We are all human

[JaxRolo]

Had a bad day last week. Was in a bad mood at work. Took it on the field with me.

3-man I was on first.

There was an obstruction on BR which I did not see.

Coach asked of I could get help. I did. Reversed the call. The other coach was ok with it.

Between innings a nice gentleman asked to explain the ruling. I was getting a drink by the fence which was only at the most 15 feet from right field line.

Some other guy starts arguing with me out of nowhere. I try to remain calm and start walking/ jogging to short RF. some other guy makes a comment about us Rookie umpires and that took me over the edge. The bad day caught up to me and I ejected both fans.

I know, I know I should have ignored it and at the worst let the TD handled it.

I just could not help myself.

To all my fellow umpires I humbly apologize!

[Jocko]

EJ em all! Let the UIC sort em out!

[Daniel]

Eeek! :wow:

[semper_fi_72]

Appoligy accepted.

This is why we don't talk to fans between innings.

That was a Rookie Umpire mistake.

[JaxRolo]

Appoligy accepted.

This is why we don't talk to fans between innings.

That was a Rookie Umpire mistake.

You would think I would know better!

[NFUA_44]

I have known better waaaay to many times and still can scratch my head wondering why in the he!! I did that (that being a variety of dumbutt stuff). You are not alone, even on the field.

At the same time I'm not going to let some bonehead keep me from going over and getting my water bottle when it's 110 degrees outside, I do have the option of not responding, and that is where I've learned the fine art of keeping my trap shut. I personally don't respond to anything that is off the field, which ultimately makes life a lot easier.

Your thread title says it all. Your human, things piled up and poo happened. At least you were able to unburden your soul to fellow umpires and tomorrow is another day, with another game or 2, or 4 :nod:

[Jocko]

HSV game mid April. HT F1 has a good bender, but he's leaving it up. Threw is 10 times zero Ks. Between innings I walk to the fence to get my water and DB Dad sitting right where I'm going starts blasting away about my zone. I turned my back to him, but didn't walk away as I was enjoying his rant. When I turned around to put my water down, I heard him say, "What zone are you looking at?" I couldn't resist. "The only one that matters." Nothing came of it, but I broke the code. Shame on me, but it was funny!

[carolinablue]

It's good policy to not address spectators but we are amature umpires and don't work large stadiums where the umpires are more or less isolated from close encounters with spectators. I will reply back if talked to decently but do my best to keep it to a minimum and generic as possible.

[Dragon29]

You woud think I would know better!

Don't feel bad - It hapens to all of us.

I engaged an upset fan post-game a couple of weeks ago. He didn't like that I called so many runners safe when trying to steal 2B (turns out his son was the team's F6) so he impuned my ability and eyesight as I was leaving the field.

I should have simply walked away - I know that - I was already walking away when he started - but for some reason I turned around and said something to him. I don't even remember what, but it wasn't smart, whatever it was. Luckily for me, my partner just bumped my elbow and said, "Keep walking." So I did. Still feel stupid about it though.

[mstaylor]

I have had the problem fan a couple of times in youth ball. Several of them were directed at my partner where my partner wanted to engage them. I would step between them, told my partner to keep walking and then tell the fan that we will not be having this conversation, then turn and walk away.

[mjr_2013]

I've engaged two fans in my life...

One - Between innings, I was grabbing a practice ball that was on the field to toss in a dugout... An older gentleman in a lawn chair said "Excuse me, blue?" I said "Yes sir?" He said "What do you have to say for your partner having the worst zone I've ever seen in my life?" All of his friends around him cracked up laughing, and looked at me for a responce. I tossed the ball into the dugout and walked back to 'A', giving them the cold shoulder. I think they were actually surprised by my reaction!

Two - At a tournament, this man put his lawn chair up behind the backstop with the sole purpose of trying to get in my head... On every single pitch, "Where the hell is the strike zone?" or "These are ten year olds!" or "Come on blue!!"... By the fourth inning, I was pissed (I know I shouldn't have been), and I told him in a calm voice "I can hear you plenty fine, and you can stop it right now or you will be watching the remainder of this game from the parking lot." It only got worse... He started trying to pick a fight with the other teams fans (who were very well behaved)... After a strikeout the next inning that went in his teams favor, he screams "And that was a bullSH*# call too, doesn't feel so great on the other side of things does it?"... I walk over to the backstop and without looking at him ask in the general vicinity of the tournament tent, "Can we get this guy out of here?" with a gesture towards him... This massive dude (probably 6'6" and 350 pounds with a biker shirt on) goes "You betcha!" towards me, and says "Let's go buddy!" to the fan... Everyone cheered as he left!! The man escorted him out and I never saw or heard from him for the rest of the tourney.

