Who are you? Blue, blue? Who, who?

[The Man in Blue]

Spinning off from another thread ...

7 hours ago, Kevin_K said:

On behalf of the umpiring community, I want to thank you for your considerable personal efforts and sacrifices.

Now that this has been resolved, I hope the NFHS gets to work on the other significant problem of players, coaches, and fans referring to us as "Blue". That's my pet peeve.

When coaches call me blue I now say 'Kevin." It usually stops them cold in whatever they happen to be doing. Most of the time they look at me askance and I follow up with,"My name is Kevin." For the rest of the game many actually call me by name. Others, however, are painfully dense.

 

I find this interesting.  I would rather coaches do not use my name.  I am here to work a contract, not to be your friend.  Buy me a beer later and you can use my name.

I am very happy with "Blue."  What say the rest of blue ... er ... you? 

Tell me who are you, because I really want to know.

[JonnyCat]

I address the coaches by name, and I would prefer they do the same. It's no different when I'm interacting with a potential client in my job. IMO, it's just common courtesy to use a persons name whenever you can.

I agree, they are not my friends, but it is a business relationship. I'm there to do a job, and so are they. I also thinks it often tempers any arguments that may arise. It just seems to be more respectful to address each other by name. It seems to make any conversation more personable, rather than just talking to a soulless umpire! 

I always address them by their names, and I'll do more so when I realize they don't remember mine. Sometimes I can feel just how uncomfortable they are when they can't remember my name. They tend to want to keep the conversations to a minimum!

[noumpere]

It's the (real or perceived) adjective they put in front of the name that matters.

[ErichKeane]

I don't care what ya call me, so long as its not late to dinner   In seriousness, I prefer 'blue' over using my name, I have a 'just common enough' first name that if I responded to it on the field, I'd likely get it wrong most of the time.

PLUS, when they say "Blue", it makes me feel better for not remembering the coach's name

[Kevin_K]

I agree with @JonnyCat.

Blue removes my human-ness ( is that a word?) which makes it easier for coaches to be asshats.

Having a name makes me a person. Being a person makes it more uncomfortable for them to act the fool when they have a perceived injustice foisted upon them by Kevin. They tend to  exhibit more civil discourse when they disagree with Kevin.

 

[Replacematt]

6 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

Spinning off from another thread ...

 

I find this interesting.  I would rather coaches do not use my name.  I am here to work a contract, not to be your friend.  Buy me a beer later and you can use my name.

I am very happy with "Blue."  What say the rest of blue ... er ... you? 

Tell me who are you, because I really want to know.

Name. 

People are attuned to responding when they hear their name, which means that if they say it and I can hear it, I can address what they are looking to say (this is how we know we're in trouble when we hear our parents/grandparents/whoever's throwing the chancla say our full first and middle names.) We aren't geared towards immediate response to a generic title, which can make us look aloof and disengaged.

Secondly, to draw a rather extreme analogy, as for those of us who were at high risk of being taken captive learned in training, don't let anyone put a bag over your head (yes, I'm getting somewhere with this.) People find it much easier to do what they want to a nameless and faceless entity as that is a situation where it's been dehumanized. Likewise, if there's conflict on the baseball field, using names tends to keep things de-escalated as they remember (slightly) that you are a person.

[Velho]

Thank you for raising the memory

Edited July 18, 2022 by LMSANS
Video deleted due to site infraction

[Replacematt]

De nada.

Edited July 18, 2022 by LMSANS
Removed quoted video due to site infraction.

[Senor Azul]

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[The Man in Blue]

As somebody who has spent the better part of my working life in customer service, public relations, and other fields of "high-level customer engagement", I can fully agree with the points you make, @Matt and @Kevin_K.   (See what I did there? 😁)

Maybe it is just my own confirmation bias because of my opinion, but I can't recall a coach ever calling me by name unless he was using it to try to curry favor.  I'll have to start paying better attention.

As for calling somebody by their name, despite my professional experience, I was taught not to use a person's first name unless they give you permission to.  Now that I have become a teacher, I hardly even know most people's first names!  Everybody is a Ms. This or Mr. That.

[Kevin_K]

7 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

As for calling somebody by their name, despite my professional experience, I was taught not to use a person's first name unless they give you permission to.

This suggests that you have introduced yourself as Mr. The Man in Blue at your plate meeting. Otherwise, by using your given name during introductions haven't you provided that permission to use it , even if it is tacit rather than explicit?

[Thatsnotyou]

Name for the head coaches, as we shook hands and introduced ourselves…using our names. I will use their names throughout. “Hey coach” when addressing a head coach just sounds so odd. He’s not my coach, after all. Sounds like a 10 year old trying to get his coach’s attention. 

Travel coaches don’t remember much, so I just deal with blue if I must. HS game? Not remembering my name irks me a bit. They also usually have it ahead of time.

Assistsants, players (except a catcher), fans? I better not hear my name used (I better not hear from them much regardless). 

[The Man in Blue]

@Thatsnotyou I view Coach as a title that is appropriate to use as a pronoun.  Just like I'd call a cop "Officer" or my college instructors (non-doctors) "Professor" and people with a doctorate "Doctor."  (Though I know there is some debate over how appropriate "Doctor" is for some lines of study.)  

I would say I view "Blue" as an honorific, but I guess it doesn't compare as well to calling a judge "Your Honor."

I'm not arguing one way or another, just really interested in all the different takes on this.  I don't take any particular offense to any of it.

