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kylehutson

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Everything posted by kylehutson

  1. That's not impossible. Most (but not all) of the D1 Power 5 guys have some professional experience. I'd definitely suggest going to some college-level clinics (usually in the 3-to-5 day range). At your age, and if you're teachable, you should be able to break into those ranks. Low-level college (NAIA / D3 / JuCo - which is the highest level I work) takes some training and quite importantly, availability. But good talent can get moved up the ranks. I was nearly 40 before I umpired my first rec league game, and didn't even move to high school for another couple of years after that. FWIW, I don't know any college umpires that only officiate for a living. For the "big dogs" it's a lucrative side-hustle, but not a full-time job. For the rest of us, it's a well-paying hobby.
  2. The best things that helped me when I started out... As @BigBlue4u said, pay attention to this site. This site really helped make me a better umpire. I still read everything here (sometimes, especially during the thick of the season, I fall behind and don't catch up for weeks, but I still read everything). Then I attended a clinic hosted by D1 (and mostly College World Series) umpires. Once you get out with those guys, you'll realize you don't know squat about umpiring. One of those D1 guys at the clinic is the primary guy behind https://ump-app.com/ - it's not free, but it's a high-quality umpire training tool. It didn't exist when I started, but I wish it had. You've done the hardest part. Now get out there and keep at it! Best of luck to you!
  3. I got that bit from a clinic from Brent Rice (a Wendelstedt school instructor). Also works for tag-ups.
  4. Safe signal. If he persists, "I didn't see him not touch the base, and I was right there"
  5. Unpopular opinion... I think on a HR, bases shouldn't even need to be touched. If they want to, cool, the crowd will love it. But if I guy hits a walk-off grand slam, he and all the baserunners should be able to jog straight to the dugout. (No that's not the way I officiate it, just what I think the rule should be)
  6. I used to use magnets, but I've switched to https://www.patchlatch.com/ (won't work for the sleeve, but if you can get away with the pocket instead)
  7. Youth league? Did it hit the ground before being caught? If not, it wasn't too low. Youth leagues are the worst for having parents that expect their batters to have a postage stamp for the strike zone, and "nose-to-toes, chalk-to-chalk" for their pitchers. You can safely ignore those bozos.
  8. Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me! "Money" What do I win?
  9. Kansas does have the base umpire carry a stopwatch to measure 1 minute between innings. But we don't start it until the last fielder crosses the foul line on the way back to the dugout. There are exceptions for pitcher or catcher, but in the case of the catcher, if they're at time they only get 2 more warmups (since they should have a sub or coach out to catch for the pitcher). And we don't really have a penalty except the home plate umpire telling them time's up and refusing further warmups. This was started maybe 5-7 years ago? And it has helped speed up the game.
  10. I'm in about the same boat as you are, Wolfe. 10 years in high school and two MC ejections. In both cases, the coach came out of the dugout, and I was expecting them to argue something. Instead the conversation was "his sub is number ..."
  11. Exactly. ILEGS Introductions Lineups Equipment (NFHS only: "Are your teams legally and properly equipped?") Ground Rules Sportsmanship That's all. Once sentence each unless absolutely necessary. No rules clinics, no waxing poetic.
  12. Yes, our NAIA schools here are all so flush with cash they all have domes. Aren't yours? I'm at the farthest west school in the conference
  13. Clear the field? If it's bad, I'm sure they'd cancel It's college. When NCAA/NAIA says you can, you do it?
  14. Nope. But I do have quite the array of warm gear. Fortunately the leagues here that play this early in the season have rules that they don't play if the Feels-like temp is below the freezing mark.
  15. T-minus 8 days to my first game. In Kansas.
  16. That's where "preventative umpiring" comes into play. If you can tell they're going to windup, but they meet the technical definition of the set - ask them. Then you can let everybody know and nobody gets upset.
  17. I can get an ad-free experience with web browser extensions. I didn't do it for that. I did it because of the value I get from the site. And I hope others follow suit.
  18. Going from the V1 to the V2 was huge. The V2 has internal plates. The difference in V2 to V3 seems to be pretty minimal. I use the V2 as my "daily driver". Note that if you go to the V2 (or V3), you need to wear it tight against your chest - otherwise you get a "slap" that can feel substantial.
  19. I'm not buying it for the same reason @Velho said. It wasn't even a planned trick play, and the flag was already out well ahead of that.
  20. kylehutson

    Intros

    Glad to have you with us! What brings you here? Where are you from?
  21. I could get with that if fields were always marked well. The field I ran the box on didn't have any yard markers other than the stripes every 5 yards. And I've seen "yard lines" that varied at least 2 ft from a straight line. One other question (again, legitimately asking) - is there any reason why "offensive offsides" shouldn't be blown dead immediately like a false start, rather than played out? If that was the case here, I'm pretty sure the situation would have been "that sucks...moving on" rather than the frustration we saw.
  22. I've watched this in slo-mo, and I disagree (yes, even as a Chiefs fan, but even more as a proponent of fairness). Miller tried to time the snap and was off by a tiny bit. He does start moving before the snap, but doesn't actually move into the neutral zone (except maybe his hand - is that legal? I dunno) until after the ball is snapped.
  23. Speaking as a Chiefs fan, even through the Matt Cassel years (shudder). I have exactly zero NFL experience aside from sitting in the stands a few times and watching on TV. I only played one year of football in Jr. High. However, I did run "the box" (aka the down marker) for the school where my wife taught for several years, so take this for what that's worth. When running the box, frequently (not every play, but maybe one every 3 downs on average), a player would look at the sideline and say "I'm up" or "I'm back" and the official would either tell him he's good or would say "you're too close", or "you need to move up/back", or something similar. A few times a player would be too close, the official would tell him, and then the player would not move. The official would repeat it a few times, loud enough the player could hear and most of the time they would then move. If they didn't the flag would come out, and I've heard the official tell the coach "I warned him 3 times" (or something similar). I don't know, maybe NFL stadiums are loud enough such communication isn't possible (especially in Arrowhead), but it certainly seems reasonable to me. FWIW, Mahomes is walking back his behavior. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/chiefs/2023/12/12/patrick-mahomes-apologizes-kadarius-toney-penalty-chiefs-josh-allen/71890965007/ - I think it was less about that actual penalty and more about the frustration of this being the second game in a row where a last-minute call was big and the Chiefs lost both.
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