Would this be a form of backstabbing?

[Robmoz]

The thread about "fashion police" really made me wonder.

As I stated in that thread, my position (as least for ASA) is that far too many umpires do not live up to the professional standards of the ASA with regards to Knowledge (K), Mechanics (M), and Appearance (A).

In an effort to uplift the practices of my colleagues, would I be out of line or backstabbing with any of the following:

• Constructively critique directly to them without being solicited to do so
• Drop a note to the league director asking them to issue a memo reminding the umpires of the expectations K/M/A
• Drop a note to the assignor or UIC asking them to issue some statement regarding K/M/A

Now I am not trying sound like some prima dona but it is amazing that so many so-called ASA registered members simply get so lazy as to their rules knowledge, mechanics, and appearance. I try hard to lead by example and get a lot of great assignments for my efforts.

Recently, I was UIC for a tournament and when I required all of my 14 umps to provide a current registration card I had two guys that were not registered and admittedly had not been registered for the past two seasons! They were a little embarassed when I told them that I would not work them. Even some of the other veterans raised their brows when I told them that I expected everyone to wear the proper ASA shirts, matching shorts, no white tennis shoes, and no trucker hats.

Doesn't anyone ever check for these things? Am I picknitting here?