Situation last night with new ump

[wadeintothem]

"If we hadn't surrounded ourselves with such good people, I'm sure we would have never survived."
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HA!

My local UIC wears torn blue jeans and a dirty T shirt to ump and is fairly pathetic IMO. I dont pay him much attention other than trying to get my sched more than 1 or 2 days in advance from him.. and he certainly is no fountain of Umpire Knowlege. I know twice as much as him about the rules, and I dont know much. There are only two umps in my league that even wear a uniform, me and another guy.. everyone else just shows up, puts a mask and hides behind the big black pillow and says ball or strike. The area UIC is a good umpire and teaches and dresses properly.. but he's not around. I only see him at the class in the begining. I wanted to get in a few years before I tried going to HS ball.. which is when I will probably/hopefully deal with him. I'm anxious to move up to a better/higher level, but want to make sure I dont embarrass myself.

When I decided to ump, I decided I would do it right, always look professional and in proper uniform, learn the rules as best I could, and try to be a respectable umpire, as opposed to the norm in my league.

I've learned even much more since I decided to see if I could find a place online where umps chat (this is Y2 for me, so I'm not that experienced).. and found the boards. Thank God for the internet.