CentralOhioUmp30

What is the pay for HS ball in VA? Varsity: $75.00 JV: $65.00 Babe Ruth: $70 or $75 Sr. Legion: $80.00 Jr. Legion: $65.00 USSSA: $50.00 HS Fall Ball: $65.00 The good life. The most I'll make per game this year is $55 working a couple Pastime tournaments. Columbus, OH rates: Varsity: $50 JV: $40 Freshman: $38 Middle School: $38 U10 or lower travel: $50 (one-man) U11 to U12: $45 to $50 U13+: $50 Tournaments: $45-$55

I'm assigning two Perfect Game tournaments this year. We're talking ~48 teams on five local Varsity fields for the first week and ~32 teams on three Varsity fields the second week. I don't need that many guys....probably only 10-12 with a couple backups and myself able to work if an absolute emergency. Nice payday for me and I'll get to work a couple championship games. Now the guys who assign tournaments with 20+ fields and 150+ teams are crazy, but I respect the hell out of the guys who do it correctly. I know one guy who will be assigning 8-10 tournaments this year, including two tournaments going on during Memorial Day weekend. That weekend he will be assigning nearly 300 games. Absolutely enormous pay day, but the hassle of it has to be unbelievable and you really need to have triple digits of guys you can truly count on to attempt an endeavor like that. I'll stick with working the games except for two weekends, thank you very much.

OSU would be favored by a FG over Auburn, so I don't exactly know how FSU vs. OSU would be a bad championship game, but somehow FSU vs. Auburn will be a good football game. We are talking about a team equipped with a large majority of players that played on a team that went winless in the SEC last year. Auburn will get smoked. So much for that theory..... My youthful, energetic Buckeye brother isn't having the best run of predictions, huh? Let's try this. There is no possible scenario that results in Ohio State winning the four team playoff next year. None. Zip. Nada. Zero. Believe it or not, my betting during the bowl season provided a pretty decent profit, so I did something right. Go figure!

You only get 5 chances, unless you receive above a certain percentage. You won't see JT Snow on the ballot for 15 years.

One guy let the people on some blog vote for him. I think Edgar Martinez should be in there. And Piazza, h**l yes. At least the blog voters knew JT Snow didn't deserve a vote.

The ballot was loaded. Some of those 16 decided to use their 10 votes for guys they though would need the extra vote more than Maddux. If nothing else, Biggio proved every vote matters The ballot was loaded. Some of those 16 decided to use their 10 votes for guys they though would need the extra vote more than Maddux. If nothing else, Biggio proved every vote matters Sorry, that's incredibly stupid in my opinion. There should be a better statistical cutoff so that people like Biggio don't get screwed by truly inferior players getting on the ballot. And if someone can explain to me why guys get 15 cracks at the HOF, I'd love to hear about. I mean seriously. JT Snow got two votes. Those two people should be publicly flogged. And the people that gave single votes to Armando Benitez and Jacque Jones should be given a 10 second head start before a pack of hungry wolves is released. Finally, type "Ken Gurnick" into Google for a good laugh. He's aiming for the "dumbest sports media person" of the year award.

The 16 or 17 guys who didn't submit ballots are morons. Even as a non-Braves fan, it's disappointing that Maddux wasn't unanimous.

I own the NB 460s. They are great shoes and come in extra wide widths. Also, I did have two separate instances of tearing underneath the metatarsal plate, but all it took was a call to New Balance and they shipped me out a brand new pair (on both occasions) and gave me a pre-paid shipping label to send the defective ones back to them. That kind of customer service is very important to me because it shows they stand by their product and do what ever they can to help their customers.. My experience caused me to buy their base shoes and a few pairs of casual and running shoes.

I wear compression shorts, NB, jock and then another pair of compression shorts. I don't know if your word "droop" is similar to the "floating" that is advertised. I do find myself adjusting myself A LOT during games. Do you have any difficulty running? I don't the the right word to use besides "restricting". If I'm hauling ass down to 3rd I can definitely feel it. Not painful at all, just annoying.

To anyone who has ever purchased anything from Craigslist......do you guys use a certain website to search for items (to get them shipped to you) or are you strictly purchasing things that are in your area?

