Fed up

[blindumpire99]

I am ready to just say F*** it and simply walk away....

I just found out that for the second year in a row I was forced to make a NCHSAA ejection ( you NC guys know exactly what that entails and means) that it was overturned, apparently by my association's assignor.

Last season ('07), I had a coach charge me on the field, slamming his cap, spitting and cursing at me because my partner booted a call, I hooked him and wrote the report up, per protocol.

The assignor vetoed it..I filed a grievance with my local association demanding that it be reinstated and the assignor disciplined ( trust me, he always makes all these big noises about to discipline us for blah blah ect)...

I lost the grievance....Long story ended..

So this past season, I make another "state EJ", which carries an automatic 2 game suspension for the HAIQ ( Horse's @$$ in question), my assignor sends me an email thanking me for the job and detailed report and I ASSUMED he filed it with the NCHSAA.

Open up the local dog kennel liner, aka news rag, today and see a little write up congratulating the 124 schools in NC that went ejection free in the fall, winter and spring seasons for '07 - '08..

The school possesisng the EJ that I made this past spring is slated to recieve their sportmanship banner for being ejection free for the seasons.

WTF,over?

This is 2 years in a row that I did my job, per state mandate, following all applicable procedures for an EJ and I get slapped in the face again..

Just to bring those of you not familiar with North Carolina rules an understanding, an EJ does not necessarily refer to the standard dime a dozen EJ's that we make during the course of our season. In NC, you can be DISQUALIFIED for "minor" infractions, but for EJECTION purposes there are only a few instances that warrant an ejection.

Fighting, taunting/baiting, disrespectfully addresssing an official ( how vague can THAT get?), profanity and obscene gestures are considered to be the EJECTIONABLE offenses that result in suspensions-- 2 games for baseball, softball, soccer, basketball and 1 game for football..

I am fed up with this crap.....

[Umpire in Chief]

I remember your post from elsewhere last year.

While I don't call games for the NCHSAA, I know someone who does and wil try to find out who heads baseball up for them. They should know what is going on if no other fact than ejections are being made and not reported any higher than the assignor, the NCHSAA needs to know.

[mstaylor]

Are you close enough to move to another group? I know some of the groups in NC are pretty big. If not you need to see if your partners will back you up on the two EJ overturns. Doesn't your group require you be notified if you are being overturned and given an explanation of why. Lastly, are there others that have experienced the same problem.

[BrianC14]

Ejection reports are sent to your assignor? That's pretty weird - why the intermediary? That makes no sense to me.

In my association, we have several assignors, and games can be assigned by any of them to any (qualified) umpire. When it comes to ejection reports, our HSAA instructs officials to notify the HSAA directly. If a coach is ejected, then the HSAA is notified, and the official is required to contact the school's AD the next morning.

Nowhere in the Ejection Procedures are we umpires instructed to inform the assignor. As a courtesy, I will let the assignor know of the ejection, but that's just to keep him in the loop, so that he isn't caught off guard should the offending coach call him to complain. And again, I typically do this out of common courtesy to the assignor.

[mstaylor]

Brian:

Depending on the sport whether we go right to the school or to the assigner first. Either way, I'm letting the assigner know so he doesn't get blindsided by the upset coach.

[BrianC14]

Brian:

Depending on the sport whether we go right to the school or to the assigner first. Either way, I'm letting the assigner know so he doesn't get blindsided by the upset coach.

And I agree with that approach, and I do that as well (verbally), but your assignor has the right to withhold the ejection after it's been made? :confused:

[Umpire in Chief]

While I don't call games in NC, I do know that EJs are not appealable there isn't any reason that the booking agent should not file it.

[BrianC14]

While I don't call games in NC, I do know that EJs are not appealable there isn't any reason that the booking agent should not file it.

And this is what I mean by stating my confusion here, with there being an intermediary (in this case, the assignor) having the responsibility to file the ejection report.

In my state, filing the ejection report is the sole responsibility of the umpire that did the ejecting. And based on our HSAA's policy, the reports are due in to the HSAA "immediately". (e.g., as soon as possible after the conclusion of the game).

There's no requirement to involve the assignor, but I do that just as a courtesy, which is just a telephone call to him.

[mstaylor]

And I agree with that approach, and I do that as well (verbally), but your assignor has the right to withhold the ejection after it's been made?

No, my assignor can't overturn an ejection nor would he. I have seen him talk to an umpire about the quality of an ejection. If he thinks the umpire was quick on the trigger or could have used better game management skills, he will give him advice on how to handle it better. We don't have the types like you have in NC. They also don't carry sport to sport like NC.

[Umpire in Chief]

I've attached the ejection report for NCHSAA & the ejection policy. Just as a note, as Blindump said they do differentiate between a disqualification and ejection in NC.

EJ Policy.pdf

EJ Report.pdf

[blindumpire99]

I agree with you guys about not having the assignor "blindsided" by an irate rat(s)....Send a copy of your report to the booking agent and have a nice day.

But having discussed the matter with the head of officiating in the NCHSAA, (he called me over a seperate EJ that the assignor had rescinded ). He told me that he had to call the local booking agent to even find out what happened because the state had never received a report from him. His words were that he thought that booking agents were quote, "having too much power" in handling EJ's and that quote, "it needed to be studied".

I agreed wholeheartedly with him...As Warren said above, EJ's are not appealable so how can booking agents do the "appealing" for the affected rat/player?

But as the old saying goes "there's more than one way to skin a cat"....:cool:

[mstaylor]

I can't imagine a booking agent ever overruling an ejection. Our's don't have the power to do so. Does any other state allow a local booking agent the power?

[Stan W.]

Some of our booking agents wield a pretty powerful stick, but it doesnt reach into the ejection arena...

PA ejections are sent in to the state, so once sent in, the locals cant really affect it one way or another........now, can they affect future assignments?........absolutely.....

Edited October 20, 2008 by Stan W.
spelling....what else?