Who Does the Plate?

[jicecone]

Never worked in an area were the position was pre-assigned and I usually try to cover it in my phone call the night before. I prefer the dish but, always give the other official the option. A lot of times I ask just to see the response I get. For the most part it is assumed that you switch off game to game. There are those (and every association has them), that habitually have an excuse of why they can't do it though.

I especially like the ones that never return the phone call and show up at the last minute. At one time I used keep track of the times I did the dish and it was always way more than the times I didn't. Not complaining but sometimes I just wish some officials would just say, "hey, I never do the dish, I don't feel like it, I am afraid to sweat a little, I suck at it or I am just too lazy to put the gear on" instead of all ridiculous excuses I hear sometimes.

Once, I actually had a partner show up after the game had started in full gear and said "I always do the dish for these games". Of course he never returned a phone call the night before and was fifteen minutes late. I told him to go back to his car and take the equipment off and either go home or come back and do the bases. I could write a book on this topic. It was always more common for HS ball and below because usually the College Associations didn't allow these slackers do officiate in the first place.