Softball Baseball

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by wadeintothem

I'll be in Dublin for the National School this weekend.. should be great fun (will be my 3rd of 4 clinics this year!)

MIKE should come out and be a surprise guest speaker!

Me too.

wade check your PM

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by Chess Ref

Me too.

wade check your PM

Awesome! Will be the first umpire I've met off this board. I'll be looking fer ya.

[BretMan]

Originally Posted by wadeintothem

I just have to disagree there in general with that principle for those who want to advance..

I would agree, if you want to toss a cold one back and trot onto the beer league fields with the good ole boys.. you dont have to do much..

If you want high level regionals and nationals and top level tournies.. quite a bit of training, evaluation, and hard work is required... at least in our area.

Yep, Wade, I imagine that there are about as many different variations on training, certification, assigning, evaluations, practices, etc. as there are different regions handling umpires.

Heck, you can get variation from one ballpark to the next, let alone from one city, county or association to the next. Multiply that on a national level and it's easy to see things just aren't the same all over!

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Personally, I don't buy into the animosity that does exist in many markets. In this area and others I have visited, it has ALWAYS been the baseball-only umpires looking down their noses at the softball umpires.

There is some animosity, and I would agree, typically it is baseball types looking down on softball... which is just plain ignorance of the sport of Fast Pitch Softball... personified by many of our brethren a few links up.

I probably work a higher levels of baseball than most of them, and I dont even try. I get found on the softball field and recruited by their peeps.

lol

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Well, that would depend on what level and the mentality of the participants. I Personally, I don't buy into the animosity that does exist in many markets. In this area and others I have visited, it has ALWAYS been the baseball-only umpires looking down their noses at the softball umpires.

To a one. I enjoyed calling softball; anywhere I can wear shorts callin ball in in Georgia, I'm in!

AFAIC, if you are a sports official, you are a sports official. The game you do is irrelevant. Obviously, there is much more respect to those who strive to do it better than others, but money isn't always a motivator or sign of a better official. Will I give a baseball umpires and other sports officials some ribbing over the length of their games and sometimes the mechanics? Sure, but that is because I'm recruiting them to work softball

You're full of it. A sports official is a sports official until you have to spend a day behind the plate watching 80+ mph baseballs dancing all over the place.

Softball guys need to understand that baseball guys who look down on you are cretins. But don't for a second think the level of profficiency is the same. It ain't. What you do is good enough, I'm a basball guy but I don't spend my time measuring weenie lenghts with Delta Force guys either.