Knew it was coming

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

LL does pay for expenses for those who work regionals and WS games. I worked a Senior Regional (in Peru/LaSalle) and we were put in a hotel room and given meals, etc. We also received shirts and hats to wear during the games.

Well that is deep in the playoff, but if you never pay someone at the local level you might not ever get that opportunity to make that choice.

Originally Posted by RichMSN

As far as game fees, well, I don't really care about that. I don't do LL for the money -- I consider that part of my year community service and it's completely voluntary for me to work those games. I contend that there are enough *good* LL umpires out there that they could staff the LLWS with good umpire volunteers from now until the end of time and there wouldn't be a problem with the umpiring. But the criteria reward something other than umpiring skill as the top item on the list, and that's why we get to see what we see as often as we do.

And that is your right Rich. And I have no problem with your position on this. But the problem is that there are people that would not do that and might give more to community service in other ways. I think working a game as an official in many ways is not least I could do for community service as I might find baseball game a very small contribution to a community. It does not mean you have to share that opinion, it just means I know people that give back to kids in other ways and would find this as minimal in a larger scale. And in my opinion, to guarantee you will get a wider pool is to pay guys. Now if I was in your shoes and I worked a tournament and they paid those expenses like you referenced I would consider doing those games, but not the entire season I would not. But this is why I say officiating is very personal. What gets us on the road to work a game varies so much.

Peace