Time for some LLWS Bashing

[lawump]

...Not bashing the umpires, LOL.

Actually listening/watching game and the announcers are debating whether or not a bunt could be hit high enough to result in an infield fly call.  Play-by-play announcer asked the analyst if he had ever seen an umpire call an infield fly on a bunt.  Analyst said "no".  Play-by-play responded with, "maybe we'll see it here because anything can happen at the Little League World Series!" (or something similar).  Good grief!!!

[noumpere]

My solution to all that (and the dangling throat guards and....):  I stopped watching it about 15 years ago.  Never regretted that decision.

[JonnyCat]

I've said this before on another post, but I wish the announcers would stop constantly referring to the LL umpires as "volunteers." It always makes it sound like they're dad's just pulled out of the stands. They should be referring to them as well trained and experienced umpires who donate their time to the LL program. Many of us who do LL have spend an inordinate amount of time and money on a lot of training.

My friend Dave Miller is working the LL World Series this year, and he is one of the best umpires I have ever worked with. Not only does he work LL and is his district's UIC, he works HS, is starting to work JUCO, and instructs at LL Western Region. He's far from just a volunteer. There are many just like him that come out of the West Region. 

Not a criticism of anyone here on this site. Yeah, sometimes they don't look so good, but how many of us have actually been on TV and televised in that fashion? Have you ever really seen how you look on video when working? Have you ever had that many camera angles watching your plate work? You might not look as good as you think.

[Vegas_Ump]

1 hour ago, JonnyCat said:

I've said this before on another post, but I wish the announcers would stop constantly referring to the LL umpires as "volunteers." It always makes it sound like they're dad's just pulled out of the stands. They should be referring to them as well trained and experienced umpires who donate their time to the LL program. Many of us who do LL have spend an inordinate amount of time and money on a lot of training.

My friend Dave Miller is working the LL World Series this year, and he is one of the best umpires I have ever worked with. Not only does he work LL and is his district's UIC, he works HS, is starting to work JUCO, and instructs at LL Western Region. He's far from just a volunteer. There are many just like him that come out of the West Region. 

Not a criticism of anyone here on this site. Yeah, sometimes they don't look so good, but how many of us have actually been on TV and televised in that fashion? Have you ever really seen how you look on video when working? Have you ever had that many camera angles watching your plate work? You might not look as good as you think.

Johnny:  I had the distinct pleasure of working with Dave Miller in WR 2017.  He is everything you say as an umpire!  I have been able to see Dave officiate 3B and two plates this year on TV.  Outstanding job!

I don't mind the term "volunteer" and that's because I have had coaches yell at me about "another quick paycheck with that call."  Or you take a foul off the wrist and it swells up like crazy!  Then it goes, "They don't pay you enough to take that kind of pain!"  And then they look flummoxed when I tell them I was a volunteer LL umpire for 34 years!  I kind of proud of that  moniker!  I am sure I could find better things to do on a Saturday, but baseball is fun too!  Until some buffoon gets in my face......

Lets face it, parents think you are paid by somebody, and if their kid doesn't get a call, it must be by George Soros!

Umpires are one of many volunteer groups that make Little League work.  Glad they do!

Mike

Las Vegas

[Mudisfun]

1 hour ago, JonnyCat said:

I've said this before on another post, but I wish the announcers would stop constantly referring to the LL umpires as "volunteers." It always makes it sound like they're dad's just pulled out of the stands. They should be referring to them as well trained and experienced umpires who donate their time to the LL program. Many of us who do LL have spend an inordinate amount of time and money on a lot of training.

My friend Dave Miller is working the LL World Series this year, and he is one of the best umpires I have ever worked with. Not only does he work LL and is his district's UIC, he works HS, is starting to work JUCO, and instructs at LL Western Region. He's far from just a volunteer. There are many just like him that come out of the West Region. 

Not a criticism of anyone here on this site. Yeah, sometimes they don't look so good, but how many of us have actually been on TV and televised in that fashion? Have you ever really seen how you look on video when working? Have you ever had that many camera angles watching your plate work? You might not look as good as you think.

Don't forget Mike Debelak who is also there from Torrance, CA as one of the crew chiefs. There is an awful lot of talent from the West represented at Williamsport this year.

[Umpy]

2 hours ago, JonnyCat said:

I've said this before on another post, but I wish the announcers would stop constantly referring to the LL umpires as "volunteers." It always makes it sound like they're dad's just pulled out of the stands. They should be referring to them as well trained and experienced umpires who donate their time to the LL program. Many of us who do LL have spend an inordinate amount of time and money on a lot of training.

I've always thought they emphasize "volunteer" so that viewers who are angry at calls will say "ah, its just a volunteer" instead of "Let's post his home address on the internet and send him death threats"

[SeeingEyeDog]

5 hours ago, lawump said:

...Not bashing the umpires, LOL.

