It reminds me of Atlantic City where they promised to rejuvenate an old city and take care of its citizens. What has happened is that a very many beautiful buildings, a national summer family destination and turned it into a bright, glitzy and gaudy area in the boardwalk area and marina and pushed many of its longtime citizens out with much of the city turning into a near-slum status.

I hope Shreveport doesn't get to that point.

Mike thanks as always for the updates.


yeah.. but are we ever gonna get numbers ??!???!? ;)


Thanks again

Personal opinion: I do not care for anything which makes the umpire stand out other than a good, crisp mechanic for the purpose of selling a call.

An umpire's uniform should not draw attention to him/herself through style, color or condition. The uniform should be neat, clean and professional, not dapper and hip. Let the players and coaches wear the clown suits.

JMHO

Silver Mask.
 

So can we assume you disagree with the silver mask idea?

Basic, simple. Black. Why the silver?

they have very good masks that are "silverish" and they look sharp and it doesnt really matter. ASA needs to open up to umpire improvements that are coming out.

numbers are lame tho.. i was goofing about that. thank god we dont have to sew those things on. :P

"Look Sharp" is a matter of opinion. We will aggree to disagree. My personal opinion if that they make an umpire stand out. It has been said uncountable times in numourous threads how umpire should not be seen. So why are you concerned about "looking sharp" when the color of the mask is concerned.

How is the color of the mask have anything to do with umpire "improvements"? If they can paint it silver, they can paint it black.

Change can be good. But don't change simply to change and that is what this represents.

Just what was the 'change' about gray ball bags?? Just curious as the website has been selling gray bags with ASA on them for a while now.....

One thing to be decided in the future should be the adopting of gray as the 'official' slacks color. So many local associations (ours included)/ high school associations, even college conferences have already done so, or are in the process of doing this, so it is almost a moot point. Pretty soon, the only places mandating navy blue slacks will be ASA at the national level and NCAA...again at the national level. Most - if not all - of the 'other' alphabet soup groups (USSSA, PONY, etc) now mandate gray too. This is the type of thing where ASA usually leads, not follows....wonder why the hesitation?

I would love to know what the ratio of sales of navy/gray slacks are on official gear.com is......

I was wondering the same thing. Going to Nationals, the paperwork said that the ball bag had to have "ASA" on it in block letters, but never said anything about the color. So I brought my grey bags that I bought from OfficialGear.com and wore them. My UICs never said a word to me about it. I'm pretty certain I even asked them if that was okay.

I had my navy bags with me, of course.

1. The gray ball bag isn't approved for championship play according to 10.5.D. It requires a rule change to add it.

Modified (and some fastpitch) umpires from the midwest wear a grayish "p"leather ball bag with an ASA logo (not block letters) that has NEVER been approved, and never sold by ASA Properties (I have a set as a gag gift from one top gun after harassing him for years about wearing them). The NUS doesn't stop them at Modified Nationals, it is almost traditional for them, but they aren't the rulebook uniform.

2. ASA Properties/Officialgear.com sells lots of things that may be acceptable for league play, but not for championship play. Like, shorts, high socks with navy stripes, footies, leisure shirts and jackets .... Just because they sell it doesn't make it Championship Play approved.

3. Just wondering; wouldn't you think that refusing to follow the alphabet soups that give in to others' preferences being easier to wear than softball's traditional pants could be considered leading, not following??

In reverse, NFHS has more recently allowed state adoption to INCLUDE navy blue pants. Is that leading, or following?

Actually, the silver mask has a pretty dull finish and isn't as bad as umpires wearing red, green, blue, etc. pads.

Agreed. In fact, the mask is a lot less "blingy" than patent shoes and belts, IMO.

I would seriously think about a titanium mask if I could wear it for softball. Don't do enough baseball to justify the cost.