Coach asking you for help?

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by FUBLUE

I respect your opinion, but I too disagree with you.

I know several very good balls, strikes, out, safe and mechanical umpires who I'd go anywhere with except for their crappy attitudes towards the game. They are bigger than the game and try to "show their stuff" during the game. To me, that gives off stuck up and egomaniacal attitude that turns coaches off (and it really does, trust me).

Whoa, Bubba!

You said they got a reputation, you didn't say they actually acted in the manner you decribed in the latest post. Polite and professional manners are often a matter of perception, not necessarily reality.

On the field, if someone asks me a question which I need to answer, I give them the Reader's Digest version. In some parts of the country, it is considered "rude" and "impolite" to not have a full conversation. As an umpire, I'm not there to entertain people. I don't even want to be noticed, let alone get involved in a conversation.

Then again, Saint's HC Jim Haslett probably thought the referee in the MNF game last night to be impolite when informed of the never-ending plane of the goal line.

How "solid" can an official be if they think themselves as the show instead of just the umpire? Making the right calls from the right position doesn't make someone an umpire. Knowing all the rule and interps doesn't make someone an umpire. Dressing in the proper uniform and maintaining a professional appearance doesn't make someone an umpire. These are merely individual components which when applied properly make an umpire.