semper_fi_72

I hate to but I must take exception. I understand the volunteer yaya but come on. If someone volunteered to carry your groceries and dropped them all over the place would you sing their praises? IMO, it's disrespectful to the game for some of these guys to be as bad as they are. I get paid. And make a lot of $ doing what I love. But I honor the game by trying to be the best umpire on the field. Look sharp. Good timing. Good mechanics. Good positioning. Good rules knowledge. Seems to me LL likes smitty or they'd do something about it. And with all the $$$ LL is making, they ought to provide a week long pro clinic for the WS officials. It is a requirement that WS Umpires have attended a LL Regional Clinic. They are what they are and what LL accepts. If you don't like what you see, turn off the TV. They didn't volunteer for years and pay their own way to deserve to be ripped apart by those who feel they must correct every mistake they make. Get a Life. then obviously you're totally ok with what you see on TV, Lou? Come on, don't "get a life" someone when you know your own standards are SO MUCH HIGHER ... please I don't judge Little League umpires working the World Series by my standards. In fact I have not even watched a Regional or World Series game. If I did I would watch to watch the kids, not the umpires.

They are not the best in Little League. They are the volunteers who have volunteered for the years needed. Done other Regional assignments. Been willing to pay their own way to those Regional s and to Williamsport. They are simply the ones that said they would go, were recommended by their District Administrator and made it through the selection process Little League does. I know two umpires who paid their own way to Poland and Italy this year to work Little League Regional s there. What ever floats your boat but my community service stops at working a few games for our local district. I am not spending money to travel anywhere to umpire for free. OH....I have also seen worse umpires at CDP and they are getting paid to get there by a team. So no, no one considers them the best in the world. Even by LL rules a Good umpire wouldn't be allowed to return to Umpire the same level for a World Series. Again, they are volunteers that have satisfied Little Leagues requirements and selection process. Only those that even apply can be selected, so it is not like Little League is scouting umpires to work the Regionals or World Series. No one ever said they umpire anything other than Little League.

I hate to but I must take exception. I understand the volunteer yaya but come on. If someone volunteered to carry your groceries and dropped them all over the place would you sing their praises? IMO, it's disrespectful to the game for some of these guys to be as bad as they are. I get paid. And make a lot of $ doing what I love. But I honor the game by trying to be the best umpire on the field. Look sharp. Good timing. Good mechanics. Good positioning. Good rules knowledge. Seems to me LL likes smitty or they'd do something about it. And with all the $$$ LL is making, they ought to provide a week long pro clinic for the WS officials. It is a requirement that WS Umpires have attended a LL Regional Clinic. They are what they are and what LL accepts. If you don't like what you see, turn off the TV. They didn't volunteer for years and pay their own way to deserve to be ripped apart by those who feel they must correct every mistake they make. Get a Life.

My math skills are good. Bad odds. Buy some Twinkies instead. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD My mom say i should play the lottery more. Not just the stratch tickets. I have better luck on stratch tickets. sure i play.... and sometimes i win sometimes i don't loose or i gain 5 or more. Its fun though. By your spelling and grammar I hope more of your States lottery money, going to the schools, goes to the English Language Arts Department.

Lucky them... During one of the games Magic and I had we had a perfect rotation on a Fair/Foul, Trouble Ball. Magic was PU and I was BU in A. Ball was hit right down the RF line. I turn and move out on the line as I should to make the Fair/Foul call. I know Magic will take the BR and we didn't even have to pre-game it. I make Fair call, but have to hang out now because there is a opening in RF that if that ball crosses a line it would be a Ground Rule Double. By the time I can determine it will not go out and the Right Fielder is playing the ball and I can turn back and hustle to the Plate, Magic is taking the BR from 2B to 3B. I think I supervised Magic that I not only told him I got the plate but that I was actually there in case the play ever came to the plate. It was a perfect rotation but I really had to bust my butt to get there because of the time I had to wait to determine the possibility that it could go out of play and be a Ground Rule Double. BTW we never did Pre-game that or anything else, simply because we knew each others abilities. I am confident we could work a complete game together without ever signaling or communicating and not miss anything.

I've got a ball also. Don't expect me to gold plate your f#$k up! It can not be a Ball since it never crossed the foul line. Since there were no runners on thinking about calling a Balk is irrelevant. Regardless of what caused it. it is a NO PITCH.

I don't care what they will be en vogue next season. Unless I need to replace something, what I have is perfectly fine.

I would start worrying about your chances of being struck by lightning.

All I got to say is Magic is a great partner to work with and saved my butt yesterday (Saturday) I spent of the the very early hours of Saturday expelling everything from my body and getting very little sleep. Macho me was going to work my games which started at 3:15 and I had 3. That changed rapidly at 1:30 as I was getting ready to leave. A quick call to Magic and he was out the door to cover the games for me. Making me and the Assignor very happy. Thanks Magic I owe you and it was a pleasure to work with you. Me getting sick like that may explain why you thought I wasn't looking so good those last two games on Friday.

Greyhawk 18 teams means like 18 games on Saturday. Like 6 two man crews for the whole day art West Covina. I would venture to say that you didn't give availability for West Covina. Did you give any availability during this week for the world series? Playoff brackets for those games start tomorrow and diminish down to like two games on Sunday. My point is, if you want to work USSSA games and get in with any regularity, you might want to open up your availability. It took my about two years of every other or every third week to get games regularly. My standard answer to the availability email requests is "Any day, Any Site, Any Time you need me?" Any Assignor is going to work the guys that are always there for them and provide them with assigning flexibility once they have worked their way in and up.

