Partners

[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.