Reminds me of the umpire I saw call a runner out because his jersey was not tucked in....:(

Maybe it was the same dude!

Ahem,
 

Remember where we are in Wisconsin and assigning:

Officials develop their own schedule. That means they go to schools to "sell" their crew and get games.

Also remember as little as two years ago three plate umpires working State Championship games wore rafts.

Nuff said.

T

All I can say is that this has to be a bush association. An umpire of this caliber should not be anywhere near a HS game (or any game for that matter). These Rubes get hold of a rule and make it there mission to see it violated having no understanding of its purpose.

I am seething thinking that these guys are out there making these calls. I don't care if there is a shortage of umpires, you are better off one man than with this guy.

And I'm sorry; if I am the plate guy I am throwing this Smitty under the bus. I want him dead and buried (figuratively of course :rolleyes:)

Associations? There are no assigning associations in Wisconsin. Games are assigned by league to individual crews of umpires. I work 90% of my HS games with the same partner. We also work college games together.

Not everyone here sucks. There are some really good, well-trained umpires here. You just aren't going to get that good training from many of the associations here (who have no assigning role) is all.

My theory when stuff like this happens is that the schools/leagues get exactly what they deserve. If they're willing to hire jokers like this, they get exactly what they deserve.

How do they tell the difference between you and the jokers? Sounds like a bad system.

Truth is, many of the coaches either don't know the difference or would rather hire the umpires they can manipulate.

I don't suffer -- I could work 7 days a week if I wanted to (and some weeks I do).

As far as postseason, I'm pretty sure the only metrics they have (the state assigns all the playoff slots) are (1) coaches rating, (2) number of games worked, (3) schedule, (4) preferred partners. I'm certain nobody from the office has actually seen me or my partners officiate. I could be wrong.

No real complaints except it's unlikely I'll get to ever work the state tourney and I'm pretty sure I would've had the chance in other states. The thing about guys using a raft there recently is true, BTW.

+1

Sorry you have to endure such a crappy system.

Congratulations on being part of a system in which you can work as much as you like. I miss those days. Assigners here think that every umpire working the same number of games, regardless of ability, is a good thing.

Umpires with ability benefit from a system using hired assigners less than any other participant in such a system. ADs benefit most, followed by assigners themselves, then bad umpires. Good umpires gain little.

Not always. In our association, assignments are made based on (1) ability; then (2) availability.

An umpire who can work every day probably will work every day, but he may call mostly MS and JV games, with a few lower-level Varsity games thrown in if that's all he's capable of.

Without assigners, umpires with ability work as often as they want, at as high a level as they want, provided they are willing to pursue the games.

Even if that remains true under an assigner, it is of no particular benefit to those umpires. They're simply no worse off than they were before.

Lots of guys don't like having to "sell" their services because it's such a tough sale.

All the leagues here use umpire groups or associations, no freelance going on here. Unfortunately.