MT_Blue

Same!

has anyone made a comparison of the the Reebok Zigs, 3n2, New balance plate and base shoes? I am in the market for a new pair of each and was curious if anyone knows of any pros and cons to any of them? I know for instance the Zigs require a size larger if you have wide feet (which i may be out of luck in since i wear a 14...) Any thoughts? Sorry if i missed this in my searching.

Good Opening Evening all! I am looking to possibly pick up a pair of Reebok Zig Plate (and Base) shoes and i was curious if anyone had any positive/negative experiences with them they would be willing to share? MT

Good evening all! I am looking to off load some shirts that I am no longer using since staring up in an area doing primarily softball, i have: 3 (three) Cliff Keen Umpire Polo shirts in Red, Creme, and Gray all size 3XL looking for $15 each or $40 for all three. 1 (one) Cliff Keen Umpire jacket (Navy/Scarlett) microfiber in 2XL looking for $45 A note on everything, The shirts were given to me as a gift when i started umpiring, and have only been worn one or two times at most, but have been taking up space in my closet since getting married and subsiquently moving around (due to school and apt stuff) , and in at least the forseeable future will not see much use as they are not colors commonly used in ASA softball (which is predominantly what i do around here). The jacket was actually bought in my younger days thinking it would work for HS softball/ASA (our state association at the time did not allow stripes and ASA did but they have to be powder blue w/ white) and didnt think much about it until i was told otherwise. Likewise, the jacket has seen a few babe ruth and legion games in my final days of travelling home prior to getting married but for the most part has sat in my closet since then. SO, Everything here is looking for a good home! iIf interested shoot me a message, and feel free to ask for better pictures if these dont work. MT

I know im late here (way late...sorry) but i have seen this more often than not (since we have alot of it around here) and have even had a player follow me to another field still yacking about something they felt was wrong...at times its more babysitting than umpiring... i liked your comebacks though . My other favortie comeback that i have heard recently is 'well i used to umpire up here' followed by my question of why are we still talking about it then?

i use Underarmor football/socker socks that come up to just below the knee.

i give little to no rope while working one man, hustle does alot to aleiviate some of the crying you may/maynot hear.

i get to use them starting Friday morning, they showed up later than i would have wanted to (was hoping to have them last friday) but im looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about.

I keep hearing all of the positives of TW pads, i recently bought a set for my mask and have yet to put them to use

He taught at a clinic here in Bozeman last December, lots of helpful info, good to see him bump up

Best way to cure that is not umpire Softball. at least around here part of me wishes it was that simple, however taking into account my background, i am enjoying this more than i did doing baseball back in my home town. There was little support for officials there, and the age gap was very large (when i started the next youngest guy was in his 50's). when i came to my current location for school 4 years ago i was only doing HS Softball (our HSA doesnt run Baseball), so i got in with that group early and even though i was going back and forth during the school year they were still friendly. once i moved here to finish school after getting married however i got to know all of them (there are really only 10 people who do it and of those 10, 6 only do slow pitch), and honestly wouldnt trade that comrodery for the world! Its not that i dont enjoy baseball, in fact i would like to go back to it in the future, right now however the opportunities for me in this area are all FP focused, and i am enjoying the hell out of it.

