Crappy teams that bitch and moan
 

Did two games last night. The first game was between two teams that were 8-0 and ended 15-14. They only made 1-2 errors..caught everything, did not let runners advance. I was so into the game because every inning it was a one run game. The away team scored to take a one run lead in the top of the 7th. The home team then left the bases loaded and did not score. I was just hoping for no bang bang play on the final out. Thankfully the batter popped out to short left. Both teams said "Good game blue, thanks for the hustle" It seems the good teams always say that to me.

The second game was between the two worst teams in the league and both of these teams bitch about the balls and strikes and complain about everything every time I have them. First of all both pitchers could not throw strikes so we had about 8 base on balls the first two innings when I think I had a total of 2 the first game. Plus the guys won`t swing. So I lowered my strike zone to try and get the game moving a little and they bitched about that.

Then in the 5th there was a bang bang play at first that I thought the runner was safe...an out would have ended the inning. Of course they went on the score 5 more runs after that..."on 4 errors" with the second baseman making 3 of them. The team had to make 12 errors for the game and that is not counting throwing to the wrong base to let the runners advance multiple times...but I was the reason they lost because of the call at first and because I walked too many batters. I wanted to say "You should be mad at your second baseman as he dropped a popup and booted two ground balls that would have ended the inning.

How do you deal with crappy teams that complain??

Consider the source.
Tell them "enough" when they get to your limit.
Ignore it otherwise, go home and relax afterward.

I know..but it seems I have more problems with the crappy teams than the good teams. Plus the crap teams never seem to be able to make the routine plays and do stupid things on the bases. Must have had 4-5 outs on the bases this game as well from stupid running.

Well, there not called the crappy teams for nothing...:rolleyes:

There are teams that are good. There are teams that are bad and know it. There are teams that are bad and are in denial. The third group will give you twice the problems as the first two.

Your experience is similar to most of the umpires on the board. You'll hear more complaining that the umpires are f***ing a team from Group 3. They are so happy to properly field a ball and make a throw and catch on a bang-bang play that they feel slighted when it doesn't go their way. Never mind the 7 errors that inning...they can't blame those on anyone else.

The answer is firm game management, an extra dose of professionalism, and a short leash. Snappy comebacks feel good, but are best reserved for this forum and privately with your partner in postgame.

I hear you though....I called a high(ish) strike at the nipples last weekend and the coach wanted to complain between innings. He said "No way that's in the strike zone, blue, you need to look at the book." I wanted to say "Book says the top of the zone is the armpits, do you really think that was above her armpits?" ... but I did not. I just warned him that he'd said enough. That team got beat 15-2 and went home.

Just smile and keep going until they cross the line, and then you dump those who need to go. I enjoy the clowns at a circus, why would this be any different. The big smile will irritate them more than anything else.

I can't disagree with anything you said. I really like the clowns analogy because that is what some of the wRECk league teams (bad and in denial) are. The only time I ever tossed a player from an adult softball game was over a non-advancement to second base call. The opposing runner ran through first, stay right on the line and walked back to the base. The first baseman , acting on orders from the "player-manager" in the dugout (who was in the there because he sucked to bad to even play on a terrible team), tagged the runner returning to first. I ruled safe-no attempt to advance. This guy goes ape crap bananas dropping F-bombs and some words I never heard before. His clown show would have made the grenade throwing baseball manager look tame. Eventually his team mates got him off the field. Some of them even cheered as he left the field. He thought they were cheering his show, when in reality they were cheering the fact he was gone from the field for a couple weeks (due to ejection related suspension).