Something in the air Wednesday night, too?

[greymule]

Whatever was in the air two Sundays ago may not have blown entirely away.

Somehow, I suspected in the first inning tonight that this coach wasn't going to make it through the game.

He acts as if I'm robbing him blind on the first pitch of the game, which was well over the zone. (He saw it all from his seat on the bench.)

Then, one of his players makes an error, and he screams out to the guy that he is an a$$hole.

Warned him about language in the 4th inning.

In the fifth, he thinks that runners are awarded bases from where they were when the ball entered DBT. He tossed the "F" word my way, and I tossed him off the premises. He got in his car and burned rubber out of the parking lot.

Incidentally, this is a co-ed slow pitch business league, where the best teams play somewhere between F and G level on a good day. And the team this guy was hot to beat was pure company picnic. The fences, by the way, were at most 220 feet (I'm not exaggerating). For the big leaguers.

It's in the air around here at the higher levels, too. Last week, an experienced SP ump terminated a game when the players got out of control, throwing equipment (including bases), threatening each other, and even cursing out a township official who tried to calm things down. That didn't go over well. Now the league is considering ruling a double forfeit. What galled this ump the most was being called a foul name by one of the players—a former teammate.

[whiskers_ump]

greymule,

You do seem to have all the fun..

glen

[kono]

Geeez - sounds like you inherited some of Ed's AAs

[Del-Blue]

Why would you even consider doing a game of that level?? Those leagues don't need umpires, they need babysitters. LOL

[greymule]

Del-Blue, you make a very good point, one I will ponder seriously over the next few days.

I want to help out my assigner whenever possible. He's truly one of my favorite people—a good friend and an active umpire who at age 87 has not slowed down one bit. He worked his first game when Babe Ruth was still playing.

He also umpired many of my games years ago. He still referees basketball.

So I generally take anything he wants me to do, whenever, wherever. I agree that it is ridiculous to send a real umpire to do Alice in Wonderland games, but I know the difficulties he has assigning. If I say no, he might be in a real bind.

Part of the problem with joke league games is that it's hard to know how to relate to the players. Since they're not ballplayers, you don't have a universally accepted groundwork to start with. These leagues are full of guys whose careers stopped after Little League, but who seem to want to impress everyone with their prowess and knowledge on the field. One of the clowns last night hit a soft liner to right that the outfielder (this is a 220-foot fence, remember) ran in and caught. The clown trots back to his bench shaking his head, and says, "Didn't quite get it all." He was serious, too. I almost laughed out loud. All he did was hit a pathetic bloop.

Well, I have another one tonight. Maybe I'll get the same team.

[Elaine "Lady Blue"]

Stop doing those games!! AAs were driving me insane and for $15.00 (sp) a game, it just wasn't worth it. I quit SP AAs in 1995. Even though I knew a lot of the gals and guys,
and enjoyed most games; they didn't give me any trouble usually. It was the ego maniacs, or the ones that think a woman shouldn't be calling men's ball, or they hadn't seen me before so they thought they'd try me. HAHAHAHA! Look at all the coaches stories in the other thread and multiply it by 5. I was called every name in the book, followed home (didn't go straight home, went into a store--they went on), almost cold cocked by a 6'3" 275lb redneck, bumped, pushed and shoved. IT'S NOT WORTH IT GUYS AND GALS!!!
Some folks don't want to realize that it is just a GAME!
Get out of the dangerous leagues, or you could be a news item.

[CecilOne]

Greymule really jinxed himself by saying he didn't see all the outrageous behavior where he umps.

[greymule]

Yes, I admit I jinxed myself. Thanks for reminding me, Cecil. Tonight's game (same league) was cake, though. Everybody very cooperative. The players knew what they were—and more important, what they were not—and were just out to have fun. Over in less than an hour, $40 cash.

By the way, Elaine, I'm not familiar with the abbreviation AA. What does it stand for?

[Elaine "Lady Blue"]

AA means 'aledged adults'.

[Dakota]

Originally posted by Elaine "Lady Blue"
AA means 'alleged adults'.

The acronym AA was made famous by an umpire, Ed (aka Trinity), on McGriff's before it was destroyed by trolls. He used to regale us regularly with his amusing stories of the escapades of "his" AA's. Elaine and a few others have made several attempts to lure Ed over here, but so far to no avail.

[CecilOne]

Originally posted by Elaine "Lady Blue"
Stop doing those games!! ... snip ... IT'S NOT WORTH IT GUYS AND GALS!!!
Some folks don't want to realize that it is just a GAME!
Get out of the dangerous leagues, or you could be a news item.

It would be nice if there were other games.