ASA Advanced School

[aahblue]

Anyone heading to Killeen, Texas for ASA Advanced School? It'll be a hot one that's for sure. Can't wait to get there, even if it means getting abused by Tony Walsh and Bernie Profato. I'm a glutten for punishment what can I say.

[Steve M]

I'd like to, but no time this year. Bernie's a real piece of work, he was at the national school this year in Philly with a tape of one of his recent ESPN fights.

[Bandit]

I had oppurtunity to have Bernie at the ASA National School in Bloomington/Normal, IL..Be sure and ask him about his plate brush collection if you haven't already.....Chuck

[Gulf Coast Blue]

I am going to wait a couple of years.......I did the 2 day school this year......

I understand there will be a number of Umpires there from Killeen..............They are considered to be one of (if not THE) finest Districts in the State.

Worked a tournament this weekend with and Umpire from Waco who will be attending.........he works out of the State Office in Waco and gets the pleasure of working with the guys from Killeen often.

On office buddy who calls Slow Pitch has done a couple of Nationals in Killeen........and says it is a joy to watch the those guys work.

Let me know if you run into Jerry Pollard (no relation to Henry)........Tell him hi from me.

Joel

[Edited by Gulf Coast Blue on Jun 4th, 2001 at 09:59 PM]

[aahblue]

Looking forward to meeting and working with some new faces. It's always a joy to travel and be amongst the "fraternity" of blue.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by aahblue
Looking forward to meeting and working with some new faces. It's always a joy to travel and be amongst the "fraternity" of blue.

But will you still be humble enough to work in Charlottesville in October at the umpire's tournament?

[Gulf Coast Blue]

Mike.......

Is your umpires tournament like ours?

A training tool to teach new umpires. Or is it different.

Joel

[IRISHMAFIA]

Nope.

The Central Atlantic Region holds a tournament each fall in which teams of registered umpires only may play. Imagine working games where everyone on the field is a registered umpire. Talk about pressure to get the rules correct!

It's a good time. Umpires travel with their family, play ball during the day and have a social event on Saturday night. It's a good way to meet other umpires that you may see down the road somewhere.

Of course, the big thing is when something happens in a game and one of the "umpires" yells something that gives away his/her secret identity as a ball player as opposed to an umpire. You think people get beat-up on these boards, you should see these guys go after the "umpire" who doesn't know his rules. d:-)

[Gulf Coast Blue]

Me thinks I would rather be a player there........

Joel

[IRISHMAFIA]

A quick story here.

A few years ago, in Carlisle, PA, Sunday morning started off with a great game. Our association had always entered two teams, one more serious than the other. Never, and I mean never, have these two teams met on the field as players.

Well, the luck of the seeding which was determined by Saturday's bracket play, the two teams, the Blues Brothers and Gene's Automotive were slated to open elimination play.

Here is this nice, older gentleman, who comes out to umpire the first game on Sunday morning. He walks onto the field and requests captains for ground rules and the coin flip. Well, both teams walked out to the plate area in unison. The umpire asks what is going on and was informed that both teams were from the same association and have never played before, so this game was for serious bragging rights in Northern Delaware. At the time, an umpire from each team offered to lend him a coin to flip. Both of them were National Championship coins.

You should have seen the look on this guy's face. You could tell that he would rather be anywhere else on the face of the earth than where he was at that moment.

You could feel how tense everyone was. No one wanted to make that "big" mistake that would allow the other team and advantage. I believe the final score was 4-3 with Gene's Automotive winning, but it was a pretty good game for slowpitch.

BTW, when the game was over, everyone went out of their way to thank the umpire. He seemed pretty glad just to get off the field unscathed.

[whiskers_ump]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by IRISHMAFIA
[B]


Here is this nice, older gentleman, who comes out to umpire the first game on Sunday morning.

Question? Mike were you this nice gentleman??

[IRISHMAFIA]

No,

I was the right fielder for Gene's Automotive.

[aahblue]

First, let me start off by telling everyone that the 2001 ASA Advanced Umpire School held in Killen/Ft. Hood, Texas was outstanding. The hospitality, accommodations, festivities, games, training, staff, and everything else I left out were outstanding! This year's school was moved from Oklahoma City to Killeen, and based on the tremendous success, it was announced that Killeen will host the school for the next five years. I highly recommend that anyone interested in taking their umpiring to the next level should attend this school. Like everything in Texas, Killeen did this one up big. There's already a waiting list started for next year from those unable to get into this year's school. Make plans to attend, you won't be sorry you did.

Mike, my ego will never be big enough to keep me from working the Umpires Tournament. I worked games last year in Fairfax and look forward to heading to Charlottesville this year. I encourage the other regions to put together an event like ours, it's a blast. Umpires playing and officiating umpires, and let's not forget about the big party on Saturday night, it can make games on Sunday morning a little rough to say the least.