Ok My input on this thread. We shouldn't be casting stones about the Little League Umpires that volunteer their time and as far as the Regions and Little League are concerned are experienced enough to umpire the games they are umpiring. Except for some post season I don't volunteer much free games to Little League. But I do know some Western Region guys (BTW IMHO Western Region is the best trained) I would gladly work any where with. They have worked Regionals and World Series. There is getting to be a problem with some guys not even wanting to go to umpire regional's any more, no less the World Series because of the TV coverage. They are not Professional Umpires. They are Little League Volunteers and what they do and what you see must be fine by Little League, or they would not be there. That is my :2cents: You can agree or disagree with LL and the LL Umpiring Program. The thing is, it is what they want it to be.

Definitely better looking than you

I told you about my partner yesterday and lack of returning signals while he was on the bases. Well the games he had the plate were worse. Bad Zone. Worse strike and 3rd strike call I ever heard. In fact they asked him several times if that was a strike after he called it because no one, including me was sure. He must really like poker. 3 balls and 2 Strikes = a Full House. Not even a Full Count but a Full House Can't wait till Friday and work with another friend and a couple of games with Magic.

Yesterday as part of the USSSA Western World Series, I umpired two 12U games with a team from Alaska. 6 inning games, 1 hour 45 minute no new. First game I was on the plate. Was a pretty quick game 13-1 mercy after 4 complete innings. Second game I am on the bases. Real quick 16-0 mercy after 2 and a half. 6 and half innings of baseball and they had 29 runs scored against and scored 1. I felt sorry for the kids but they were way out classed and played. Traveled a long way, but I heard they are going to Disneyland today since it is a off day....

I love game whores. I love umpiring, but 2 is my max in a day, and 5-6 is my max for a week. After that it starts to feel like a job and I want to enjoy umpiring as much as possible. Game whores make it possible for me to do this. Vacation time is over. USSSA Western World Series starts tomorrow and back in the saddle big time. 15 games scheduled over 5 days and Thursday is a non game day for the tournament. 4 games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 3 on Saturday. It will finance another short camping trip with my family before we kick off our home school year. Where did the summer go??????? Well, I guess that confirms that I didn't get any games this weekend. I have two with Bill on Friday. I do not think the regular tournament has been assigned yet. Only the Western World Series games. Got called into emergency duty tonight. Lou's partner was a little under the weather so he called me to grab 3 games with him at the USSSA World Series. What a great experience it was. Lou is a very good umpire. It was a pleasure working with him. 2 more tomorrow night and 2 more on Friday for the USSSA World Series. Looking forward to it. Bill Was very happy you could make it out and that we got to work together. Yesterday was a fun day. Having had the time off really help and to come back and start out with a great partner made it even more fun. See you Friday for our other 2 games. Time to get moving and out there for another 4 today.

There are times where numbers must also be listed on the line up for USSSA. Players must also wear the same number for the entire tournament and are not allowed to change numbers and no number can be duplicated.

I love game whores. I love umpiring, but 2 is my max in a day, and 5-6 is my max for a week. After that it starts to feel like a job and I want to enjoy umpiring as much as possible. Game whores make it possible for me to do this. Vacation time is over. USSSA Western World Series starts tomorrow and back in the saddle big time. 15 games scheduled over 5 days and Thursday is a non game day for the tournament. 4 games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 3 on Saturday. It will finance another short camping trip with my family before we kick off our home school year. Where did the summer go??????? Well, I guess that confirms that I didn't get any games this weekend. I have two with Bill on Friday. I do not think the regular tournament has been assigned yet. Only the Western World Series games.

I love game whores. I love umpiring, but 2 is my max in a day, and 5-6 is my max for a week. After that it starts to feel like a job and I want to enjoy umpiring as much as possible. Game whores make it possible for me to do this. Vacation time is over. USSSA Western World Series starts tomorrow and back in the saddle big time. 15 games scheduled over 5 days and Thursday is a non game day for the tournament. 4 games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 3 on Saturday. It will finance another short camping trip with my family before we kick off our home school year. Where did the summer go???????

The pitchers doesn't know where it will go. The catcher doesn't know where it will go. So yes just watch it with your eyes and make a call where you think it went.

Well 2013 has been the best year yet. July 21, 2011 - 186 games July 21, 2012 - 169 games July 21, 2013 - 220 games in the books. This umpire has left the building and is taking some time off. Will not accept another assignment prior to Aug 3rd. See you on the beach or a camp ground with my family. Or just hanging out having some R&R.

That's not a stock All-Star chin pad...I wonder what it is. It is the same special chin pad I have in mine. Along with other padding, (which includes a forehead pad) made for those of us that have had a few concussions and really need the extra protection. The extra padding pushes the mask farther away from your face and also requires changing the straps in the back. Unless you have had concussions before, you really do not need the pads Hickox or I am using from AllStar. The stock pads are perfectly fine for the normal population. I also wear a 4 seam hat under my MVP2500.

I am a Married Umpire so I don't have any single umpire war stories.

Mine are on their 4th Year and you can see how many games they have been used.

IMHO If you dropped the Assigning job back into their lap because of what ever reason, you should not have worked any of the games yourself. You put yourself in a tough spot by umpiring any of the games. Remember, Perception is Reality. You had a problem with tournament directors and then you umpire a game one of them has a team in. Also one important thing to remember. Don't Burn Bridges!!!!!

All Star 2500 All pads are removable, washable and replaceable. Great view Great protection IMHO much better than Wilson.