Lightning: UIC vs ME

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Makes you want to lock yourself in you house, assuming it is a well-structered building and never come out.

Yes, lightning is a scary and dangerous thing. And I've seen many documentaries about lightning.

What I don't get is how things have changed. From my youth, I've heard thunder and have never seen a bit of lightning on a regular basis. A "thunderstorm" and an "electrical storm" were not synonymous. However, we are now being told, if you hear thunder, there must be lightning. Hmmm.

Not exactly sure what your point is Mike, but I am going to ask you point blank:

You are the UIC at a major tournament. You see the flash, you hear the sound, but you don't pull the trigger. But a junior umpire pulls the players from the field. The other 4 fields are still playing.

What's the call?
What's the future of the junior umpire based on this single action?

[CecilOne]

Even without the "fearful culture" change, science accumulates knowledge and understanding as time passes and more attentionis always given to problems as the number of occurrences accumulate. Plus the hugely increased ability and amount of communication compared to when some of us were children.

[WestMichBlue]

However, we are now being told, if you hear thunder, there must be lightning

No - thunder is created by the gods bowling in the clouds.

Lightening heats up the air and causes it to rapidly expand and collaspe. That shock wave is what you hear as thunder. Due to pressure, temperature, and other atmospheric conditions, you may not hear thunder from a bolt that is close, or you may hear it from miles away.

Lightening typically is on the front edge of a storm and may procede it; storms can move from 20 to 50 mph. In an extreme case you may hear thunder, not see lightening, and have a bolt on top of you within minutes.

See it - hear it - get out!

WMB

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

Even without the "fearful culture" change, science accumulates knowledge and understanding as time passes and more attentionis always given to problems as the number of occurrences accumulate. Plus the hugely increased ability and amount of communication compared to when some of us were children.

I didn't mean to imply I thought our current approach of extreme caution with lightning was anything less than correct. I was just commenting on differences between "then" and "now."

People have always had a problem making the proper decisions in low probablility / high penalty situations. That's why the first reaction of many people when awakened by a hotel fire alarm is to wait and see if it is a false alarm, rather than evacuate immediately. Chances are, they are right. But, if they are wrong, they may be dead wrong. Lots of other examples... seat belts, motorcycle helmets, etc.

I look at lightning the same way. Low probability of a strike that will injure anyone on or around the field, but if it does happen, the consequences can be very tragic. Not worth rolling the dice, IMO.

What I make fun of, however, is low probabiliy, low penalty situations that people in our modern culture get all worried about. Disinfecting the kitchen trash can, for example. Sure, little junior could grab an old piece of something and put it in his mouth, but unless you are running a meth lab, the consequences are going to be minor. And, the long term consequences of killing every microbe in sight (so to speak) is, peversely, the opposite - it reduces our collective resistance to such bugs, and increases the penalty for junior's grandchild.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by Dakota

I didn't mean to imply I thought our current approach of extreme caution with lightning was anything less than correct. I was just commenting on differences between "then" and "now."

It wasn't you I was trying to convince about lightning, just making the point that reality as well as attuitude progress as time goes by.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

Not exactly sure what your point is Mike, but I am going to ask you point blank:

You are the UIC at a major tournament. You see the flash, you hear the sound, but you don't pull the trigger. But a junior umpire pulls the players from the field. The other 4 fields are still playing.

What's the call?
What's the future of the junior umpire based on this single action?

Don't know why you would ask that question. I didn't suggest any of the statements were wrong, just how the "interpretation" of the atmospherical events seem to have changed of the years.

However, to answer your question will be easy. Been there, done that.

It will not happen if I see the lightning. I would expect any umpire in the complex who sees lightning to pull the teams and inform the umpires on other fields which I will expect to mirror his/her actions. If I'm told, I will be passying the work to the other fields to shut it down.

Also, don't know why you would think there would be a problem for an umpire simply doing their job.

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Don't know why you would ask that question. I didn't suggest any of the statements were wrong, just how the "interpretation" of the atmospherical events seem to have changed of the years.

However, to answer your question will be easy. Been there, done that.

It will not happen if I see the lightning. I would expect any umpire in the complex who sees lightning to pull the teams and inform the umpires on other fields which I will expect to mirror his/her actions. If I'm told, I will be passying the work to the other fields to shut it down.

Also, don't know why you would think there would be a problem for an umpire simply doing their job.

Fair enough Mike.
I wasn't sure if I was reading your previous post correctly or not. One way that I read it was that you were inclined to take lightning lightly. My apologies for the mis-read.

If the UIC emphatically stated at the beginning of the tournament, that he and only he could stop a game, and then an umpire took it upon himself to stop a game, I was wondering what the consensus of various UIC's (including yourself) of how you would take it. The UIC might think that the umpire was doing his job if he followed the instructions of the UIC and not taking matters into his own hands.