Can't so it anymore
 

I've said a number of times that I'd never had the opportunity to work a national. I spent this past weekend at the eastern 16&U A - so I can no longer say that. I had a ball. Here's some stuff from that -

I had my second ejection of the year. A coach insisted that he'd deal with me via the uic. So, go do it now, bye. I think it was the only one for the tournament.

I had a base runner run into me. B-R ran through first, then decided to head to 2B on the overthrow. I was glad she made 2B, but I was in the correct position.

I had 2 tag plays at the plate in one game where I signalled obstruction, then safe.

I had one illegal pitch that I called. It wasn't until the 5th inning that I called it, but that's when I first saw it.

I was the rabbit in the loser's final - ran my little bunny tail off. PU & I had done a number of 3-man games. 1BU had not worked a 3-man. In about the second inning, we had a play where everyone had to rotate - and we were all right there. Hope that was as much fun to watch as it was to take part in.

I had some shiny shoes - and I wasn't the only one.

This was the one Mike uic'd. That was a lot of fun. I understand that it was his first as the uic. The umpiring schedule & handling was well organized. I had not seen Mike in a few years - that beard had enough gray that I wasn't sure it was you, at first. I'm sure Mike will have a few comments.

For those who've known the Drifton, Pa complex - come on back. The fields have been fixed up - with roughly a million $$ spent on them and maint equipment. The building has not had much done to it yet, but that's next on their list.

We only had 1 big problem. It went to the "if" game. By then, I was in the beer bracket................ Still am (since I'm off work today)

Steve did an excellent job, even after the runner accosted him rounding 1B. What really caught me I was the cheshire-like grin on his face for the following five minutes

What Steve didn't tell you was that I watched that play from the door of the area where the umpire "social" was being held. Here are all these umpires sitting around eating pizza and drinking whatever and I couldn't to anything until this game was done! That had to be the longest two innings I've ever witnessed ;)

The caliber of umpiring was pretty good. Most crews held pre-games, but many were short and sweet with little content. These umpires worked the mechanics as ASA taught and many looked like they worked together on a regular basis, though I tried to avoid creating that situation when possible. When they variated, nothing was really left uncovered.

Most complaints about umpiring were baseless and more whine than substance. Most coaches were pretty good, but there were the bad apples. The guy Steve dumped went right to the top of my hit list after my conversation with him. I think he paged through the rule book and declared himself "educated" though the only thing he has gotten right is that rule 6 involves pitching.

Congradulations Steve....Not sure why it was your first National, but sure location has a lot to do with it.

I also just finished UIC'ing a National. The AFA 18U held in Beaumont, Tx. 98 teams involved. Team from
Germantown, Tn. went through the thing undefeated...

The only thing that happened was I had to work eight games. Mostly because umpires got over heated.
One even got hit in the face while drinking water between innings. There were 50 umpires on the rotation. Twelve fields
working 1 one 1 off mostly.

Coaches still have problems with DP/FLEX...A lot of these coaches wanted to utilize the "EP" position.:confused: Been taking
part in that other association. All in all, it was fun....

Congrats on your National.
Hope to see your name on more umpire lists.
Sounds like you had fun, that is the way it is supposed to be.

Mike,
I knew you were watching that play, I saw you in the doorway. The grin was 'cuz of what I expected was coming about the play in the social (if we ever got there) and for the fact that I had somebody's 16 yr old daughter as a hood ornament. We'd gotten off to a late start on that field 'cuz the guys before us couldn't get their's over on time - and I just knew that all those cold frothy beverages were just disappearing.

Glen - Location has got to be a part of it. But oh well - I've been to one now & maybe the next ones will be easier to get to. What would have happened if you'd needed to handle a protest while working one of those eight games?

Scott,
Thanks guy. Hope all goes well with you.