Someone Please Remind Me Why I Umpire???
 

6A Area Finals today. 4 teams in area, some games played Thursday/Friday, first game today is the loser's final. 7-2 no problem - better team (and area regular season champ) won (team "A"). The winner faces the winner of the top side of the bracket in the Area Finals (team "B"), but both teams have qualified for the regional tournament next week. Both coaches happy, talking nice I'm thinking no stress game we'll be done quickly.

Team A gets a 3 run shot in the bottom of the first and goes on to win 7-2, which forces the dreaded IF game. I go back on the dish.

Well now more parents file in for the "IF" game, all apparently experts on the rules and application of them. Top of first Team B scores 1. Bottom of first runners @ 2nd, 3rd fly ball to right field drops but is fielded cleanly - runner goes; throw from OF and banger at the plate. Runner slides over the catcher's glove hand. Catcher shows me the ball and I punch the runner out. Catcher is hurt and as she pulls off her glove the ball comes out. This all happens withoin 2-3 seconds. Team "A" parents are SCREAMING "the ball is out". I kill the play as the catcher is screaming in pain. A coach asks me about the ball being out and I tell her that the catcher had control after the tag was applied and let go of the ball intentionally to take off her glove while in pain. Coach actually OK with it but a parent yells out "THAT'S BS BLUE!!" He didn't abbreviate it, he said the whole thing loud enough for the next zip code to hear it. Really cute. The coach immediately yelled at the moron, but the crap was out of the goose. Did I mention the two teams really don't like each other? Game on.

For 3 innings team "A" parents were on everything we called, every pitch every routine play. We had some great plays from the players and some great hustle from my partner and I to get in position. I truely think it was my best game of the year. Then on a 2-2 count with runners @ 1st and 2nd team A's SS swings at a pitch as it curves into her, hiting her in the shoulder - dead ball, strike (out). Out come the psycos...now I'm making up my own rules, I'm pitifull, worst called game ever in the history of softball. Finally I tell team A's coach to get a handle on her crowd (she is also the tournament organizer and game management). I don't usually do that but it was REALLY getting bad. Things settle down and some great ball was played. End of regulation tied @ 2 - goes 2 extra and team B wins 3-2.

On the way to the parking lot, some of the parents that were screaming at us previously start jeering at us again. When team B's parents tell them to shut up, they jeer the parents, calling them to come over to "Say it to my face!" Friggin losers. Great game, and I'll humbly submit pretty good friggin umpiring. Now the local blogs are only talking about the idiot fans..... AAARRGGGGGHH!!!!!!

Screw the parents. They all kicked the call 100 times worse than the worst umpire ever could, and you gave the teams and the sport everything you've got. Everything it deserves.

Forget them. They're just whiney wusses who don't have half the courage it takes to don our uniform day in, day out.

Someone Please Remind Me Why I Umpire???


For the money! :D

Because YOU ACTUALLY know what happens on the field and YOU ACTUALLY know the rules and because the participants obviously would never agree all the time.

:) :) :cool:

Because you are one of the best people for the job!

Only thing I wonder about.........
Two plates in a row for a Championship situation?
I'm not sure that's fair to you or the teams.

Where does it say that he did two plates in a row? Back on the dish could mean they were on the dish in some previous game, not necessarily the game before. Dave

Plate on the first game (loser bracket final) then base for the champ game, then back on the plate for the IF game. Long day - no time limits, first two seven innings and the last one was nine along with all the other crap....

Oh, I see now.

I read 1+1 and came up with 3.

Not a very good reason...... :rolleyes:

IS there no site admistration present at these games? No reason why they shouldn't be earning their paycheck and taking care of the rowdies if there is. If there isn't, then there darn sure should be.

Derwill...I feel your pain, but from a different angle.

Saturday, I was the UIC for State Tournament games at our 6 field complex.
Umpires from all over the state coming in for games and I'm trying to watch several different crews, some games in 3 umpire, on six different fields.

There were several times I just had to walk away from a field to keep from saying something in response to stupid fan comments about the umpires, rules, calls, etc....

You hear some of the stuff when you're on the field, and you can just kind of shake your head and laugh....there is so much more that is said that the umpires don't hear that is just as, if not more, stupid!

I almost started handing out cards inviting people to sign up to umpire with our association...after all, they were already experts! :rolleyes:

If the comments where just a display of ignorance I can understand you walking away rather than start a confrontation.

If the comments were unsportsmanlike or in any way could be construed as an attack on the umpires then why wouldn't you deal with it as UIC? Bad behavior which is not challenged becomes acceptable behavior. Stopping such behavior before it spreads could head off an ugly scene later.

Scott, you can borrow my humor detector whenever you want.
;)

Ha! I wasn't sure if he thought I really meant that or not.

That we're "only doing it for the money" is one of those all-purpose slurs that seem to get hurled at umpires. It as if to say "You don't really care if you do a good job or make the right calls. You just want to get your money and get out of here".

I don't think there are too many guys like that on this forum...

The comments I was referring to were comments of ignorance and/or stupidity.

If any of the comments fell into the areas you mention, they would have been dealt with immediately, either by myself, or the tournament staff, or both. The AIA (state association) has a program called Victory With Honor that all member schools adhere to. Unsportsmanlike actions and/or comments, both on and off the field, are dealt with swiftly.

While my hearing isnt horrible, I have some significant loss in higher frequencies and started wearing hearing aids about 3 months ago. My wife got tired of me not understanding what she was saying. I have worn them on the bases but had never worn them at the plate until a couple of weeks ago. I heard all kinds of stuff coming from the fans I had not realized was going on before. Think maybe I will just not wear them at the plate anymore. I guess ignorance can be bliss sometimes.

The chicks?

Better be calling NCAA. :p

Thanks! That's the way it should be.

Ongoing drama...............
 

On a continuing note....found out that the idiots that were screaming at my partner and myself apparently thought it was slow pitch league night because they were caught with adult beverages where they were sitting (right field on the other side of the fence in foul territory). I already filled out the paperwork with the state and I believe that team "B" is doing the same.

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?

I see no spectators. To whom are you referring?

HTBT:D:D:D

But in general, I don't get paid to do anything about spectators.

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.

Ive been giving them your name for years....I'm sure they have it already....

If the site admin was on site, why was there a need for you to talk to him/her? Apparently, the VP wasn't administrating the site very well.

Well, there is your answer. Get rid of the parents and I guarantee, it will be a better game and that includes from the coaches because there is no one there to impress other than the players and they know a pretender long before the parents figure it out.

I love umpire groupies! :)

Multiple contests on multiple fields.

Oh, I wish.......

So there's a REASON they weren't doing their job... they still weren't doing it though. If they can't handle multiple fields, they need multiple people.

By "doing anything" I did not mean direct contact, I meant via the coach or admin.