[scrounge]

I think I've found the solution to this problem. Yesterday, in a huge 250-team tournament around here, I was BU for a U15 quarter final game. We had a swinging bunt that was going to be close. Throw comes in, I think I was a little too close to the play (about 8-10 feet). Throw is down the line a bit, pulling F3 off the bag just as the runner gets there. I sense something was off but it was all BANG-BANG so I'm watching the bag and feet. I come up strong and say "SAFE - OFF THE BAG" with an emphatic sweeping motion. F3 says something as I repeat "OFF THE BAG". DC goes to home to appeal that there was a tag before the runner got to 1B. I come in and politely ask the coach to talk with me, it was my call. He does so, quite professionally, and asks again for help. Since my intuition said there was something odd, PU and I went off and discussed, where he said that yea, F3 did indeed tag him before the bag. Cool, we have an out. I announce it. OC didn't say a word, I think they knew. In any case, it was the 3rd game of the day I had them (I was at the same site all day and the bracket just worked out that they stayed if they won) and they were nothing but pleasant all day, no matter how the call went.

Their fans along the 1st base side, on the other hand, went ballistic. They apparently didn't understand what happened, thinking that I reversed the off the bag call or something. Who knows. I was a little disappointed there wasn't anything creative, just the usual.

Anyhoo, not more than 2 minutes after that, wife and 11 yr old stop by just as the yelling calmed down. Unaware of what happened, they came to the fence right smack dab in the middle of the main vocal group. At the next half inning, I come over to see what's up (they checked in before they went to the pool). I totally thought the fans would say something but they didn't, though they were staring DAGGERS at me. I was in perfect little child defillade!

I even had a great line ready if they did start up. I was going to say "Hold on, let me talk to my kid first then you can let me have it". But they didn't say a word once they saw him. I might take him to all my games!

[MPLSMatt]

Jax, don't sweat this too much, could've been anyone. It's a great story to articulate to young umpires why you shouldn't talk to fans even when they seem nice and in control. You just never know where things are going to go. It's tough to say "no" to someone who is civil and just honestly wants to know (probably for his own knowledge) but you have to do it.

[Welpe]

Jax it happens. I have broken the "don't engage the fans" rule once or twice but I'm always leery to do it. One of the times was at half time of JV football game as our crew was walking off the field. Some fans were playfully heckling us and I doffed my cap to them, which got them all laughing. It was a measured response and still not sure one I would repeat.

[JHSump]

I can't really say I'm an expert in game management, ignoring fans, etc. But, I learned something yesterday. Two 9U games. I was BU in first game PU in second (my partner and I switched).

After a few calls did not go one particular team's way, one of their fans starting getting on us over and over, for all sorts of things. Where we were standing, how long we took between innings, any calls he did not like (i.e., against his team), calls he did like (mocking our "accuracy"), etc., etc. Not that he knew anything about umpiring. He was just a blowhard.

Before the games I told me partner I was going to work on one thing during these two games: ignoring all fans -- no acknowledgement, no talking with fans, no nothing with fans. The day before I had stopped a game when loud thunder occurred. Some fan said, "It's been thundering for 20 minutes," as I was walking past the fence. I said, "Then you should have told me 20 minutes ago." (I hadn't heard anything --- maybe I was not paying careful enough attention to the distant thunderstorm.) She keep quiet after that (when we resumed the game) but I felt I should not have answered at all.

Anyway, I decided to not respond to anything at all from fans, in yesterday's games. So, the blowhard kept at us all game long. My partner and I never acknowledged him in any way. As the day progressed, I felt more and more powerful (if that is the right word) because I was able to avoid responding in any way to this guy. He had a few fans around him partaking in the taunts, but eventually they stopped. At one point he tried to start up a chant, "No pay for Blue. No pay for Blue...." But nobody else joined him. He was all alone.

