Someone Please Remind Me Why I Umpire???

[marvin]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

How do you all feel about doing anything about spectators who keep yelling "illegal pitch", "out of the box", "left early", etc. to the point where the players seem to start being over-cautious about those infractions?

For others who replied to CecilOne's post - my original comments were directed to someone who was acting as a UIC and was "outside the fence" in the spectators area.

I tend to not hear stuff from the stands - so if I do hear things it usually means it is bad.

Example: I had to speak to the site administrator at a high school game because some of the fans (a group of high school boys) were calling players on the other team names loud enough for everyone in the ball park to hear. The site admin was the Vice principal of the school and took care of it.

I have had to call the TD the the field at a summer tourney when a fan just kept yelling after a call he disagreed with, "That sucks, that sucks" over and over at the top of his lungs. This was at a 12 and under game. After the TD escorted him from the field he kept following her around calling her names until someone called the cops.

In the case that CecilOne describes at a summer tourney I would speak to the coach see if it could be handled that way and then call the TD or UIC. During a high school game I would ask the site administrator to deal with it. I don't deal with fans, there are people who have that responsibility. I mean how unsportsmanlike is it that adults intimidate children while they are playing a game?

People can be idiots - as an league officer I had to threaten to clear the stands at a t-ball game because the parents were ready to get into a fist fight.