I have a few this year, one of which is coming from a good friend of mine. I was working the bases of a 14u fast pitch game at a travel tourney and as my partner and i walked out on to the field before the confrence i had a coach who is standing in the on deck circle talking with a couple of his captains look over and ask, "Blue, wheres the strike zone?" with a straight face i looked at him and said its in the rule book, his captains started to chuckle and he just shook his head apparently not finding it as amusing as i did. Little did i know he had my partner for that game in an earlier game and there had been a little chirping about the zone. coming from a friend of mine, in the same tourney during the first round of the morning. He was working 1 man 10U and was getting ready for the plate meeting, the home coach comes out and lets my partner know it was her first year coaching, this was their second practice of the year (in pool play of a tournament) and that she forgot her rule book at home and didnt have it for the meeting...my friend just told her it was better that way (referring to the rule book). Finally, i had the same team as my friend from the last story in a different tourney a week later. The game for a 10U softball game was very close, HT was ahead before we hit drop dead time(the pool play had to condense down to 55 min games to keep everything on track for sunday) and there was one out in the last inning. the batter hits a little blooper into the infield and i watch it hit the ground before going into the fielders glove. HT duggout erupts in cheers etc as i signal that it was no catch. BR makes it to first safely and there was confusion about why she was safe. SO i tell them what i saw, got the standard boos etc from the home crowd and then we proceed on. the previous BR becomes out on the head end of a double play to end the inning. Since we still had time we move into the next half an inning and an assistant coach from the HT comes out and is still seemingly flustered and says "Blue, is there any way you could actually signal that next time?" I got done cleaning the pitchers plate and looked up and just said "Coach, mechanically i did what i am taught to do." Still with a dumbfounded look on his face he starts to go into another question/statement, and i cut him off and just say, "if you have a problem or would like a revision of the mechanic please direct that to OKC, im sure they would be happy to take a look at it." After that comment he just shook his head and walked back to the dugout. The game ended within the next few minutes under protest (some tourney rule the VT wasnt happy about and im sure it was never heard), with the score as i knew it HT4, VT3.

I carry one in both cases (and actually two because i had a game where one broke in the middle), and rarley if ever look at them unless i have a brain fart or am being asked (while in the field ), i have been on the recieving end of having a partner in the field without one, which thankfully nothing went wrong, and i have witnessed one go horribly wrong. after reading through the thread (which seemed to grow while i was reading), if my partner in the field doesnt carry one so be it, if something goes wrong he'll hear about it but other wise their choice, i will always have one.

very well written, the problem i run into is i do alot of 10/12U (softball) and recently did a 16/18U (called HS division here since there are not that many teams) and found i was struggling more so with the upper end of my zone ><

i was working a Fast pitch tourney a couple weeks ago and took one off the side and was in a little bit of pain but will agree with 3rdGEN, was not nearly as bad as it could have been...unlike his story my partner stood out in the field with his thumb somewhere unmentionable

When i first started out i did for free because the league i worked with was short of officials (it was either someone who cared or a legion kid who didnt give a sh*t), after a year they payed, and then a year later i did some scheduling for them. Once I came to college how ever i have done VERY FEW free games, mostly scrimmages for travel softball out here where i know the coach (Umpired HS fast pitch with him). Since it was a chance to see more pitches before the travel season starts (fortunate for me its only about a week difference this year), and get evaluated by our UIC.

Of the stances i have tried, i would have to say the box works best for me, was never a fan of the scissors or GD.

at least here we run into the problem of politics (im sure everyone else has something similar) in the sense that you can only move so far forward in the pool before you're capped. I am currently working with guys who have been members of the HS association for going on 20 yrs and never seen post season contests due to 'steve (tournament UIC) doesnt like Jim so he will never see a state tourney.' with steve getting the UIC gig for the SAME touranment every year. Long story short our system of selection is seriously flawed, it is supposed to be by vote but that rarely happens.

welcome...from BOZEMAN

Hey all, Ive tried searching this a couple times and am not finding a definitive answer, but how many different types of HSM are there? I know of three, being the Wilson Shock Titanium series, Allstars MVP series, and then the default that ASA sells which is the Schutt HSM Umpire. are there any others? all of my searches have come up empty... Ken

i know im late to this party, but i havent purchased the app with the reasoning being that i still ENJOY (yes ENJOY) physically reading the book. its not that i am against technology in any way but i just have no intereste in purchasing it.

Was working a JV HS Fast pitch game this morning/afternoon, catcher wiffed one and i ate it straight in the cup with little to no pain what so ever! cant beleive i waited so long to get one of these...

never heard of a 'travel certification' around here its more so who calls on what weekend during the travel season...

Im not a huge fan of one man to begin with...

around here (doing mostly ASA softball) all of the summer league stuff is 1 man, come district tourney we also stay one man, we just dont have the bodies in the immediate area to do more until championship play, travel ball is all two man and some occasional 3 man. High School is all 2 man until the state playoffs, which i think are three man. when it comes to slow pitch, one man all the way until championships.