Did six games today!!!

[Bassman]

And I am ready to collapse!

Seriously, I worked a 16U NSA FP national qualifier
tournament in Hamburg, NY. Did first three on bases and called balls and strikes in the second half.

[BretMan]

Next weekend I'll be working a tournament where the TD offered me six games on one day. I politely turned him down and requested a schedule of four games, with a break in between at least two of them.

Am I able to work six games in a day? Sure, I've done it before.

Am I able to work six games and give it my best effort in those last couple of games? Experience tells me, no.

What good is working all those games if toward the end you are "ready to collapse"? I'd rather be a physically fresh and mentally alert umpire for a fewer number of games, than a burnt-out zombie trying to scrape by for a few extra games.

I've done six in a day and by the fifth and six games I felt that my level of umpiring had slipped to a level that was not personally acceptable to me. I'll do it again in a pinch, if there is absolutely no other option, but I now try to focus on quality over quantity.

[SRW]

6, huh...

Did 7 yesterday. The "typical" 2-1-2-1-3. The 3rd one at the end of the day was so we could teach our "perpetual rookie" 3-umpire mechanics... so I was the rabbit.

Then today was only 4 games. All 18-Gold. A much lighter day... too bad they were 4 straight, with the first 3 on the bases and the last one on the championship dish.

And yeah, I'm ready to collapse too.

I bet bkbjones is sore too... assuming he wakes up. He had 6 + 3 for the weekend...