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It is interesting to see the different points of view. A few years back, we knew that umpires would be working a lot of games at a National. They kept adding more teams and more fields, but there wasn't much time to get many more decent umpires. Knowing different preferences, we asked the umpires which rotation they preferred, whether it be one on and one off, two on and two off or plate-base-off. Enough preferred each of the rotations where we were able to accommodate most of them.
I had always preferred two on and one off. Once I suit up for the plate, I would rather just stay back there. To take everything off and jump on the field all sweaty after a 10 minute break isn't exactly refreshing. The sweat just bakes into you why standing on the bases. An hour and a half time limit certainly helps when working two in a row behind the plate... |
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Irish: You are preaching to the choir. The real problem is that many guys in the Toledo area don't like the idea of a three umpire rotation because it means that they can't get in as many games and they want to make money. MTD, Sr. |
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Actually I've done it, but not because it was planned - and although I consider myself a pretty competent umpire normally, I'm not sure I can say the teams got my best towards the end. and then I remeber (way back when I was the best umpire in the county:rolleyes:, and a few years younger I did 9 (1:15) in a row. Funny thing is, I was so new, that at the time I didn't think there was anything wrong with it AND I thought I was as good at the end as I was at the beginning.... |
Tournament scheduling should be interesting this year. Back about three years ago, we had an assigner who was adamant that umpires should not work more than two consecutive games and no more than three or four in a day. His reasoning was the same as what's been expressed here (mental and physical fatigue, the quality of umpiring in later games, etc.).
Some guys bitched that they weren't getting enough games under his system of scheduling. But I think it worked well from the standpoint of the teams having fresher officials, which directly affects the games, plus a larger pool of umpires were getting experience, which in the long run would affect the quality of the umpiring as a whole. Then we got a new assigner. Pretty much everything became "three umpires to a field, all day long, plate/base/off rotation". The second assigner was an experiened umpire and he had to realize the pitfalls of working too many games in a day, especially in severe summer weather. My impression was that he went with this system simply because it was easier for him to make the schedule. Why bother contacting, scheduling and confirming with, say, six umpires, when you can cover the same number of games and only have to deal with three umpires? That assigner had enough after one year and yet another took over. I think that our group was getting desperate for someone to do this, as the person who took over seemed ill-equipped to handle the load. The new assigner continued the "three men to a field" type of scheduling. There was also a lot of miscommunication about assignments. Numerous times I received the wrong game times or field number. One week I even had an UIC call me to ask why I wasn't at my assigned field, when I had never been contacted about working the tournament! That assigner had enough after one year and gave it up. Now, this year, the original assigner is taking it over again. I'm wondering how all the guys that loved working tons of games in one day are going to react if he goes back to his old way of doing things? |
People who complain about not getting enough games, and I'm not referring to those who need X number to cover costs and some extra, are not the umpires I would want on my field as a player, coach, partner or UIC.
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Then they should focus on making themselves better so that they can work D1 NCAA games, and leave the 12U and 14U weekend tournaments to those of us who are out there to enjoy the challenge. |
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When the teams ask why I'm not working their tournament, I simply tell them the assignor didn't need me. Let them complain to the association. |
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