The power of U-E

[Mike Prince]

I've been a member here almost 4 years and have never consciously met anyone from the forum.  Our little Cal Ripken association here is hosting a 10U All-Star state tournament and my assignor was having trouble coming up with enough umpires and started mentioning names that quite frankly gave me pause from past experience as well as knowing what these games would be like.  So I asked him if it was OK if I gave him a name or two before he made his decision.  He said sure.

 

I stopped doing HS ball a couple of years ago because of my real job, and while I considered contacting a few of the guys I worked with, it didn't feel right as I pretty much suck at staying in touch and the meager game fees likely would not have influenced these guys to travel up to where I am for "lower level" ball.

 

But @boyinr had sent me a PM recently and I remembered he had moved somewhat close to me in the past year.  Also, like me he is a transplanted New Englander so he had that going for him .  Anyway, I shot him a PM asking if he would be interested, and he was.  So I asked my assignor to include him on our weekend crews.  This based solely on some friendly PM chatter and seeing (and respecting) his posts on U-E, nothing more.

 

Well, all I can say is that the weekend was awesome, the most fun I have had on the field in a long time.  I got to work with Roger on Saturday for two games, we worked separately yesterday and we'll be back tonight on a 3-man crew in the championship bracket.  We worked great together on Saturday (even with me still gimpy from a gout episode) and I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did, it felt like we had worked together for years.

 

And to put the U-E touch on it, we were the best-dressed and best-performing crew on any field - creased pants and caps, polished shoes and crisp mechanics.

 

I am glad to say the forum is a bit less anonymous to me now.

[JaxRolo]

Very Nice!

 

 

 

Did you go on a date after the games?

[Mike Prince]

Got to let the tournament end first

[mstaylor]

I have met several from the site, plan to meet a few more this summer. 

[BigUmp56]

Meeting and getting to work with other officials is a huge bonus of participating in forums like UE. I've had the priveledge of working games with a few "Internet" friends, and have met others over a cold beverage (or three) during the off season. It makes all of the time and effort we put into a forum well worth it. Good for you two fellow brothers-in-blue! I would jump at the chance to work with any of the members of this group.

Tim.

[boyinr]

Being a hockey fan I wanted to respect the jinx and not post until this one was "in the bag" or "on the shelf". 

 

This has been a lot of fun getting to meet the guys in this association.  I am honored that Mike thought enough of me to ask me to join them for such an important event.

 

A special shout out to Warren for making all of this possible.