Measuring Milestones

[Umpire in Chief]

This is not meant to be a woe is me pity party post, just a little insight into what ultimately will go through my mind.

This upcoming season I will be hitting another milestone in my umpiring career.

But in typical Warren fashion after I get over the initial thrill of the accomplishment I go looking for the cloud inside the silver lining.

First milestone... I was the first person in my rookie class to get a varsity game. Well, as the saying goes, sometimes availability is as important as ability. In this particular case probably even more important. I was just over a month into my umpiring career and got the call from my assigner at about 2:00 asking if I could be at a particular game at 4:00.

Next big one was getting promoted to a HS post season level umpire. That is a big deal in my association. This is when you earn the numbers on your uniform and besides being in the run for post season assignments, this is when your schedule goes from primarily JV Rec to Varsity. I wasn't the first in my class to make this level which was a bit disappointing and I was a bit jealous about that, but what really disappointed me was of the people who made it with me. There were 8 or so people promoted with me. I honestly felt maybe 2 others deserved it and pretty much the others blew my mind and made me feel a bit like my accomplishment was not as special. I did/do not want to be seen as in the peer group of some of these guys.

Then came my first actual varsity post season assignment. That was awesome, then I was thinking I was a big fish in a small pond. I was good & I deserved it, but with this particular organization it dampened my excitement as I wanted to make it vying with guys who were at the top of their game for these spots.

Later I got my first post season assignment from a more competitive organization. Once again I was thrilled, I was working with a really good crew. The games were in the top-tier private school district. But obviously I wanted the top-tier public school. And of course I was comparing myself to those who got what I considered to be better assignments.

Now as I prepare for my next milestone, I just got word that somebody else who I don't particularly care for will be right there with me and it honestly does bother me as it makes me feel like my accomplishment has been cheapened and I'm going to be grouped with this guy. He is a good umpire in terms of his skills, but he is an ass slappy guy who's mouth gets him in situations regularly and he has some personality traits I find personally annoying. We had a game together a while back. He made a tough call on the bases which IMO he got correct. There was some grumbling about it but rather than just going back to his position and keep going, he went and tried to explain his call. This did not calm things down but rather stirred them up and actually created a situation for the both of us to deal with. A perfect example of looking for the dirty end of the stick. I haven't worked with him since, but I've heard that he has not learned that you can be a good umpire technically, but not knowing how to control your lip and the game you're not really a good umpire.

Sorry to rant but it's the off season and I wanted to vent.

Do you all do this too?

[hckyosgood30]

Warren,

You're not alone in this my friend. But principles over personalities in the end. He is still a brother of the cloth and like most of my family can be a pain from time to time. I much like you, I rate myself against the people I'm grouped with. However, I find that guys like the one you're describing might get that state final, or another coveted assignment at the same time as you or maybe even before. But if you continue to do what you do and get better at it then you'll be the one in the college ranks, or getting the call back to the next state championship while he is watching ESPN Sunday night game of the week. Control what you can control and work hard. It does sting a bit to feel equal to a man not of your ilk. But wish him the best and let that feed your competitive nature. I wish you the best on your next milestone. And remember its only a mile stone when you've came from somewhere and are still moving forward. This is not your destination and it might just be his.

[Dannytheman]

It's a contest that you are the lone scorekeeper for. Only you can assign your self goals to attempt to attain. Looks like you are doing a great job.

I can only remember wanting to pass the PIAA test, and not sleeping the night before I took it. I was 30 minutes early, pencils sharpened. Proctor was 20 minutes late, disheveled and unorganized, adding to my tension. I passed with perfect score, goal 1 attained. Then I was given every rotten assignment in bad neighborhoods as a test, I passed this one, too! In 2 years I went from Junior High School to Community College games, I was busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. (Then we had our 3rd son, and my priorities changed.)

So when I was aiming, I was trying to be perfect. So I get what you are saying.

Keep raising the bar.

[mstaylor]

I remember moving up to college. We were trying to expand our NJ presence which were a bunch of JUCO schools. I tried out and was very pleased to be accepted, but saw some the NJ guys that were simply awful. I talked to the guys making the decisions and they said they felt confident I was in but the NJ guys would not be. I show up at the first meeting of the year and the NJ guys were there. In NJ they needed the bodies. In my area we worked on quality, that changed and I left. The point is, I know warren's feeling of his accomplishment being bittersweet.

[JaxRolo]

We seem to have a decent ranking system.

My First Year (2 years ago) in the HS association I had mostly JV and Middle Schools games with 4 Varsity games.

My second year (last year) I worked 40 games 2 MS, 18 JV, 20 Varsity.

This coming Spring I hope to have mostly varsity games.

I see guys that have been there 4-5-6 years still working mostly MS and JV games. Most Varsity guys are pretty decent Umpires. And so far it seems to me that its not all bases on availability (maybe to a small extent)

But it does seem pretty fair for the most part. I do see some favoritism from time to time.

[MidAmUmp]

As others have said, control what you can control and don't worry about the rest.

Guys like the one you describe will weed themselves out. The higher up you move you will find umpires who got there through less than appropriate ways (backstabbing, bad mouthing, lying, cheating, kissing ass, etc.), umpires who thought they were ready and really aren't (picked a good day to have a good game when someone was watching), umpires who are filling a hole (available and decent enough for that level), and then there are the umpires who "belong". The rest will be found out soon enough and will be eliminated.

I said in another post that it's better to be a year or 2 too late and stay than be a year or 2 too early and get fired. Work hard, do your job, let the rest take care of itself.

[Jocko]

I realigned with a new HS Assoc for 2013. The competition will be very stiff. I hope I don't have to work several seasons of MS to get BACK up to varsity level, but will pay my dues. The guys I know from the new group are rock solid and one in particular is absolutely the epitome of the kind of ump I wanna be. He's a bit younger than I, but very skilled and well trained. I look forward to working with him again. Hopefully, I will be noticed in my evals and move up quickly. I'm not nervous about my ability or skill, just the quantity of guys fighting to get on the top rung.

[Dannytheman]

I realigned with a new HS Assoc for 2013. The competition will be very stiff. I hope I don't have to work several seasons of MS to get BACK up to varsity level, but will pay my dues. The guys I know from the new group are rock solid and one in particular is absolutely the epitome of the kind of ump I wanna be. He's a bit younger than I, but very skilled and well trained. I look forward to working with him again. Hopefully, I will be noticed in my evals and move up quickly. I'm not nervous about my ability or skill, just the quantity of guys fighting to get on the top rung.

Looking forward to working with you also!!

[mstaylor]

I said in another post that it's better to be a year or 2 too late and stay than be a year or 2 too early and get fired. Work hard, do your job, let the rest take care of itself.

That is essentially the advice I got coming up and have passed along to guys coming up. It is better to be a year late than a year early. I explain that you only get one first impression and if you screw that up it will take you five to ten years to fix it. And that first impression is your entire first season.

[Umpete]

YOU should be proud or YOUR accomplishments. They were not cheapened by the selection of others. They were earned by hard work.

[Jocko]

I realigned with a new HS Assoc for 2013. The competition will be very stiff. I hope I don't have to work several seasons of MS to get BACK up to varsity level, but will pay my dues. The guys I know from the new group are rock solid and one in particular is absolutely the epitome of the kind of ump I wanna be. He's a bit younger than I, but very skilled and well trained. I look forward to working with him again. Hopefully, I will be noticed in my evals and move up quickly. I'm not nervous about my ability or skill, just the quantity of guys fighting to get on the top rung.

Looking forward to working with you also!!

:rolleyes: