Chin music of a different sort

[rbmartin]

1) Step back
2) Pull out your pen & note pad
3) Start writing down player numbers who you will eject or name in the game report.

[bob jenkins]

Good reason for even BUs to carry pen and paper.

You can also use it to make notes about an EJ shortly after it happens.

Or, just add to your grocery list.

[Ump29]

Fully agree with all. We are told that this is not a hockey game and we are not linesmen. Stand back and take notes.

[Publius]

I thought U1 might have made a better effort to head off a punch being thrown. After the shove, he didn't take so much as a step toward the combatants to get between them and maybe keep it from escalating. We aren't hired to break up fights, but we ARE supposed to prevent them if we can. Rut is probably right that he wasn't going to get there in time, but at least a token effort ought to have been made. Sometimes guys are hoping for an excuse NOT to fight, as in "Yeah, if the ump hadn't jumped in, I'd have kicked his a$$!"

U1 was wise to stay out after the punch flew and the takedown occurred. U3 jumped into the melee while fists were still flying. Not something I would do or recommend.

PU behaved exactly as I hope I would. He approached the pile seemingly with the intent of limiting the number of participants. When multiple bodies closed in around him and he felt someone's (the guy in the green sweatshirt) hand on him, he backed the hell out. Then, when the initial adrenaline rush ebbed and players were just milling rather than escalating, he moved back between the teams and got them headed back to the benches.

The PU did a superb job handling this with the proper combination of authority and self-preservation.