You know your partner is wrong, but he won't appeal!

[hukonrt]

Long time ago when I first started that would have been the PU's call...better angle. Nevertheless, if he were my partner at some point in the future I would want to stress the fact that I might call on him for help just because he might have a better view of the play. Allowing a coach to ask me to appeal to my partner is really OK so long as it is done properly and does not become excessive. It's still my call but if I have any thought at all that something might have happened that I didn't see, then I hope my partner is watching also. Always happy to get the call right even if I have to change it to do so.

[eagle]

Didn't sound too much like an argument. It did sound like he was really unsure of the call. You handled it correctly. Even if he asked for help, the final decision on the call is his. Your response to the coach was good. I never tell the coach what I saw especially when it is in reference to my partner's call. I will discuss it with my partner and leave it up to him/her as to what they want to do with the call. I know that I have made a call and have asked for help from my partner. If he/she saw something different than what I did and I am sure that they are positive about it, then I will change the call. Pride goes before the fall so I will swallow every last ounce of it to ensure the players get a fair and accurate game.

[CecilOne]

So now, instead of players yelling "Do you have a date?", they can yell "Do you have a bus to catch?" or "What time is the bus?".

BTW, if you redline every partner who screws up, you will work a lot of games alone.

[FUBLUE]

Originally posted by CecilOne
So now, instead of players yelling "Do you have a date?", they can yell "Do you have a bus to catch?" or "What time is the bus?".

BTW, if you redline every partner who screws up, you will work a lot of games alone.

Not trying to "redline" every partner who screws up, just the ones who have a habit of screwing up on last outs (after talking to an assignor, this guy does), being late to games, and not being willing to learn a better way of doing things.

For crying out loud, we had to hold our pregame meeting (umpires, of course) between innings! Fortunately, he didn't have anything too major come up (save last play). Nothing that coaches would go ballistic about.

But what really gets me, and this is my soapbox, is in this state coaches vote for umpires who do the state championship tournament (NFHS). So, if I have partners that screw up all the time, it will eventually trickle down to making me look bad (i.e. coach loses game on a call like this one, but thinks that call cost them the game, so he votes me and partner as bad umpires). I'll stick by him through thick and thin on the diamond, then kick him in the stomach (figuratively) after the game, in private. Then I call assignor and have him not schedule me with partner again (BTW, assignor told me before game that he needed "one good umpire on the game, and that was me."

[CecilOne]

Originally posted by FUBLUE
... snip ... But what really gets me, and this is my soapbox, is in this state coaches vote for umpires who do the state championship tournament (NFHS). ... snip...

I join in your hatred for that approach.

[eagle]

Amen to that! Coaches who lose a game you called because they were out gunned, out coached or whatever and want to blame the loss on you will remember not to vote for you at tourney time. However, the winning coach may forget you as quick as they forget their anniversary and might not vote for you either!

[Skahtboi]

Originally posted by FUBLUE
But what really gets me, and this is my soapbox, is in this state coaches vote for umpires who do the state championship tournament (NFHS). So, if I have partners that screw up all the time, it will eventually trickle down to making me look bad (i.e. coach loses game on a call like this one, but thinks that call cost them the game, so he votes me and partner as bad umpires).

I don't know if I necessarily agree with this statement. I think that most coaches at the HS level are capable of judging each umpire on his own merit. I have spent this season working with many umpires who are not quite up to snuff. I have spent a lot of time on the field trying to help them kick their game up to that next level. Sometimes I have succeeded, and sometimes I haven't. However, I have still been requested by several teams to work their playoff games. That's because an umpire who hustles, has good mechanics, is professional, and displays rules knowledge on the field is always appreciated, even when working with the worst slug. Heck, maybe more so then.

I am not a fan of the coaches voting for umpires for playoffs, either. However, I still think that just because you work with someone who is a poor official, as long as you do what you know you are supposed to, the coaches who do the voting will notice.

[FUBLUE]

Originally posted by Skahtboi

I don't know if I necessarily agree with this statement. I think that most coaches at the HS level are capable of judging each umpire on his own merit. I have spent this season working with many umpires who are not quite up to snuff. I have spent a lot of time on the field trying to help them kick their game up to that next level. Sometimes I have succeeded, and sometimes I haven't. However, I have still been requested by several teams to work their playoff games. That's because an umpire who hustles, has good mechanics, is professional, and displays rules knowledge on the field is always appreciated, even when working with the worst slug. Heck, maybe more so then.

I am not a fan of the coaches voting for umpires for playoffs, either. However, I still think that just because you work with someone who is a poor official, as long as you do what you know you are supposed to, the coaches who do the voting will notice.

I think GOOD coaches will look at umpires individually...but bad coaches only care about "gettin' even" with someone for "costing them the game."

[Skahtboi]

Originally posted by FUBLUE
I think GOOD coaches will look at umpires individually...but bad coaches only care about "gettin' even" with someone for "costing them the game."

I can buy that!

[FUBLUE]

Originally posted by Skahtboi
[QUOTE
I can buy that!

Here's an interesting one:

A few years ago, I called my sister, a high school coach at the time, to see if she had turned in her votes yet...and to beg for a vote. She said, "what vote?" I explained that coaches vote for tournament officials and her vote is important. Two days later she calls me and says, "oh, I checked on the vote...AD takes care of it." So I ask how that was so. And she said, "he said he votes for umpires who either work their games or umpires who work other sports for him." I then ask if she recognized the names of the umpires. She said, "I think three or four of them work our games...the rest do basketball for the school."

I then start naming names of umpires, good quality umpires, we both know. She kept saying no, even though these umpires work about 1/2 of her summer ball games. (And technically that counts).

So, the coaches don't get to vote, and worse, the AD votes for guys who work other sports for him. Sounds like a fair system, right?

But then again, GOOD coaches will vote for GOOD umpires. (Note: This was my sisters first year as a head coach...needless to say it was the last year AD did the voting).