Geeky, Or Not?

[greymule]

Never saw an ump point at the pitcher's feet; never heard of that practice, either. Why not an indicator on the bases? POS+ even advertises their "braille" indicator as ideal for base umps. Watches never bothered me, but when I was doing Fed I obeyed their rule and took mine off.

Shabby clothing is what bothers me most. Most of the Fed umps around here wear proper uniforms, but some of the softball guys--hats with what looks like 20 years of grime on them, blue shirt they wear at the factory, black jeans, equipment on the outside, shirttails half out, giant decorative belt buckles, work boots.

To me, there's something "geeky" about nit-picking safety and uniform rules, too. Making the coaches stay within the lines of the box, counting the warmup pitches. Umps that do those things remind me of deputy Barney Fife.