Never understood why Urban Meyer is such a divisive figure or how other coaches get passes. I mean I get that people like you are obviously jealous because your program doesn't have a strong leader and good all-around coach. I just mean the lying-cheating-no discipline part. What has he lied about? Seriously, go ahead and explain. Saban has doctors on the payroll that sign off on players being put on medical hardship despite not having serious injuries so that he can shuffle new guys in and out. No wonder they have an NFL type roster. Don't even get me started on the cash payments Alabama makes to players (see: Dee Liner). Guz Malzhan was part of the team that bid for Cam Newton. Urban suspended the best RB in the nation for three games despite video proof that he did nothing wrong. Jimbo Fisher didn't sit Winston down for a second despite being the major suspect in a rape investigation (I don't have a problem with this by the way. But it does make people who bash Urban for discipline look pretty stupid). I'm sure the same measures would've been taken against the backup punter. Les Miles played a kid who forced a teenager to give him oral sex and assaulted man at a bar because "the team voted to reinstate him". If you want to criticize Urban Meyer, fine. But anyone holding Urban to a higher standard and ignoring much more glaring transgressions by other coaches, is too dumb to live. By the way, congrats to FSU and their fans.

I am curious if I have the wrong size. I am 5'10, 180 so I purchased the Trophy. I wear it correctly, but there is still a decent amount of discomfort when running and the shot I took kept me on one knee for several minutes and affected me for a couple innings after the impact. As you can see from the picture, the ball hit towards the top of the NB, yet the boys got it. I don't know if that is a sizing issue or what. The next size down is supposed to be for a max of 5'8 and 170 and I don't want to piss away $30 if I can't return the damn thing. Guess I don't really have another option though.

Bowl records by conference 2013-14 2012-13 SEC 7-2 * 6-3 Big 10 2-5 2-5 (at least they're consistent) PAC-12 6-3 4-4 Big 12 3-3 4-5 ACC 6-9 * 4-2 * one game yet to be decided Observations: * The SEC has 16 more bowl wins than any other conference since the 1998 season. * The SEC has more bowl bids over that span than any other conference. * Of the five major conferences remaining today — ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, and SEC — only the SEC has a winning bowl mark over the past 15 seasons. If the SEC is a tad overrated, then the B1G is grossly over-rated...especially that Ohio school.

Loved tonight's result. So much for all the, "Bama is the best team" and the "SEC is invincible" talking points put forward by ESPN. Hopefully FSU blows the doors off Auburn so everyone can realize that maybe the SEC is a tad overrated, at best.

I would venture it would be the exact opposite. The most noise I have ever heard on a ballfield was during a "train wreck" at the plate that did not include an EJ. I challenge anyone to come up with a situation that inclides more yelling from fans and teams than this. This is my point exactly.

Pretty damn good baseball conference, I hear. But only because of the weather, I'm sure....... The SEC has had at least one team in the World Series final each of the last six years, winning three of those. 14 of the last 30 Men's Outdoor Track and Field Champions were from the SEC. The SEC has 16 of the 32 Women's Outdoor Track and field titles. 11 Men's swimming and diving championships, since 1978. And 12 of 31 all-time Women's swimming and diving championships. And Kentucky has a little basketball history, too. So, yeah, the SEC does more than just football. Generally, most of the best outdoor sport athletes are from the South. That gives a big recruiting advantage for schools in the South because the athletes are closer to them. Not complaining, just a fact. Conversely, most of the best indoor sport athletes (especially basketball) are from the North, so the recruiting advantage for the cold weather schools is huge.

Let me know when B1G teams come down South in September.... That weather excuse is complete BS. It's tough fit on the schedule with all the FCS schools these SEC teams schedule. I know, I know, they have to do it because the SEC is the NFL JV.

Maybe we can just have the players play in the suits astronauts wear. Then we could get exactly what everyone on this forum wants: fewer runs and no injuries. In all seriousness, where does it end? Realistically, every batter and fielder is risking death or serious injury during every single pitch. I don't really like the phrase "heading down a slippery-slope", but that's what this is in my opinion. I don't really have an issue with these collisions being banned, but eventually more changes will be made under the guise of player safety and it will slowly but surely ruin the game as we know it. Soon enough you'll have people wanting to move the pitcher's mound back and force every player to wear a big helmet. Why not just eliminate stealing so that the catcher can wear some quality protective gear? That stuff sounds crazy, but I'm sure banning home plate collisions sounded crazy 20 years ago too.

Good. Everyone disagrees with me, so now I can confirm with 100% certainty that I am right. 😃

Platejob29: I'm not talking about runs scored directly from collisions. I'm saying now there will [likely] be consequences like ejections, suspensions and fines for colliding with a catcher at home plate. 3rd base coaches and runners may be more apprehensive about running home on a close play knowing the potential for the player to be ejected for contact with the catcher (judgement call by an umpire). That's undeniable. As far as your comment regarding strategy, execution and mental strength, I'd argue those are all in play when dealing with home plate collisions. It's a risk for both players and teams involved. We disagree. Plain and simple. More than anything I think this is yet another example of the wussification of this country. That's what is most disappointing to me. Maven: you're confusing me with someone who only wants to see shootouts. I (like the vast majority of people) simply don't have the patience or attention span necessary to dedicate three to four hours watching games that feature a run or two.

