Engaging the peanut gallery?

[wadeintothem]

Depends.. I'm usually there all day and typically end up answering questions often for many people, including umps, fans, and coaches during the course of a season. It really is a situational thing. There are definitely times when it is not going to be discussed with a fan... especially if a coach is sniveling about a rule/ruling and a fan interjects.

[7in60]

If a fan has a legitimate question or is ignorant, I will dignify their remarks. Thursday night in a small-town rec league, a batter popped up the ball a couple feet down the first baseline. It fell between the catcher and pitcher, bounced off the catcher's glove (so I signaled fair) then hit the runner in the heel. She made it to first and I heard a fan say "how is that not interference?" After I called time I explained that it hit a defensive player first, and the runner didn't intentionally youch the ball (nevermind that it would be obstruction).

Later, I called an IF on a ball 6" onto the grass at 2nd. 2B was backing up slowly and it went off her glove and into the OF. I heard someone say "it wasn't in the infield!" so I turned around and said "it could have been caught by an infielder, it hit her glove". My hope is that they remember the rule the next time and avoid the noise pollution.