BFP

Speaking on behalf of Football officials, to say we have locker rooms at every game, may be a bit of stretch. If you want to call cramming guys into a single coach's office with a one hole shower a locker room.....well OK. As far as the umpire gig goes, everyone knows what I'm doing out there in the parking lot. I'll be as discreet as possible, but the long and the short of it is, if you don't want to see, don't look.

I went through this issue a few years back on my Football crew. My umpire over the course of the summer got an entire arm mural on his left arm. He did two tours of Afghanistan in the Marine Corps. All of the graphics have some meaning to him and are symbolic of his time in country. I will admit, I had some question regarding the tats. He brought up the issue and said he would wear a sleeve if I wanted him to. Personally I don't care, but my question was how would he/we, we are a team be perceived when coaches and administrators saw his tats. Keeping in mind in Indiana our postseason depends pretty much on our vote from the coaches. I inquired with some administrators and coaches I know, and got mixed results. In the end, I told him not to cover them up. He's part of the crew and we took him, so the tats come with him. I don't think it has had any effect on our coaches vote. He's becoming a pretty good official, and in the end, I think that's all anyone is really interested in.

I've worn Oakley's for years with varying results. I'll admit I'm a bit of a sunglass snob. Oakely has OK optics, but are terribly over priced in my opinion. That being said I've got 7 pairs. Hands down the VERY best optics I've ever had in sunglasses are the Costa Del Mar's. I use the 580G lens, which is glass. I wear this pair on the diamond. A word of caution however, they are 200+, but worth every penny in my opinion. I got mine at Bass Pro Shops, they are available online or most outdoor sports stores. The glass should be much more scratch resistant than any other lens out there. It should be noted, I've never scratch a lens in my life, so I'm probably not the guy to ask about that. If they're not on my face, they're in the case. I use the cheap Zeiss wipes from Wal-Mart for cleaning. Occasionally taking them in the house and give them a good soaking in hot water.

Our school has one now. It's EXPENSIVE, I believe in the 18K-20K area. It can be seen here: http://earthnetworks.com/Products/OutdoorAlertingSystem.aspx There is a pretty good video explaining the "out of the blue" scenario. Lightning can occur several miles ahead of a storm, in "blue skies". Many times cloud to ground strikes are precipitated by cloud to cloud strikes, which in the blue sky scenario from several miles away would not be visible, nor audible. A pretty efficient system is to use the Weatherbug "Spark" app on your phone. It will tell you how close lightning has been detected. Of course the only issue is you could be several miles from whatever station it's using. Spark is part of Weatherbug's free app, it's pretty dependable I would highly recommend it. I'm not a fan of having a cell phone on the field with you, but in a situation where lightning could be a factor, I'm willing to do it.

I had seven years of Fastpitch under my belt *high school and USSSA) when I applied for the local high school coaching position. I got the job and hung up my gear. My daughter is now in college and looking to make extra money, so I told her I would work for a summer and help her get started in umpiring. She plays college ball. Long story short, and getting back in to the groove, I am having a ball. I had the privilege of working her first game with her and got to work with her most of the day. Since then I've been moved to older girls and she's stayed with 10U. She's learned some hard lessons, but she's going to be a good umpire. And it's kind of rejuvenated my interest in umpiring as well. We're both working USFA tournaments on the weekends. I'm about to start my 32 season of Football, so it's not like I got away from officiating entirely. I look forward to joining in the discussion.

The app is from weatherbug. It doesn't come on their free app, I think I paid 9.99 for it. Talk to your local LL, I think they receive coupons. There is a tab called Spark, that's where you get your lightning info. It will tell you how many miles away the lightning is from the local weather station. Keeping in mind you may be miles away from the local weather station as well. I strongly disagree that the best tool is your eyes and ears. Lightning can strike miles ahead of a storm, in blue skies. There is pretty simple easy to use technology available, it's a wise investment.

Guys I know there's a lot of joking, but please take lightning seriously. I've been thru the experience, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I carried a 14 year old victim off a diamond and started CPR on her. We were very fortunate, we had a doctor with her within a couple of minutes, and a defibrillator in less than four minutes, or the situation would have most likely had a tragic ending.