Lou B

Good thing was we had at least two new guys from every league, three and four from a few. Normally we get the majority of attendees from the Host league and one or two from the others. We move the clinic from league to league to give everyone a chance to have it at their park.

Every year prior to the start of Fall Ball our LL District holds a one day clinic for anyone interested in Umpring. Normally we get one or two people per league (12-15 total). This year we had 28! Hopefully most if not all of them will stick with it.

True, 99% of the time, always an Exception! When we entered the gym we were given a Fan Behavior Pledge that said that unruly fans would be ejected and that the team would be assessed a Technical Foul !!! We sat down next to our son and when I asked about the Pledge he told me they had ejected a fan the day before and gave the team a Technical Foul.

Talked to the ref after the game he said the yelling has been getting worse in the last few years but this is the first time anyone has come out on the floor. He didn't charge the ref he was a good 40-50 feet away yelling and pointing. Asked him what the pay rate was and he told me that for U14 he gets $100 a game and he did 4 games that day. Also gets a $50 flat fee for mileage. Not a bad paycheck.

U14 Basketball Tournament Finals, Team up 2 with 12 seconds to play. Defense pressing inbounds pass. Pass goes in, guard takes a step/two as he starts to dribble up the court. Ref calls Traveling. Dad comes running out of the stands yelling at the ref that his son was pushed that's why he travelled. Ref calls a Technical Foul on the Parent. Kid hits both free throws to tie the game then the same kid hits a jumper at the buzzer to win it. Gee, thanks dad!

Should have fixed it when you noticed it. You can't "unscore" a legally scored run. Obviously the "fix" would need to be explained to both managers.

You told the team that was in the field ... - who did you talk to and WHY?

Stupid base running !!!

Didn't say they should, just pointed out that since nothing was said/done then it must be acceptable.

LLWS, Nevada batter just hit a HR and when the team came out to home plate they placed a blue cowboy hat on his head. Nothing said/done about it.

Bud Light is pretty cheap these days!

First, this might be picky, but a play on the batter/runner at first is not a force out! The replay was to determine whether F3 had possession of the ball while touching first base before the batter/runner reached first base, he did, its an out. The runner displaying the fielders glove (accidentally) happened after the tag.

Where's the batter?

Looks similar to the layout of Fenway Park for the AFL Boston Patriots!

A number of years ago one of the local judges was a big LL guy. Sentenced quite a few minor offenders to Community Service at the local LL !!!

Several of the leagues around here get the JV and Varsity BB and SB players to umpire to get credit for community service towards college.

Mudisfun: You assign teams (parents?) to umpire games? How exactly does that work? We have a few leagues in our District that assign teams to umpire their minor league games (normally done by the manager/coaches) while their regular umpires do majors and above.

Are you John Wick's brother? If so, whatever you say goes!

Who died and made you King? !!!

They also ran themselves into a triple play 8-3-5. At least they won!

I believe they periodically spray the fields with some sort of food coloring but I could be wrong. During the off-season the fields, after being cut, return to natural green grass.

There is a high school with a blue football field in our district but it's natura! grass dyed blue, no approval needed. Their baseball, softball and soccer fields are also natural grass dyed blue.

Always seemed strange to me that the UIC is not a required Officer of the Board of Directors! The 7 required Officers are: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Player Agent, Safety Officer, and Coaching Coordinator. To me, the UIC is a heck of a lot more important than the Coaching Coordinator. Plus, the UIC is a required member of the Protest Committee!

At my local LL the UIC is responsible for umpire recruitment/training and umpire scheduling (which is done basically on-line). The umpires are all volunteer so no tracking/making payments. The current UIC also does NOT umpire (unless he wants to). In his case, I know he would welcome your help.

Don't know why but he was in left field when Bobby Thompson hit his famous home run!