orangebird

The wifi signal needs to focus on angle over distance

MadMax is overloading the servers with his essays about the types of metal used in masks (Yeah it's been slow for me too)

Final information session for org #2 is done, the fact that I've already heard all this material once and that the test will be open note/open book quite frankly made me think I didn't really gain that much from going but it also feels like material you can never review too often. They're not doing the test until two Mondays from now (no idea what'd stop it from being next week) and the on-field training to finish will be three weeks away so I'll be looking at potentially working 3-4 games with org #1 before org #2 gets me in the field. Remains pretty interesting to me org #1 was like 60/40 rules vs mechanics with org #2 just focused on the rules and will presumably teach stuff like position A/B/C at on-field training.

Max is your day job in something related to metals or have you just really taken an interest in researching this?

Alright, on-field training for org #1 is done and I am now a fully certified ump for a little league and have the hat to show for it! I would've liked the training to include a bit more emphasis on 2-man mechanics, but they split the year one and year two umps from the more experienced ones and had the newer ones just focus on the slot and enunciating their strike calls, which makes sense but could've been more efficient with our time IMO. But regardless, I'm ready for my gear to arrive, and as long as it does before Saturday at noon, I shall officially be an umpire!

Yeah at a quick glance HorizonWebRef (org 1) is much more usable than Arbiter (org 2) lol and seems to have way more ways to customize my availability (you can block fields if one place is really a haul from your house, etc)

Good news: first game for org #1 scheduled for next Saturday! (depending all the clothes arriving lol) Annoying news: I now have access to org #2's schedule software so I now must copy my availability calendar to another website lol

Org #1 is scheduling soon, I am both excited to get into doing this and unwilling to miss any of March Madness for it so my availability schedule is basically just Tuesdays, Wednesdays and weekend mornings right now haha (Monday is when org #2 will be doing training/testing)

Yeah I'm definitely aware there's (probably) a pretty 1-to-1 correlation between the stakes of the game and pay for the game, I'm fine with starting out in LL for modest pay just to get used to everything and know if I make a legit mistake it's 9-year-olds in their first year of kid pitch and not HSers trying to earn scholarships and win a state title

Yeah as a newbie to this I have no idea where my pay ranks relative to a 9/10 rec ball ump anywhere else in the US so I appreciate the context. Without attempting to turn this into an economic forum concerning the intricacies of supply and demand, is there a way for a LL to pay the umps more money without just charging the parents more money? I'd def be happier to make money from this but wouldn't want it to come at the expense at parents just trying to have their kids doing a non-travel ball league for fun

Hi everyone, I'm starting my first season of little league umpiring soon and have a pretty important equipment question: Do normal glasses work with wearing a mask? I haven't gotten my mask yet so I haven't had a chance to find out for myself but I'm definitely curious if normal glasses are fine to wear under a mask, or if you'd recommend some sort of goggles/rec specs/etc. I will note I've never worn contacts and absolutely don't plan to start now, so I'm basically just looking to see if I need to get some Kareem goggles or if my normal frames will be fine And here's a pic of them if that helps Thanks!

Need to pass the test for org #2 to confirm fully confirm but org #1 is 36 for a first-year ump and org #2, which contracts out for 5 different LL's and is under the parks department's umbrella is 60, but I think those are just for plate and I don't know how it'll work for working base

Definitely see where you're coming from and don't think I really disagree with anything but...this is the higher-paying of the two local orgs, so I'd recite Hamlet to the coaches if that was giving me an extra 20 dollars per game haha

Yeah I'm definitely aware of the timing constraints, and both of these orgs are mainly recruiting 8th graders and HSers based on who else I've shared these rooms with, where I think everyone only has so much brain power to pay attention to someone's lecture after already doing that from about 7:30 am to 2:30 pm

Further soaking in org 1 training vs org 2, org 1 definitely placed a greater emphasis on the act of umpiring (which hand holds the indicator, how the slot works, 2-man positioning and roles) while org 2 seems more focused on knowing the rules (they covered the rules of a catch and org 1 legit just skipped that lol) but through 2 sessions they haven't mentioned anything about 2-man crews, the slot, etc Guess I'll see how the next session for org #2 goes and what on-field training covers (if that open-note test doesn't trip me up) but it's definitely an interesting contrast to me

In a perfectly timed introduction to this profession, the on-field training to fully complete the process for the first org is now rained out and pushed back to Sunday lol

Anyways I figure I should make sure the open-note test doesn't include me looking for my notes so I learnt how to make Google Docs automatically do this, which is neat

Here's the plate conference sheet they gave us I'm 50/50 between "it's good to make sure the coaches know all of this" and "I'm not sure this script will be necessary by the 5th game of the year" but am curious what the vets think

Call me Leslie Knope because it's time for some updates from the parks department They used a slideshow instead of just a guy talking, which was helpful However, they definitely went through some stuff absurdly quickly but I asked and he said the slides will be uploaded so that's good They also worked in a bit more humor than the other guy, a couple cute little umpire comics/cartoons They also used Kahoot, which is like a live trivia thing they use in schools (it's been around for a bit, I used it in college and I graduated in 2019) There were definitely a couple of procedural differences They have a specific script for the pre-game conferences they want us to read (and are fine with us bringing the paper to the conference to make sure we touch on everything) Arrive 20 min early vs 15 min early Also seemed to have some different points of emphasis Decent amount of time devoted to guys not touching a base retreating after trying to steal on something that becomes an easy pop up, etc Showed us this The test is open-note and we can't take it multiple times, both different from org 1 This ain't my first rodeo where I know open note basically allows it to be harder but there's only some many ways you can ask someone if the plate is in fair territory where I think I'll be okay but will def be stressing over it daily until then lol

"First game?" "No, I've attended lots of baseball games"

That little umpire shirt pocket does seem like the ideal size for a little notebook where I've definitely been mulling that over

Also the parks department contracts the umpires for the other 5 LLs in the county so if I learn tonight I'll be tested on 5 different LL's number of warmup pitches and balk rule age minimums I might decide to take up smoking lmfao

Yeah the org made us a spreadsheet/table and as a first-year ump I'd only be doing plate for 9-10 and base for 10-11 so there's fewer details to memorize. I'm considering making an index card I bring with me to review pre-game (I know not to do it in-game lol) just to make sure I've got all the intricacies down pat.

The umpiring or the humor?

Second training (missed the first one for the test) for org #2 tonight (org #2 is the parks department lol) and then org #1 on-field training on Wednesday (pending rain) so definitely an eventful week for this process Definitely curious how different the parks department will train from org #1, feel like there's only so many ways you can teach that the plate is in fair territory, how to signal a foul ball, etc but I guess we'll see!