@Kevin_K ... I do give my first name at the plate meeting IF coaches initiate it.  I don't proactively offer it.  I'm just weird ... especially for somebody who worked in government and public relations for as long as I did.  Or maybe that IS why I am somewhat adverse.  

Maybe if the third base coach calls my name three times I will magically appear down there in position to make the call.  😁

[Velho]

 

[dumbdumb]

gee. and i thought blue was the name of a dog.

[flyingron]

It's Enrico Pallazo!

[SH0102]

I try to stay away from opinion debates but I’ll just say this…

In college ball, they use names.

In professional baseball, they use names.

Not sure what other proof is needed as to the way things “should” go.

That said, even when I do HS tourney ball in summer, I’ll use coach’s name and they often just say blue, likely out of habit.  I don’t make a stink of it and don’t care, but I use their name and in college, I’ve never been called blue by a coach

[Jay R.]

It depends on the situation for me.

From 2013-17 I worked in one organization and I appreciated it that coaches learned and used my name. I always made a point to introduce myself before the game, usually at the plate conference. There was one coach who used "Mr. Umpire," and others used "Blue" in a respectful tone, which was fine with me, but names were preferred.

In 2018 I moved and my kids started playing, so my umpiring became more sporadic and scattered as I focused on coaching. While it would be nice if at least head coaches could match my ability to use first names, I don't mind if they use "Blue" respectfully. 

This thread brings to mind a story from last fall umpiring softball: There was an assistant coach who kept referring to his team by their color, blue. Given the age of the players (U10) I didn't say anything. 

At one point later in the game I called one of his batters out on strikes and then called a strike on the first pitch to the next batter. He (coaching first) yelled, "Come on, Blue!" My head swung toward him and he's looking at his dugout, urging them to swing. It was obvious he didn't realize what he was doing.

At that inning break his head coach explained what he did and he apologized profusely. Another assistant (an obvious baseball/softball lifer) said he expected me to eject him.

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, SH0102 said:

I try to stay away from opinion debates but I’ll just say this…

In college ball, they use names.

In professional baseball, they use names.

Not sure what other proof is needed as to the way things “should” go.

That said, even when I do HS tourney ball in summer, I’ll use coach’s name and they often just say blue, likely out of habit.  I don’t make a stink of it and don’t care, but I use their name and in college, I’ve never been called blue by a coach

 

I don't disagree with your points (like I said, no strong feelings one way or the other, just curious about others' thoughts), but I do have to open my big mouth and say ... That is not proof of how things "should" go.  That is proof of how it is done there.

Who am I to judge?

 

[LMSANS]

It always confused me when reffing youth football, coaches would call me “blue”.

in baseball, I don’t mind either way.

[SeeingEyeDog]

Psychologists and business schools have done studies...When we use someone's name? Subconsciously, you are humanizing the person you are interacting with. I'm not sure the use of names on a baseball field back and forth between umpires and coaches helps to prevent any unprofessional behavior but, it gives us all a basis and a starting point. I like the optics of a coach who is making poor choices and has decided NOT to use the umpire's name then being addressed by that umpire using the coach's name...

~Dawg

[ArchAngel72]

I generally accept "blue"  I actually have what was/is an uncommon name but I hear it more and more in kids being called by the coaches  "Hey Archangel choke up a little" and it is actually distracting because I look when the call my name the 1st time to figure out its not me they need its the kid behind the plate with the catchers gear or the batter or the pitcher. 

Makes me smile and cringe at the same time as I am mad I looked.

 

[834k3r]

On 7/9/2022 at 12:34 PM, JonnyCat said:

I address the coaches by name, and I would prefer they do the same. It's no different when I'm interacting with a potential client in my job. IMO, it's just common courtesy to use a persons name whenever you can.

I agree, they are not my friends, but it is a business relationship. I'm there to do a job, and so are they. I also thinks it often tempers any arguments that may arise. It just seems to be more respectful to address each other by name. It seems to make any conversation more personable, rather than just talking to a soulless umpire! 

I always address them by their names, and I'll do more so when I realize they don't remember mine. Sometimes I can feel just how uncomfortable they are when they can't remember my name. They tend to want to keep the conversations to a minimum!

Coaches by name. Friends or family of mine that are in the grandstands--or even players on the field I know--I prefer them to call me Blue.

When I was in the military, I was fond of the saying "perception is reality." I want to avoid all perception of any favoritism at all. That's why I will never seek conversation with a coach between innings or players during play.

[JonnyCat]

On 7/9/2022 at 12:34 PM, JonnyCat said:

They tend to want to keep the conversations to a minimum!

 

1 hour ago, 834k3r said:

That's why I will never seek conversation with a coach between innings or players during play.

To clarify, I meant conversations about a call.

I never seek conversation with anyone on the field. I rarely speak to anyone unless spoken to, including players. When I do have to speak with coaches or players, I try to keep the conversations to a minimum. Between innings I'm in my rest area, and I don't even like to speak with my partner(s) during a game either, unless it's necessary. I try to keep it as business like and professional as possible. It drives me SH*#-house if I'm the PU and my partner wants to come down and chat between innings. I even have had some base partners stand on the foul line about 15 feet before 1st or 3rd in between innings! WTF? Get to your rest positions in the outfield.

[BigBlue4u]

"That said, even when I do HS tourney ball in summer, I’ll use coach’s name and they often just say blue, likely out of habit.  I don’t make a stink of it and don’t care, but I use their name and in college, I’ve never been called blue by a coach."

 

Same here. Never been called "blue" by a college coach, especially a D1 college coach.