The Darkest of the Darkside

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by soundedlikeastrike

I too will slither through the pipe and come up on the other side of the lines as a rat; RESPONSIBLE ATHLETICS TUTOR.
The day has come, my grand stud asked me (twins now mind ya), "will you coach my bb team"..
I quickly duck into the kitchen and started peeling a couple onions, ya know don't want the boy to see me tearing up a bit. Well ah, hmmm, YES.
No hope a seeing most you guys for a while, class of 2021.
Were going minor LL, don't know yet, coach, machine or live meat, pitching. Can not wait, what April kick off, here in the great NW?
31Yrs blue, 1977-2008, every age of LL, then select in the summers and some summer collegiate.
17* years. 1982-1997, coach (that first year), manager the rest, LL, JR, SR, BR, SRBR.
4 district champs, best we did at state (BR) was a second and a 3rd.
The * was league Pres. 2 yrs of that, finally ran outta of excuses to Momma.
Went to blue full time in 2000, pulled the plug after 08 season.
First thing meet the team, schedule a "parent meeting". I'm doing the talking, my expectations for parent behavior are clearly expressed, with really only three items, practice time, playing time, and reaction to an umpires decision, my job and my job only; coaches and players; extra exspecially sportsman like.
One troubled parent in the stands in all those years..and if I remember correctly it was at about this age group maybe 9-10.
Anyway just warning ya.. come to my field waiting for "come on blue wake up out there.. how can you sleep with all these lights on, your wife know your.."... sorry, you just won't get it from my side, just me whispering in your ear with a lineup card in my hand, "man, 12 for 8, shoot, this kids tough, we teach the kids not to swing at those...
Good luck, call em as ya see em.

Well, since you went from rat to umpire to start with, the transition back should be really smooth!

[gsf23]

Hell, I was a rat and an umpire at the same time, somtimes the same day.

The first year I umpired, I was also the pitching coach for a team that played in the area that our association covered. One classic moment was after I coached the varsity team, I went upstairs, changed into my gear and was the base umpire for the JV game. My partner and I go to the plate, and as we are introducing ourselves to the coaches, the coach from the visiting team shakes my hand and then does a double take.

“Aren’t you a coach on that team?”

“Yes, but the other umpire had to leave and so I am taking his place.”

My partner had to re-assure the coach that I was indeed certified and pretty much put his own reputation on the line, telling the coach that he wouldn’t have any complaints about how I worked the bases.

I thought it was pretty easy to separate coach from umpire.