I would think that just like in other sports there are plenty of purist's or traditionalist's out there just like for any subject or sport we could think of, that enjoy a defensive battle by both teams just so long as it is not every game. So, just for the new year, I would hope in the future, each game you (and no I am not trying to be personal, so to speek as it was practically impossible to not use the word you for this) are personally associated with is a 12-10 or 20-19 exciting back and forth game with pitching era's of 10+ and batting averages of 500+ and games of 4-6 hours with all the fans screaming and yelling for their teams for each 9 inning ball game. Since that is what makes everyone happy, then let's have more of it every game. Hurray, hurray. More is better, but something tells me that is not true all the time or for "all" the people just the "only" people. Good luck at the school this year and really, I hope you get a mix of games. Some short for the purist's and some long for the "only's and some in between for those who like the porridge "just right". Let us know how it goes with what you learn so we can be more up to date with the latest thinking for everything that is taught. However, once you get a job, unfortunately, it would probably be wise to stay off here. Once again, enjoy and good luck. That ship sailed for umpire school. Being so young and dealing with nagging back and feet injuries, realistically it's not something I see myself being able to do for very long, let alone 20-30 years. Glad to learn it now rather than later on. As far as your "rant" is concerned, anything (let alone a rule) that has the potential to decrease SCORING from baseball is a negative. I don't really understand what my comment has to do with a boatload of runs being scored. Baseball already has a viewership problem because of the lack of action. We really want to hurt the game to prevent the RARE serious injury? I'm not a fan at all.

I'm curious to see how this affects the "runs scored" stat. Granted, collisions don't happen that often (and catchers suffering long-term injuries is even less likely), but I have to think if a penalty can include an ejection, suspension and/or fine, a 3rd base coach might not be as willing to take a risk waving the runner home or maybe the runner might be worried about the consequences to the point that it affects his "eagerness" to take a risk. Might not be much of a difference at all, but anything that has the potential to cause less scoring is a net negative. The only people who like 1-0 ballgames are umpires who get to head to the bar a little earlier that night.

For anyone who has any contact with any MLB umpires or even MiLB umpires, has anyone had any communication with them about this new rule? I don't want any umpires singled out, so if you don't want to make a remark in a thread I can understand that. I am just really interested in their thoughts. PM me if you don't want to post in this thread. Thanks.

R3/F2 collisions were born out of F2s taking advantage of the obstruction loophole (in the act of fielding the ball ) and blocking HP. It has unfortunately morphed into truck F2 whenever you can and that should go away. But even if there is a rule against collisions, there are going to be "trainwrecks" that shouldn't be penalized. Maybe the post-game (cooler heads) review/fines/suspensions is the way to go. This explains a lot. I'm interested what fines or suspensions you personally would advocate for. I don't see how you could allow these collisions to happen without penalty during the game, but then send a player a letter through Fed Ex telling them to pony up some money. That being said, I am interested in anything that would prevent umpires from making a decision that pertains to whether or not a run should score or disqualifying a player for a collision.

The rule is lousy. I guess I'm missing where this is so rampant and commonplace that waves and waves of players are suffering season and career ending injuries thus implementing a rule like this becomes necessary. It's a "risk/reward" scenario within the game we all love. The baserunner is risking being put out AND getting injured. The catcher is making the decision to risk injury by blocking the plate. Both stand to gain (or win) and both stand to get punished (or lose). What's the big deal? This is just another opportunity for the best in the business to screw up the game BIG TIME and be cast in yet another negative light. There aren't many calls that they and we can make that can directly and immediately alter the result of a game. We are, after all, talking about the most important stat in baseball: runs. Can you imagine what is going to happen when the HT's baserunner is running to the plate in the bottom of the 9th to score the tying or winning run, but makes contact with the catcher before doing so? That scenario was just involving a regular season game; how about the same thing happening in a wildcard game, division series or championship series game? Or *gasp* a WORLD SERIES game? It is going to happen and it will be a complete and utter disaster. Would anyone feel good about winning a game that way? Forget about losing. Players are going to get hurt. Collisions just don't happen often enough for me to think a rule like this is good for the game. My generation really gets screwed with all these changes. You older guys got to experience (for the most part) a much different and in my opinion, a much better world. I'm just limiting it to sports since this isn't a political forum (but I am willing to engage in any of those types of conversations through PM or otherwise ). My generation gets to watch 15-yard personal fouls called for touching a QB's head and now grown men being forced to give themselves up on the base path so they don't get suspended or fined. Good grief.