End of JEAPU?

[cbfoulds]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Did you read the article? It's not quite what you think, and in my opinion doesn't warrant the punishment.

Given what actually happened Jim's low-key response actually makes more sense. I don't think he saw the sh*tstorm that was coming.

I read it.

I am certain that the outcome is not punishment, it's pretext: for something Professional Baseball was looking to do anyway.

I agree that Evans didn't see the sh*tstorm coming. Like I said previously, that is both clueless and sad.

Guys prancing around in [even fake-/ pseudo-/ mock-] "KKK" outfits, complete w/ pointy hats in the South [which I am a proud part of] and in front of "the lone black employee" can NEVER be "all in good fun" / "a bad joke never meant to hurt anyone". You have to have been living under one hell of a rock for the last 40 years not to get that.

[UMP25]

That's the only thin on which I had commented--the actions by the guys donning the KKK-like outfits. If they did that, it was just plain stupid. However, some genius here began childishly railing on me for things into which I didn't even delve.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by cbfoulds

Guys prancing around in [even fake-/ pseudo-/ mock-] "KKK" outfits, complete w/ pointy hats in the South [which I am a proud part of] and in front of "the lone black employee" can NEVER be "all in good fun" / "a bad joke never meant to hurt anyone". You have to have been living under one hell of a rock for the last 40 years not to get that.

Agreed. I'm simply commenting that the connection between Klein's T-shirts (not mock KKK outfits) and the Klan was probably a secondary thing (Klein is Jewish, after all). The hats probably lasted 30 seconds. Long enough for a photo.

Once the connection was made, all concerned should have fled from it rather than chuckling. And when it hit the media, you go into full retraction and apology mode, not defensiveness. "That's not what happened" isn't cutting it.

[Publius]

I predict a reincarnation: the JEACU.

Evans will use his connection with Dick Runchey to provide college umpires. The five-week school and the Classics will be replaced by twelve week-log clinics given around the country. After a decade-long grandfathering period, only Acad Grads will be eligible to work Omaha.

Then the NCAA will buy it and change the name to Arbiter Umpiring Training Services.

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by Publius

I predict a reincarnation: the JEACU.

Evans will use his connection with Dick Runchey to provide college umpires. The five-week school and the Classics will be replaced by twelve week-log clinics given around the country. After a decade-long grandfathering period, only Acad Grads will be eligible to work Omaha.

Then the NCAA will buy it and change the name to Arbiter Umpiring Training Services.

Not a bad prediction. I've said elsewhere that if he changed it to a two-week class and offered three of them over the 6 weeks, I'd look into going. Getting 5 weeks off at work is impossible; two weeks is doable.

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by yawetag

Not a bad prediction. I've said elsewhere that if he changed it to a two-week class and offered three of them over the 6 weeks, I'd look into going. Getting 5 weeks off at work is impossible; two weeks is doable.

A two-week would be amazing and more doable for anybody who entered umpiring outside of their teens or early 20's.

What person with a "real job" can afford to give it all up to attend a 5 week school?

Answer: Not many people who could be very, very good umpires.

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

What person with a "real job" can afford to give it all up to attend a 5 week school?

And what percentage of those people are going simply to improve their own knowledge and not necessarily to get a job with MiLB?

I'd bet that if Evans ran the classes (even if he had the 5-week one), he'd find it very profitable. Charge $1,000 (or even $1,200 to make a bit more than you would with the 5-week) to be there for the two weeks; make it clear it's not to get a chance for PBUC; and put it after the 5-week classes end. The only issue is the availability of your instructors.

[Forest Ump]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

A two-week would be amazing and more doable for anybody who entered umpiring outside of their teens or early 20's.

What person with a "real job" can afford to give it all up to attend a 5 week school?

Answer: Not many people who could be very, very good umpires.

I agree with that thought but I'm also thinking;

"What person with a wife can give up two weeks to go to umpire school and still have a wife when they get back."

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Forest Ump

I agree with that thought but I'm also thinking;

"What person with a wife can give up two weeks to go to umpire school and still have a wife when they get back."

I could. I travel to umpire all the time.

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by Forest Ump

I agree with that thought but I'm also thinking;

"What person with a wife can give up two weeks to go to umpire school and still have a wife when they get back."

I would be able to do it as probably a one time thing or every few years...my wife knows how important umpiring is to me so she would let me do it. YMMV

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by Forest Ump

"What person with a wife can give up two weeks to go to umpire school and still have a wife when they get back."

Two weeks? Easy. Five weeks? Impossible.

[yawetag]

Evans apologizes.

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by Publius

I predict a reincarnation: the JEACU.

Evans will use his connection with Dick Runchey to provide college umpires. The five-week school and the Classics will be replaced by twelve week-log clinics given around the country. After a decade-long grandfathering period, only Acad Grads will be eligible to work Omaha.

Then the NCAA will buy it and change the name to Arbiter Umpiring Training Services.

I don't doubt it. What will happen, though, to all those MiLB Umpires who quit/are released and find themselves working post-season NCAA? After all, so many of them work the upper echelons of D1.

[Publius]

Originally Posted by UMP25

I don't doubt it. What will happen, though, to all those MiLB Umpires who quit/are released and find themselves working post-season NCAA? After all, so many of them work the upper echelons of D1.

I envision the NCAA setting some year as a cutoff. After that, they don't care if you're Tony Thompson, Jim Schaly, Jon Bible or Perry Costello--do their training or you can't be considered for post-season play.

I'd be happier if they made the rules test closed-book, and assignors actually used the results as one indicator of who knows WTF they're doing. A vast majority of the people I partner with during the year (I don't work D1) get together and take it as a group. That probably helps explain why I have to bail out so many of them during the year when they screw up rulings.

[UMP25]

Well, if they're taking it as a group, it's not that easy, because each person has a different set of questions. What I don't like about the test is its inconsistency or contradictions with what's actually in the book at times. In addition, there are this year numerous typos and even some questions where the answers per the NCAA are completely incorrect.

And this is not coming from someone who has had problems with the exam. I've always passed it, oftentimes with superb scores.