Road to Omaha

[Umpire in Chief]

My ultimate goal is to one day be able to make it to Omaha as an Umpire. Personally, I watched a lot of the SEC & ACC tournaments this weekend and no MLB ball. Now that the field has been established, how much will you pay attention to the Road to Omaha?

[LMSANS]

I'd rather work a game at any level than watch a game on TV. Between working and working I don't get to see a lot of games, but I will watch the NCAA BB and SB whenever I can.

[Kyle_Stevens]

I will watch as much as I can to study the umpires. Unfortunately, I haven't found a game on tv that focus' on officials...hhmmm...do I have any takers on an all officials, all the time tv network? Seriously, I will watch as much as I can. If you are umpiring a game on tv that is broadcast all through the country, there is much the I can learn.

[Umpire in Chief]

I'm one happy Heel after winning the LSU game with a grand slam, great game

[Umpire in Chief]

Well the heels couldn't make a come back for a third time. Fresno St. played very well in both games and truly deserve to be in the finals. Best of luck to them.

On another note as I was watching the umpires, I really liked Tony Welsh's mechanics and presence behind the plate (first UNC v. Fresno game)

[Kyle_Stevens]

I agree with you. I really enjoying all of the umpires at the CWS. Like you, my goal is to be there!

[Majordave]

If any of you ever attend an NCAA umpires clinic (they are free) Dave Yeast and I presume his successor, had several videos of the CWS with microphone feeds of the umpires calls (Dave cautioned us that this audio was for us in the umpiring audience only and not for public consumption as a training technique). We heard some great stuff. Dave Buck and the Rice coach (I forgot his name) in an argument that ended with the coach misunderstanding a call by Dave from 1B. When Dave explained the call (which was not what the coach thought was called) the coach said "Oh, well I can't argue with that." and he walked away muttering to himself. There is also a music video with Chase Adkins' Swing as the background with all the nut cutter plays and the umpires voice calls and as much of the umpiring mechanics on these calls as they could find on video which was really cool. Lots of called K3, whackers/nut cutters, plays at the plate, emphatic safe and out calls, etc. The first video I had ever seen of umpires in action. They sell a CD with this music video and the powerpoints and some other videos of calls for training purposes for around $20. I bought it and used it in training and wowing some of my HS association guys while recruiting some to try and work some college this year or in the future.

I recommend that anyone planning on ever working NCAA ball go to the NCAA.org site and register in November/December for a clinic near you (online registration is required and free) and then go and learn. Edited to Add: You might also need to register at eOfficials.com (its also free for this part) and look at the NCAA materials which includes 2009 clinic dates and some archived information from years past. Interesting reading. The clinics are all day Saturday and half a day on Sunday. Lots of great networking and rules/situations information to soak in. I met a lot of guys I hope to be working with soon (D-I). I met and conversed with guys I did work with last spring (D-II/III and NAIA).

My two cents. Your mileage may vary.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Majordave

[BrianC14]

Thanks for that, Dave!

[BT_Blue]

Im looking forward to what Tom Hiler comes up with for the clinics next year as well as video training through out the year on ESO. I know Tom personally and if anyone can bring great training to us its him.