I agree with you, Gmoore, that wade can be at times condescending, sanctimonous, and annoying. (sorry, wade... ;) )

However, the part you left out 'cause you didn't feel like typing it is what refutes the argument you were making. Interesting coincidence, wouldn't you say?

Hey, its tough to survive in the sea of jackals and the few lions in the land called "The Official Forum - Softball"..

cant let you and your pals chew me up.

;)

For the OP.. I dont think you can learn more about umpiring that hanging around these forums if you tried..

One good internet thrashing for a rule goof up is worth 3 years experience.. dozens of umpires in my association have 3X the seniority than me... and know what? When they call up the training staff at the metro/regional clinic.. I'm up there, and they are in my line to be trained by me..

That has a lot to do with these jerks.. notably mike & dakota, but a few others ... :D
;)

What I'm curious about, which may be obvious but simply oblivious to me, is why the runner is coming in from what appears to be the FB side of home plate. What situation warrants this?

Looks like she is coming in from 3B to me. Granted, the umpire is in the wrong position, but the runner is definitely coming down the 3B line.

Look like 3B to me too..

But I'm stone cold sober...

That's OK, Wade. I'm not - and it still looks like she's running in from 3B.

I am somewhere between Wade and Steve and it still looks like she is coming down the third base line to me.

Haha, I see it now. It was the umpire's position throwing me off. I thought where the bat was laying was the on-deck circle. Makes much more sense now.

Yep. I agree 100%. I've learned more in the past 3 months (check my "Join Date") than any other period in my umpiring career.

Another agreement. Forums such as this one can be a great educational tool.

I've been reading and posting not only here, but on several other umpire forums, for about six years now. I often think back to my early days when I first got involved here and how some of the regulars "schooled" me on some of my misconceptions and weak areas.

It wasn't a case of "posters who think they're above anyone else". These guys know what they're talking about and if you post something that is flat-out wrong, they will let you know about it! Sometimes gently, sometimes gruffly, but if you pay attention and listen you WILL learn.

Rather than get all defensive and turn tail, never to return, I stuck it out, took my licks and actually learned a few things. And I consider myself a better umpire for it today.

You can read and re-read the rule books, attend classes and clinics and still not come across a lot of the stuff that gets discussed here. I see the same thing Wade described above- officials for far many more years than myself that still subscribe to various rule myths, or exhibit poor mechanics or rule knowledge.

We all probably attend local association rule meetings and many have been to a clinic or two and consider ourselves "educated". But if you really want to improve you have to avail yourself of the opportunity to educate yourself. You can do that by looking beyond the basic training that most local associations provide.

These forums are one such resource to help you improve and I wish that more umpires would take advantage of the opportunity.

You don't think that had anything to do with your little ball experience, do you? ;)

:) Good one!

That really wasn't a huge problem for me, as I got into both softball and baseball umpiring at about the same time. (Just a couple years earlier for baseball, so that is where I had my first meetings, classes and clinics). I was a softball coach for about 15 years before I ever worked my first baseball game.

It wasn't like I'd done baseball for years and years before deciding to get into softball. In other words, I didn't have to "unlearn" a lot about either sport before getting up to speed in the other.

When I started out, I also visited a handful of baseball forums and had the pleasure of getting beat-up on those by a whole different bunch of guys!

We are TAME compared to the baseball board...VERY tame.

I have a question I ran the Obs rule past the person in charge of softball for the state of illinois IHSA(from where I am from) and got a different answer so what you do?

GMoore,
Go with the standard of the sanctioning body that you are working for. Those are the folks you have to satisfy - after you are sure that you are satisfied.

Now, I don't agree with what you posted - I'm quite sure that you missed a significant piece. However, if that is what the Illinois UIC wants - call it his way when you are working in Illinois. There are a number of things in Pennsylvania high school ball that I would not agree with - but when I am working a PIAA game, I call it their way.