When it was all over I felt very satisfied. Much more so than if I had exchanged any words with him, clever or not, or even gave him any looks.

The power in keeping complete control of myself was quite satisfying. After the game, my partner had fun when we laughed about the bozo.

[mstaylor]

I don't think powerful is the word you are looking for, I think confident is better. I engage fans all the time, as long as the game allows it. If things get tense then no. The other night I was verbally sparring with a couple of fans and they started on my zone. I was ignoring that with no problem. A foul ball lands in the middle of them and they all scattered. I told them between innings,"Oh, you can heckle me but you can't catch foul balls." I am in an unique position in being an old guard guy that works all levels, even now. This was men's league where many of the players I have umpired since they were 10 yr olds. I do not suggest this as a thing to do for most, but it works for me. I can also work with no interaction but that is either a tight game or with out of the area teams that don't know me.

[JHSump]

I think you're right, I was looking for "confident." Good catch.

Actually, I can say that when I do local league games, many people are familiar with me and I am familiar with them, so I will interact with the fans and it's never really antagonistic. In the story I posted above, this was a tournament and these were people I was not familiar with, on both days. So, I wanted to really stay out of interacting with them, and it worked well. I'll bet, nevertheless, that you are probably better than I am at striking the correct balance in these interactions.

So, I have a question then: what sort of interactions do you have when you work games where you are not familiar at all with the fans? I won't be surprised if I learn a thing or two here.

[mstaylor]

If it games where I have water by the screen or by the bleachers, I throw out a hey there or some type of thing. You can tell quickly if people care to talk or not. If not stay away. If they do you can kid with them during the game. I ask them where they are from, what kind of year they have had, simple things. What I don't do is discuss the game. This may work for some guys, not for others.

[JHSump]

If it games where I have water by the screen or by the bleachers, I throw out a hey there or some type of thing. You can tell quickly if people care to talk or not. If not stay away. If they do you can kid with them during the game. I ask them where they are from, what kind of year they have had, simple things. What I don't do is discuss the game. This may work for some guys, not for others.

Do you find that these sorts of pleasant interactions reduce issues with fans? Or, can you tell or not? I could perhaps pull that off. Just wondering if it acts to "calm the natives."

[Texarkana]

If it games where I have water by the screen or by the bleachers, I throw out a hey there or some type of thing. You can tell quickly if people care to talk or not. If not stay away. If they do you can kid with them during the game. I ask them where they are from, what kind of year they have had, simple things. What I don't do is discuss the game. This may work for some guys, not for others.

You can pull it off because you are a respected umpire and everyone probably knows you are going to go right down the middle. I have always taken on the persona that it is business, but I will exchange a pleasantry before a game or at the right time. One of our HS coaches has a son who took over for Youkellis in Boston. Every once in a while I will ask something like how is Will doing or ask a coach about how there kid is doing. I have never engaged the fans but probably could. It has just never been my style but yours works for you. The respect level has to be there or I would advise against it.

[mstaylor]

If it games where I have water by the screen or by the bleachers, I throw out a hey there or some type of thing. You can tell quickly if people care to talk or not. If not stay away. If they do you can kid with them during the game. I ask them where they are from, what kind of year they have had, simple things. What I don't do is discuss the game. This may work for some guys, not for others.

You can pull it off because you are a respected umpire and everyone probably knows you are going to go right down the middle. I have always taken on the persona that it is business, but I will exchange a pleasantry before a game or at the right time. One of our HS coaches has a son who took over for Youkellis in Boston. Every once in a while I will ask something like how is Will doing or ask a coach about how there kid is doing. I have never engaged the fans but probably could. It has just never been my style but yours works for you. The respect level has to be there or I would advise against it.

I absolutely agree. I still get fans chirping at me but I show the next time that it was no big deal. At the men's league I am in an unique position. I am a twenty plus umpire there, I am a commissioner of the league and I am a site supervisor for the complex where we play. This means sometimes I'm on the field umpiring, sometimes I am there just to watch and other times I am game management. That means I spend a fair amount of time BSing with the fans when I'm not on the field. This doesn't stop them from chirping but it may temper it a little.

In tonight's game I have known one coach since we were kids, and the other I have umpired since he was a kid. It doesn't mean we don't get into discussions, even heated ones, but the rrespect level is there so it only goes so far.