He does both, Hugo. Who's to know? I do know he was sent home early.

No, he didn't buy pie. You know, I came home with half that key lime pie?

Rita

Shame on someone, whomever that may be, for sending this guy away in the first place if he truly is that bad.

It's not championship play he didn't get, it's softball period.

What many do not understand, and I found out the hard way, umpires sent to nationals are not always determined by the UIC, but sometimes by commissioners/district commissioners and/or other individuals who may be part of a local association commission.

Yeah, I agree with your decision not to give this kind of detail. I don't blame you one bit.

Not that it wouldn't be hard to figure out. My name isn't that common

Rita

True, but at least that's limited to the people who were there, the people who know you or this umpire, and the people who receive the reports. ;)

While at the 12U in Montgomery, a call out came from the 16U in Chattanooga looking for umpires for 1-2 days. I'm pretty sure they were looking for live bodies at that point and would have taken just about anyone. I didn't go so not sure why there was a need but if they were desperate there could have been some yahoos sent there.............

One of the guys in my crew was at the 16U in TN, and my understanding was that it was HOT. I suspect they may have lost umpires to heat exhaustion.

Correct. Two of my friends were there and they said EMT's and IV's were common. Temps 98 - 102 each day.

174 teams....hot and humid....several umpires did go down from what I heard.

A side note - the PU for the championship game was one of ours from AZ...very proud of her!

We had a tourney here a few weeks ago. Temps were in the upper 90s, lower 100s. I'd heard that at least 10 umpires went down from heat on the first day. :eek:

While the heat was a factor, that isn't why they needed umpires Wednesday.

The TD accepted some late registrations that created the need for a remote site not previously planned for; three fields for a total of 10 games added on fields not manned on the first day of elimination play (3 umpire system).

We (in Georgia) were prepared to man them all (using 12-13 umpires) when we were told last minute (the night before, after telling our umpires to drive out 5:30 am to be on site by 7:00 am, as they weren't providing any rooms to get there the night before) they had dug up some more locals, and just 5 or 6 were needed. Several of mine were in the group that went; and yes, the reports I got were they saw bodies that were barely warm.

Several of mine were in the main group, and one of my fill-in-for-one-day was asked to stay for a few more days. Heard a few stories that raised hair on my neck; local first year umpires that had never seen (let alone worked) three man system before, and more. At the ASA/USA 16A National.

Because they "weren't prepared for so many", reports of not being fed, umpires sent home after their last assignment, no umpire party, and more. Seems to me the hosts shouldn't claim not prepared if they chose to accept late fill-in teams and registrations, and not skimp on umpire hospitality.

Not great reports from the local teams, either.

Some hosts get that you HAVE to take care of your umpires.... some dont.... The south USUALLY handles it the best....

And that's all it takes to get me in trouble!

Rita

Don't the teams have to earn their way to Nationals?

Rita