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As a spectator at a real game with them, I would concur with your conclusion. Most teams and many times this can extend to the fans, and their whining and crying and carrying on and blaming start with HC. Just go pull up that old 2010 Big 10 tournament display with Mitch Mele and company to see the HC true deportment trends deep inside. Now, by chance, he may have tampered things down a bit in public and during the game under the perception is reality code, but underneath that same display from 2010 burns deeply and is the true person. IMHO the teams tend to take on the personality/demeanor/style/mannerisms/deportment/sportsmanship/whining/crying/raj rahing, etc, during the game of the HC. and of course since winning is all of life, this is what winners, look at that stellar W and L record, do (otherwise it would not be the thing to do), and everyone else not like this is a loser. Just look at Colorado brawl.

Agreed -- and at higher levels, just grant the time when requested (assuming no other runners are attempting to / bluffing to advance, etc.)

Perhaps a hand gesture pointing at the ball akin to the one U1 makes when F3 holds the bag while stretching for the throw? Combined with a verbal you demonstrate that you see the circumstances of the situation while not putting either side at a disadvantage.

The catcher cannot call timeout. He can request it. Did the umpire grant time? If yes, the ball is not live. If no, the ball is live. I had an interesting one last week in a 10u softball game ... Runners on 2nd and 3rd, pitcher walks the batter (not intentional). Defensive coach immediately comes out of the dugout, hollers “Time!” and starts to walk out to the circle. The defense all starts to congregate around the circle. The runner has not reached first yet. The astute third base coach sends his runner to the “unprotected” home plate. Defensive coach comes unglued. “I called time!” “Sorry coach, you don’t get to call time. You can request it. And I can’t grant it until the runner reaches first base. Until then, live ball.” He was not a happy camper.

Nope. Widely accepted for many years. Most umpires will not do it on every pitch, just the ones that require it. In some parts of the country we just try to get umpires to verbalize the word "ball" then work from there.

Trick question. The umpire is the winner: this 9-inning game was done in 1:42.

No one should wear a watch on the field. It’s a sign of an untrained umpire. If you have a need to keep time, as one of the base umps might in NCAA, you carry a stopwatch, usually on a lanyard, in your pocket. But I will say we might have reserve our judgment on an umpire wearing something on his wrist. I think I saw an MLB ump wearing a Fitbit.

I use it often. I generally don't hear a lot of negative talk about balls/strikes, so I guess it works for me.

I say inside and outside a fair amount of the time at a level at which others outside the plate area may be able to hear it, especially close pitches and/or 2 strike pitches. If it's up or down, I'll generally say ball, and might say only to the catcher "that's down" or "that's too low" or "that's up" or the catcher says "up?" and I say "yup".

After feeling the breeze blow thru my Shutt HDX on an 80 degree day, I'm not switching anytime soon.