Was I a jerk?

[BretMan]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

A couple of you mentioned that I should have called time to go argue the point. I find this odd. As an umpire, if I make some offhand comment from a medium distance to a coach, and he then calls time to come confront me about it, I see that as a problem. So as a coach, I don't think I should do that.

As an umpire, I don't have a problem with a coach requesting time to ask me to clarify a rule for him. That's different than "arguing the point" with the umpire or "confronting" the umpire.

I think that as a coach you should be able to handle this with the same cool-headed approach we're expected to use as umpires when dealing with coaches. Request time, wait until it's granted, calmly ask for clarification, state your case, then if all you have left to hang your hat on is a protest, file the protest.

Maybe you don't want to be the guy that files a protest in an 11U rec league game, but if it really concerns you that the rule be enforced correctly, it's a better route to take than being the guy that smarts off to the umpires!