First 'game' today!
 

Have my gear clean...shows shined...and I think I am ready too - plenty of Advil on hand - I have HP.

Actually, it should not be TOO bad -its a JV scrimmage, which means I can concentrate on balls/strikes/outs. Both schools have pretty good programs, and I am just damn glad to get back out on the field!

Start of the haul, which includes 30 hs games over the next month and change - excepting Easter break, league action, and about three trips up to that new Diamond Dreams complex up by Cooperstown - opened the place last year, and had a REAL good time. It was a tad unfinished, but they should have things more settled now. They treated us REAL nice up there, and the people running it say they are fully booked with teams this year.

PLAY BALL!

Good luck. It sounds like you are excited about starting the season. We have been playing out here in California for about 1.5 months.

Have a great season and good luck.

I keep forgetting to purchase stock for Advil and the Aspirin companies this time of year...........:) Should be a safe bet for quarterly earnings.

I have been taking the maximum allowable dosage for Aspirin for the last 6 weeks. Surprised I am not bleeding through my skin........:eek:

I mowed my mother's, ex-wife's, and ex mother-in-law's yards plus all of the trimmings in the last two days..........only have mine yet to finish for the week......but am taking the day off. The max dose today so far is just taking a bit of the edge off for now. Maybe by tomorrow...........

I had hoped to be in better shape by now, but a bicycle accident put me a bit behind.

Hope you have a great season.

Joel

You're just starting? We've been calling for 6 weeks! MS season almost over!

One word - ECCCH!

You KNOW you are in trouble when:

You arrive at the field, checking bats and hats, and you hear the home coach telling his kids: "These girls will be faster than you, their pitchers will be throwing hard, and they can hit very good, don't be scared...." :eek::eek:

Turns out the home coach, who I know a little bit, and is a nice guy, had almost his ENTIRE team promoted to varsity, so he was basically working with 8th and 9th graders. And so it went - balls thrown all over the place, pitchers throwing maybe one decent strike a batter, and the other team's batters smoking the hell out of the ball. In one of the mandated 'double' innings, it must have taken a half hour to get the first 3 outs. Meanwhile, when the other team was in the field, it was PFFT PFFT PFFT - using three different pitchers.

Did I mention my partner was old time Smitty-type, who sets up with no one on in fair territory? Made for a fairly funny situation - with a runner on , B for the visitors hits a dribbler foul - which KEEPS dribbling up a raised portion of foul ground, and makes that right turn at Albuquerque, and settles about an inch FAIR. The home coach realizes its fair, and starts screaming for his C or SOMEbody to pick it up..the visitors coach starts yelling for B1 to go the first. Home team gets B1 at 1, and throws to 2B, where the SS takes the ball, steps on the bag....and my partner CALLS R1 OUT! :rolleyes: It was all I could do to literally keep from screaming! All I could do was keep thinking to myself, "It WILL get better...PLEASE let it get better!" To top it off, the visiting coach asked me if the ball had hit off her batter!

Even though it was only 1:45, it might have been the longest 1:45 I can ever remember on the field!

And ya know - I ended up NOT taking a single Advil!

I think it's a good thing that umpires won't be tested by the WADA;)

The athletes can't take anything against pain. We,umpires, however may have any kind off painkiller or beta-blocker to keep focussed/kill the stress/drive any muscle-pain away.
Try something new: do it clean!

Last weekend got a pitch on my elbow. It still hurts, I refuse though to take anything. Want to stay clear!

Have fun out there and I wish you many good calls!

After a game like that...I would want something a lot stronger than Advil!:D

Hang in there....they won't all be like that!