To Be Mad Or Not To Be Mad?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by RadioBlue

... which is a chicken$hit way of saying it directly to you. If you eject or warn in this situation, of course their retort will be, "I wasn't even talking to you!!" The best response to that is, "I know who you were talking to." It's not argumentative and it almost sounds as if you're agreeing with him. It avoids you getting into a pi$$ing match with an upset coach. All it says is, "I know what you did and in my opinion you did something worthy of an ejection/warning."

"I wasn't talking to you" is an attempt to deflect responsibility and/or guilt.

Exactly. I'm not going to react to quiet-ish griping in the dugout -- I can handle that. When it becomes loud or prolonged, I'm stopping it. Your words are exactly the words I'll use, too.

An experienced coach will knock it off immediately unless he wants to get run. Other coaches may need to be trained by getting ejected once or twice. That's OK, it seems to get quieter once those coaches leave anyway.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Steven Tyler said: But you did lay it down hard on BSU16. I'm not trying to argue with you. Just treat others in the same manner that you expect to treated. I've been saying that for years.

It's always do as I say, not as I do. Take the blinders off for once. The change would do you good.

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

The assistant is mouthy and throws his hat onto the ground as he is complaining. This led me to grant a warning to the coaches.

This is where you dump the ASSistant coach. Then, he would probably know by the next game not to screw with you or face the same outcome.

As he was talking with the manager I can hear one of the assistant coaches mouthing. He is complaining that we sucked on Friday and that we still sucked on Sunday. We cost them the game on Friday and we were probably going to cost them the current game. Then he states that I am a lazy official and was out of position and that if I hustled over to 1st I probably would have seen the player touch first. I had heard enough so I ejected this coach.

As soon as you heard the boldfaced type above, he should have been ejected (again, as he should have been run the previous game as well). Assistant coaches are to be seen and not heard, like small children.

As far as your UIC is concerned, you may want to check his wife's purse to see if his balls are in it. The better assignors will send you right back into the fire when a team threatens something like "we won't play if so-and-so is umpiring," or "you'll never work our games again," as if they have some kind of say-so in the matter. It always amazes me how much power coaches think they have over the umpires. Unfortunately, your "boss" is more concerned with not upsetting the status quo, which IMO is tragic. I always relished the opportunity to work the very next game with the mouthy coach who thought he called the shots, and my assignor was always more than happy to pencil me in.

My response to the OP. Nothing at all wrong with this post. Not disrespectful in the least. As has been stated by nearly everyone here, my comment about wanting to be sent back to work a game with bossy coaches was the way most umpires feel about such nonsense. I neither meant nor implied that I would be seeking any retribution, merely sending the message that our umpires were not going to be bullied. I do feel that the UIC was being a wuss not assigning the crew to the finals, and knuckling under to the pressure of the coaches. I know some assignors that are like that too, I just don't work for them. The ones I have worked for would send you right back there to those teams WITHOUT being asked to.

Originally Posted by BSUmp16

Perfect example of a combination of rabbit ears and the "my dick is bigger than your dick" school of umpiring.

Don't go "getting an angle" so you can pick up on comments from the mouthy coaches - you're looking for trouble. If the coach comes to you and starts the conversation with "You...", or something simiilar, sure, dump him. Otherwise, unless it's loud enough to be showing you up, laugh and walk away. Pissing and moaning in the dugout is part of the game. Coaches like this will generally end up ejecting themselves. No need to go looking for trouble. And "relishing" the opportunity to get back at a coach means that you are no long an unbiased and neutral arbiter - you now have an agenda and are looking for an excuse to eject. I wouldn't want you umpiring my game either.

Here, he is quoting my post in response to the OP post. I questioned why he was quoting my post. This is where he became a mind reader and put words that I never meant or said in my mouth.

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I have no idea why you are quoting my post. I did not advocate going in to "get an angle" to pick up comments. I was mostly commenting on the actions of the assistant coach in the first game, where he first threw his hat and had a tantrum. That's where it should have been nipped in the bud. As far as the rabbit ears thing, he was already over there and overheard it, so at that point, if it's loud enough to be heard by everyone and is aimed at you, you eject the clown. They eject people from the dugout in the majors for talking crap, so what's the difference.

