Anybody in Chattanooga for the Girls' ASA National?
 

MTD, Jr., was assigned to his first ASA Fast Pitch National this week (July 22-26): the Girls' 14U Class "B" Eastern Nationals in Canton, Ohio.

The opening ceremonies were held this past Wednesday evening, and when they were over the UIC told him that he was only going to umpire one game on Saturday (at 09:00am) because he had to be in Chattanooga by 12:00pm Sunday to umpire in the ASA/USA Girls' 16U Class "A" Nationals which goes from Sunday, July 26th, through Sunday, August 02nd.

He is on the road as I type. He is going to stay in Lexington, KY, for the night and then arrive in Chattanooga tomorrow morning.

I know this is late but if there are any readers of this post who are going to be at the tournament, look Junior up and say hello. And remind him to do what his "old man" tells him, :p.

MTD, Sr.

Congrats to Junior. My two ASA nationals were 11 years apart, for various reasons. I will be working the 14U B Western National in Prescott, AZ, next week. Andy should also be there. :P

We (AZ ASA) got an email late last week requesting help with as many umpires as we could spare for the tournament in Chattanooga. I understand there are approx 180 teams entered in that tournament.

I believe NCASAUMP is at that tournament as well. I do know the 5 members of the UIC crew...good bunch and should provide some good feedback

Yep, NCASAUMP is there. He sent me a message earlier today wondering if I could come to Tennessee and help out!

The host organizers violate ASA Code (see quote below), are permitted to proceed, and the rest of the world should jump to bail them out?? Let them stew in it, the greedy bastards.

EXCEPTIONS:
a. Junior Olympic Girls’ Class A Fast Pitch Only. No fill-in
procedure if the tournament has 138 qualified teams. At no time will the
fill-in procedure be used to exceed 138 teams.

Yes...they beg for help then expect the individual umpires to pay their own way to get there....seems to me that the tournament should be picking up the cost of travel for the additional umpires needed because so many teams were allowed to enter.

Money talks!
 

And why did ASA accept 45 more teams. At $550 entry fee per team that equals: $24,750!

And all of the umpires from Ohio who are umpiring in Chattanooga, none of them received traveling expenses because: Since OhioASA was hosting National tournaments this Summer, if any OhioASAS umpire umpires at a National else where in the country they are not entitled to travel expenses. It is called Host Exchange.

MTD, Sr.

I'll bet you are in complete and utter shock!!! :)

I agree. As many problems as there are and the constant whine, the folks complaining are often the ones causing he problem.

I feel sorry for any poor UIC who does a proper evaluation that doesn't reflect well on the host.

The Paul Harvey rest of the story is from a friend of mine who is TN this week. After calling in all of these additional umpires, the umpires assigned to the tournament are working an average of 2 games a day.

My buddy had a noon, 6pm schedule yesterday and today, and of course no travel and $30/game. But of course he also gets the "Honor and Prestige" of working an ASA National tournament.

The Honor and Prestige kind of take a hit when teams are added at the last minute, but that may just be MHO.

I stand corrected. It was not 45 extra teams it was 47 extra teams to bring the tournament total to 185 teams which mean it was an extra $25,850.

And yes, it appears that the umpires are only umpiring two games a day. Mark, Jr., had games at 12:00pm and 06:00pm on Monday, and 10:00am and 04:00pm today.

MTD, Sr.

Sad to see the umpires being treated like furniture. This happens too often in too many sports. :(

On the plus side, no one will complain about being tired and all umpires can give 100% to the games. :)

I don't know about being tired. Junior umpired two games each day on Monday and Tuesday. He is umpiring three games today (Wednesday). He called me after his first game today to let me know that he has received his schedule for Thursday, and that he has four games.

MTD, Sr.

Did they use 2 or 3 umpires in pool play? If two, the increase in early DE games to 3 could account for the increase in games. Possibly a reduction in the use of the local umpires brought in for early relief

They have been using 2-man crews every day so far. I just know that I am not umpiring because the temperatures have been in the mid-90Fs with the heat index over 100F every day and the humidity has been over 65% every day.

MTD, Sr.

Well, they have to move to crews of three for DE games, assuming they have enough umpires and that doesn't seem to be an issue.

Today was the first day of DE and they used 2-man crews and they are using 2-man crews tomorrow. Mark had 2 games on Monday and Tuesday, 3 games today, and 4 games tomorrow and his games tomorrow are 2-man crews.

MTD, Sr.

Umpires. Three ( 3 ) umpires per game shall be used for all games at National Championship Finals in Adult Fast Pitch, Men’s Class A Slow Pitch, Men's Class B Slow Pitch, Men’s 16" Slow Pitch, Men’s Modified Pitch and Girls’ ASA / USA 12-Under, 14-Under, 16-Under, 18-Under, and 16-Under Gold and 18-Under Gold Fast Pitch. All other National Championship Finals will utilize a minimum of two ( 2 ) umpires per game. In all divisions where there are pool play games, a minimum of two ( 2 ) umpires per game will be utilized.

This is Art. 310.R of the ASA Code. Sometimes I sort of wonder why they bother with the code :)

All I have to say is: Holy Moley - 180 teams. It took long enough this week to work through 32 teams at the 14 B Western Nat'l, and my knees still hurt plenty.

It was 185 teams in Chattanooga. Mark, Jr., umpired two games yesterday to bring his total for the week to17 games. He left from home this morning at 10:30am and got home at 10:35pm.

MTD, Sr.

You're whining...

...and you weren't there....

He is way too young to have bad knees.....:)

I do not need to be there to hear that high pitched whine!

The kid is a stud...he will be ok...:D

Steve:

The 2016 Rules Changes are here, and I thought you might get a good laugh at this new change:

Article 310 F 02 EXCEPTIONS: a. Junior Olympic Girls’ Class A Fast Pitch Only. No fill-in procedure if the tournament has 128 qualified teams. At no time will the fill-in procedure be used to exceed 128 teams.

Comments: Establishes a guideline for how many teams can be entered

MTD, Sr.

Yeah, right.

The National Council felt so strongly about it that they awarded Chattanooga the ASA/USA 14A for 2017. There's a punishment for you.

You know as well as I do that if more teams than 128 want in, someone is going to try to find away around that number. And if it means beating out the XYZ associations, I wouldn't doubt that there could be an executive decision of absolution.

OTOH, if they stick by that number, it will make it much easier to manage and would probably make for a much better experience for all those involved.