name? I felt representing my country on every post I made was a bit much. I made my new username similar enough to my old one so that I wouldn't be hiding who I was.

Kyle:
-Yes I posted a video of myself in full gear in my parent's basement. I guess that makes me an umpiring geek, but that's not something I'm ashamed of. I don't find anything embarassing about working on plate mechanics. On the surface it might have looked silly, but I thought it was a good way to work on technique when the weather wasn't even close to being good for baseball (about -15 celcius at the time I believe:D).

Petulant is a cool word. I really should use it more.

I use the line. It's the same for both teams and a lot easier on my judgment.

That said, I change a bit as it relates to the base:

If the base is off the line (not touching it at all), I call the line. Therefore, if the ball bounces past the right side of 1st (or left side of 3rd) and it's between the base and line, it's fair.

If the base hangs over the foul line, I will call any ball fair that hits the base.

Of course, this is all detailed in pregame conference. I've never had a problem with any coach.

canadump,

Apparently the word "rude" has a different meaning in Canada than here in the States. The first statement you reference is a simple statement of fact. The second was simply an observation regarding the relative professionalism of the one being criticized and the one doing the criticizing.

In regard to your question, I guess that remains to be seen. How long do you think it should be?

So, you make an unfounded and scurrilous accusation regarding my posts on this board and can't even come up with ONE supporting example out of over 1200 posts I've made? What a douchebag! (See, THAT was "rude"; not uncalled for, but rude, nonetheless.) Apparently, you are as lazy as you are stupid. http://www.umpire-empire.com/forum/i...ies/jerkit.gif
http://www.umpire-empire.com/forum/i...llinglaugh.gif Dude, you're killing me. The kid's FIRST GAME OF HIS LIFE AS AN UMPIRE WAS 09/18/2008! On this planet, that makes it IMPOSSIBLE for the second video you posted to be "...a couple years later." Do you habitually ignore all available objective evidence in reaching your conclusions? Did it occur to you that he may have "looked bigger" to you because the camera was zoomed in closer and had a less elevated angle?

Perhaps it's some sort of nefarious conspiracy to dupe us into thinking this kid only started umpiring last year when in REALITY he's been umpiring since 2006 when he was 8!

I was somewhat incredulous that anyone could think a video of a 10 yr. old umpire with his shirt untucked would be of ANY interest to the membership of this forum (other than in an "isn't that cute?" kind of way), but I was not "upset".

What do you make of the FACT that 21 different people have posted on this thread and not ONE agrees with your "point"? (That's because you don't have one.) And the majority seem to consider you a buffoon for trying to make it. Perhaps your "read" is different since you seem to cling to your ill-conceived preconceptions even in the light of all objective evidence.

http://www.umpire-empire.com/forum/i...it_20Laugh.gif
What you have is no CLUE.

WTF is "pre-teeball"? Why on earth would you have an umpire at a T-Ball game, and what on earth would he do if there were one?

I am sure that Mr. Harper and the rest of your fellow countrymen applaud the deep-seated patriotism that led you to shed this heavy burden - so that you would stop creating the impression that Canadians are all imbeciles. I happen to know a number of Canadians and find them to be intelligent and thoughtful people, contrary to the puerile drivel you have regularly posted here.

Why did you delete the videos? I found them entertaining and instructive.

Go away and come back if you ever grow up. http://www.umpire-empire.com/forum/i...es/anim_25.gif

JM

JM,

It is very hard to take you seriously when you resort to insults. Please try to be more mature. Thank you.

JM - that was a very well thought out and well written, mature response to the issues presented thus far. I commend you for not getting into a name calling contest. It's ashame how "the point" is being defended - no point often leads to circles of defensive moves.

I, too, wondered how the time frame from September 2008 to October 2008 bacame 2 years, but I didn't ask - thought it seemed rather obvious since the dates were posted on the videos.