I think "live" is a subjective term...

first off, the pdfs out there are copys of the physical rule book, there are these things called scanners nowadays.

secondly, i wasnt trying to find a short cut to understand the game, as an umpire. however, most PLAYERS dont read rule books, and i was trying to find a concise version of the rules for PLAYERS.

quit trying to be a jack ***

I'm thinking some heads lack brains within and would naturally be lighter than 8 pounds.

Unfortunately, the rule book is such a complicated document that abridging it would be more dangerous than anything else I can possibly imagine on the field shy of giving coaches 10 shots of espresso. Anything that isn't covered in the abridged book will be assumed to be either legal or will be incomplete in such a way that the intent of the rules will be completely misunderstood.

It'd be about as useful as Cliff's Notes would be to someone getting a Master's in Literary Analysis: just enough to be dangerous, more than enough to be embarrassing for the user.

Wow!

Gotta be at least three conversations going on here. Guess I'll add one more.

Anyone working USFA at Liberty Park in Birmingham tomorrow? I'll be going up to watch the niece.

This by the way is a "World Series" and I know that at least two worlds will be there!

Unless something cool happens, this is my last weekend working of the year :(

Speaking of a Cliff's Notes rule book... ;)

Last weekend was my last for the year. 199 games in all. Would've been more, but my wife and I went to Argentina for 2 weeks. I think it's a good trade!

I'm working an NSA indoor tourney this weekend. Well actually I'm just pulling the third shift tonight. I'll be working seven games between 1:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. tomorrow morning.

while i understand your point of view, i dont think its that bad of an idea.

99.9% of players arent going to read the rule book. players might read a "cliffs notes" version that covers common scenarios. players who know the "cliffs noted" version would be better, IMO, than players who dont know any rule versions. i know a pretty standard response i use often, to arguments posed by players, is "thats not a rule" or "thats not a rule in ASA softball"

obviously the rules would be prefaced with a statement like these are a concise version of the rules, not all scenarios for each rule, or exceptions for each rule are covered....

How about a list correcting the myths? :)

nevada can be translated in this context as snowy. It has other translations, such as, snow storm, snowfall. You could even go with the Snow Covered Sierras if you were so inclined.

I've heard that's been done before. ;)

Absolutely not. I think you have too much faith in the players and coaches. Giving them an abridged version of the rule book won't do anyone any kind of service, and here's why.

1 - Coaches and players love to pick and choose rules and take them out of context. At a National, I had couple of players b1tching at me because a couple of batters hit chip shots to the outfield without "breaking their wrists." I later found out that they were using Rules Supplement #10, which has to do with check swings!

2 - There are certain sections of the rule book that are pretty long because they have to be. Do you really want to try and abridge obstruction? Or interference? How about unreported subs? I don't think so.

3 - If you give players and coaches such a book, they're going to use it as THE authoritative guide on the rules of softball. They will ignore the fact that it's the abridged version. They will swear up and down "this is the rule! I read it! I read the rules!" No, you read the abridged rules, and had you bothered to read the ACTUAL rules, maybe you would understand that.

You're giving coaches and players WAY too much credit. Trust me, while your intentions may be good, I think abridging it would only serve to confuse things even more.

dont let anyone else hear you say that, very few posters on here show me any respect, you dont want to lower your street cred.

i was more talking about the casual SP rec league player, most of whom never even sniffed a varsity baseball jock (ie "high" level of baseball) thus dont know many rules.

if/when you ump a rec league SP game, how many times do you see a 1B or C stand in the baseline w/o possession of the ball???? i see it ALL THE TIME, theres no harm, IMO, in writing something like "obstruction is any act in which a fielder interferes with a runner, being in the baseline without possession of the ball is a form of obstruction. contact is not necessary for obstruction."

no point in beating a dead horse. obviously no one knows of any concise rule book versions. but at least you, NCASAUMP, handle yourself with class and can maintain a discussion without turning petty.

EDIT: this cliffs notes version would not be geared to players who know what RS 10 is, or who would have any idea on how to argue a check swing. more to inform players of, generally speaking, what is and is not allowed. This makes sense to me in my head, im not sure if im not writing it well enough that everyone else doesnt understand what im trying to say.