Partners

[Rich]

Our games here start at 4:45PM or 5PM. I usually ride with my (regular) partner, so we arrive about 20 minutes or so before game time (we shoot for 30 minutes and usually miss that target by a few minutes). Absent a flat tire, I've never been late for a game.

We have jobs. I'm not showing up an hour beforehand to sit around and watch the teams warm up. I'm dressed and ready to hit the field to check the bats 5 minutes before the plate meeting.

Basketball and football? I'm there an hour or more before. They also play at night, when my work day is over.

[grunewar]

Game last night was scheduled to start at 6:30.....ump was late (we only had one, great (sarc)) and we began at 6:48. Some officials (parents, players) will be late no matter what time the game is supposed to start......

I coached for many yrs. It didn't matter if the game was a Tues night at 5:30 or a Saturday morning at 8:00, the same kids/parents were always late.......

I do agree in some areas it is certainly tough and you get what you can.

I have been one of the fortunate one's to be able to take earlier games for the past few yrs. Unfortunately, times are changing for me at the office and next season should be very interesting.....and not in a good way.

[MD Longhorn]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... and I say it at every meeting I can.

If high schools would learn that a LOT of good officials have day jobs, and they are severely limiting their pool of officials when they schedule their games at 3, then the problem would fix itself. These poor schedulers are stuck assigning whoever they can find when games consistently start that early.

[BaBa Booey]

Umpiring is not easy for everyone. There are those who go to the 5 week schools and by the end of week 5 still don't know what they're doing. And that's after doing nothing but umpiring for 5 weeks. In my local association here, we have about 3-4 techniques and mechanics meetings all year, and generally those get sidetracked into "what do I do if I have a light blue shirt but my partner has a dark blue shirt" conversations. This is not a full-time job for most and the majority of people a) think they are doing a good job when they're not b) don't care c) simply don't have a lot of extra time to go to clinics or really work on their game d) try hard but simply will never get it.

I don't think this is anything new. I think that we see more officials getting better training and so the bad ones stick out more than they used to. But they have always been there and will always be there no matter what time the game starts.