Those sneaky player comments?

[vcblue]

After my 3rd year back (off of five years after 6 years on) I developed a very thin skin and I was tossing people (not just coaches ) left and right. During the off season (in Socal that's between Dec to Jan) I had to really think about if I should continue. 10 years later and I am glad I continued. In the last ten years I think I have eject 10 coaches. My goal is to keep every one on the field. Yes there is a line but I professionally put an end to it before it gets out of hand. A lot of times it is as easy as walking up to the head coach and saying, "I've heard you (your coaches), now let's play ball." You can even use this in your situation with an older player. The bottom line is you professionally acknowledge them and then polity tell them to move on.

I think the 3rd year of umping is the toughest. You know your mechanics and are very sure of your judgement, but you may not be 100% on all the rules.

Here is my funniest ejection. I called a high strike on the daddy coaches DD/F1. The next half inning I did not call it for her and daddy started chirping. After the half inning ended I went to the coach and told him that I made a bad call, and it is time to play ball. He told me that I was going to have to eject him or he would continue. I told him nope he was going to have to tough it out. At that point he told me he was ejecting himself. Before I started the inning I turned around and he was behind the bleachers. I looked at him and said, "Coach you ejected yourself. You need to go to the parking lot." He went.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by vcblue

I looked at him and said, "Coach you ejected yourself. You need to go to the parking lot." He went.

I pulled something similar in volleyball. I was coach/player. Team was VERY good, but while playing a sub-par team they were getting cocky and weren't really playing. So I started yelling at the ref at my first opportunity. She wouldn't toss me - so I said under my breath, "I'm going to keep yelling at you until you eject me." She finally did... and the team lost. It worked, they started playing for real again after that, even when we were dominant - and we won the league. The fun part was going before the review board to get my 1-game suspension (automatic) removed. They almost didn't.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by vcblue

My goal is to keep every one on the field.

I couldn't disagree more with this comment in general. You do the job of officiating and managing the game, not the personnel. If someone crosses the line, you get rid of them regardless of the situation or available substitutes.

Don't get me wrong, an umpire needs to understand everyone's job on the field and allow them to do that job and that includes discussing plays and calls, but in a calm and collected manner. Screaming and hollering at an umpire only conveys anger and ignorance, not doing a job and/or protecting a player.

[rant]
I have too often run into people who brag about keeping players in the game for XXX years. I don't question their abilities or management, but when they are the only umpire in a certain area who has zero ejections working the same teams as everyone else, something is wrong.

I work in an area where we were losing 2-4 umpires a year specifically because of the behavior of the players. That does not include the 1-2 a year we would lose at a specific Independence Day tournament because the players. And you know who was at fault? The local umpires who were told to try and keep players in the game. They did and the players believed that it was okay to act the ***. And when they did get tossed by an umpire who wouldn't put up with it, obviously, that umpire became the WOE.

All I want umpires to do is the job. That job does not include taking abuse and when that does happen, the umpire's job is to manage the game and sometimes that includes getting rid of a player.
[/rant]