Also, where did you get the idea that I "relished" the idea of going back to the game to "get back at the coach?" I only want to show that his intimidation tactic didn't work, and that the assignor will put whoever he wants on the game. I have never gone into a game with a chip on my shoulder from a previous game. I always start fresh each game with a clean slate. You sure infer a lot and do a lot of assuming, I have noticed.

Again, here is my response. Absolutely nothing disrespectful in this response. I am not a rooster in a barnyard, or any other folksy homily you come up with to describe me. I was not even argumentative. I was extremely polite. I asked where he got his ideas about what I had posted, since he totally misinterpreted my words. Other people even commented the same thing.

Originally Posted by Steven Tyler

You hold a grunge. Never in a million years.............

Here is what I got for my trouble. Let's get this straight. I made a comment to you once about 6 years ago or more about you not doing your job if you don't ever eject a coach, since you at the time had never ejected anyone. Ever since then you have bent over backwards to be rude and insulting to me. That is holding a grudge. I am a very forgiving person, and do not hold grudges. I come on these forums to have fun, learn things, and teach some things when I can.

[PeteBooth]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by tankmjg24

Alright guys I am looking for everyone's opinion on something that happened to my partner and I over the weekend. We were working a travel ball tournament for an association for the first time and had games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Unfortunately the OP has gone "off trend" which seems to be the norm at this Forum lately and it really is a shame as this Forum at one time was one of the best around.

ok to your OP

IMO, we need some clarification to the following statement

We were working a travel ball tournament for an association for the first time and had games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

1. Did another umpire association contact your association asking for coverage?

2. Are you a "free-lance" umpire who works for various associations?

You said Tournament UIC.

Who is that?

is the Tournament UIC the head of the umpire association whom you agreed to work for?

Also, which rule set were you using?

In NFHS rules the Asst coach does not approach the umpires and I agree with others who said "dump him when he threw a tantrum on Friday Night"

I would not get upset over being switched games but I would keep it in my "memory" banks and not work for this association again. Now we know why this particular teams coach acts the way they do

RE: They do not have to face the consequences. When the UIC sides "with the enemy" and it's travel ball to boot means stay away. Get your money and look for work elsewhere.

Pete Booth

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I made a comment to you once about 6 years ago or more about you not doing your job if you don't ever eject a coach, since you at the time had never ejected anyone.

I have no earthly idea why you keep saying this? Even if it were true, what does not doing your job have anything to with it anyway? Perhaps this person you refer to is doing their job better than you. They might have worked games where the partner did the ejection. And not because their partner had to do it for them either. They might have a real job, and not work 200 games a year. Did you ever think of that? Please get over yourself. Yesterday is gone, today is here, and tomorrow isn't promised.

FYI~the last time I dumped a coach(es) it was two for the price of one. One was for the snide little comment an assistant coach made as he walked behind me after the game was over. I got the head coach at the table where I was turning in the pitching card, and the baseballs. UIC backed me up. Anything else you want to know?

[tankmjg24]

Pete, to answer your questions:

The UIC of the tournaments umpire association contacted the UIC of the association that I officiate for asking for assistance. On this particular weekend I think they said there were a total of 350 games played amongst all the fields throughout the state as this was their largest tournament of the year. My UIC contacted me along with probably 15 others within our association asking if we wished to umpire within the tournament and my partner and I agreed.

The tournament UIC was the UIC of the umpire association that regularly officiates the travel ball games. The way the tournament was set up there were multiple age divisions playing on multiple fields throughout the state and he was in charge of all of them. On this particular weekend, he was not umpiring but supervising from a location different from mine.

The rule set being used was USSSA rules (OBR based).

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Welpe

You need to quit working games with a one man crew.

True ... I want to upgrade to a newer / different forum first ... working on it -- I think I found the one that I want to use and need to start playing around with it a bit. Of course, I'm running my regular business (BlueZebra Sports) at the same time ... so it's a little busy!