Pregame duties question

[Daryl H. Long]

I started the sitch as an exercise into dealing with game management issues especially pre-game responsibilities. Unfortunately, there are too few game management threads on this forum.

I never want to be accused of looking down at another official because he/she does not have as much experience as I do or work the levels I have attained. A couple of my comments gave that impression and so to IRISHMAFIA and Ed I offer my sincere apologies.

Game management is one of the hardest concepts of officiating to comprehend. Those that become better at it seem to be the ones who attain higher levels. Doing four sports also compounded the learning process because what may work in one sport may be frowned upon in another.

When I started umpiring I mastered the rules very easily. Before I ever umpired a game I could quote rules with the most experienced umpires. Even so my first game was a rec league game. When I worked with a more experienced umpire things went smoothly. When not, things happened. Why? Because I only had my own knowledge to go on...ie rec league logic. It means I was a beginner and in the early stages of the learning process and not yet learned when to speak and when to keep silent.

For this sitch I feel it was better for the umpires keep silent.