Actually listening/watching game and the announcers are debating whether or not a bunt could be hit high enough to result in an infield fly call.  Play-by-play announcer asked the analyst if he had ever seen an umpire call an infield fly on a bunt.  Analyst said "no".  Play-by-play responded with, "maybe we'll see it here because anything can happen at the Little League World Series!" (or something similar).  Good grief!!!

I've nearly eliminated watching all baseball on TV, except for the playoffs and World Series. Radio announcers are not much better with regards to the rules but, TV announcers as a group are just terrible with the rules.

As for the LLWS, I've watched it nearly every year since ABC started airing the final. I dunno'...for some reason when I turned it on this year, it was hitting different and I haven't watched, although I will likely tune in Sunday.

~Dawg

[The Man in Blue]

I'm like @SeeingEyeDog that I used to glue my ass to the couch for a few days and take in as much of it as possible.  This year?  I watched some of the softball early on thanks to a local team playing and I guy I know working the regional, but I haven't watched much of the baseball.

Part of the reason for that is the HORRIBLE user interface on ESPN+ and Hulu.  I really appreciate having on-demand and live access, but when I can't find games and can't get stuff to come up ... doesn't help much.

As for the volunteer thing, I appreciate the way it was done on the games I watched.  Yes, they kept selling that angle (which, to me, it is tacky to tout volunteers making your multimillion dollar TV contract possible), but they really focused on calling them "professional umpires who do get paid in other organizations, high school, and college ball, but volunteer their time to LL."  It wasn't perfect, but it was more respectful.

To @lawump's OP ... yeah, some of the stuff I heard made me cringe.  During one of the softball games, the woman calling the game (I believe a former NCAA player) got extremely excited when the third out was made at first base "... BUT THE RUN SCORES because SHE TOUCHED THE PLATE FIRST!"  After a few beats ... "Oh, I guess it doesn't."  She also thought an out was made when a catcher caught a foul ball off the fence ... "The fence gets an assist?  I guess that's how that works."  Uuuuuugggggghhhhhh .... 

To try to be fair to the announcers (no, I don't know why), during those regional games many of them were working solo.  With nobody to bounce off of or correct you, it gets tough.

 

I will crap on LL though because you would think, after all these years, and especially with using video review now, that they would have somebody feeding information to the broadcast team about what is happening.  That nearly 40-minute delay at the end of the softball was a prime example of all the wheels falling off while the monkeys were #!$%ing the wheels.  But hey, I guess they want to be like MLB.

[Velho]

15 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

I've nearly eliminated watching all baseball on TV, except for the playoffs and World Series. Radio announcers are not much better with regards to the rules but, TV announcers as a group are just terrible with the rules.

Similar for me. When I watch anything but my Mariners I put the audio to Spanish.

[Velho]

14 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

I will crap on LL though because you would think, after all these years, and especially with using video review now, that they would have somebody feeding information to the broadcast team about what is happening.  That nearly 40-minute delay at the end of the softball was a prime example of all the wheels falling off while the monkeys were #!$%ing the wheels.  But hey, I guess they want to be like MLB.

A local friend umpire was a region this year and he told me that the replay was being done remotely, via zoom, and video is 30 fps (which you could see in ESPN broadcasts). I feel for them but (and maybe it's because of what I do for work) get it figured out. Something - get the reviewer comms into the ESPN truck, have them do the replays, and make the decision off the ESPN TV feed?

The 40 minutes delay was disturbing because, apparently, they didn't know how many challenges were left and what was challengeable. Make a flow chart, have dedicated folks tracking things. I'd happily go to a Regional site to do that and not even umpire (or, heck, have the backup ump for that game do it). I don't know the muckity-mucks beyond my locals so don't know what is preventing these things from happening.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure everyone there is doing their best but when you took the TV deal you put yourself out there and you need to step it up. Same things every coach tells their players and we as umpires tell each other: keep striving for excellence, learn from your mistakes, get better.

[JonnyCat]

3 hours ago, Velho said:

The 40 minutes delay was disturbing because, apparently, they didn't know how many challenges were left and what was challengeable. Make a flow chart, have dedicated folks tracking things. I'd happily go to a Regional site to do that and not even umpire (or, heck, have the backup ump for that game do it). I don't know the muckity-mucks beyond my locals so don't know what is preventing these things from happening.

I have it on good authority that LL is working to streamline the review process. They are apparently not happy with how the process has been working. We should be seeing some major changes next year.

[ArchAngel72]

Someone at the broadcast should pull up the website and direct the idiots that announce on TV to this screen  which when read aloud would show what DOPES the announcers are.

 

[BigBlue4u]

On 8/23/2023 at 11:56 AM, lawump said:

Actually listening/watching game and the announcers are debating whether or not a bunt could be hit high enough to result in an infield fly call.  Play-by-play announcer asked the analyst if he had ever seen an umpire call an infield fly on a bunt.  Analyst said "no".  Play-by-play responded with, "maybe we'll see it here because anything can happen at the Little League World Series!" (or something similar).  Good grief!!!

I'm replying as a long- time umpire and a network broadcaster.  No excuse, but many of the LL announcers, especially in the regionals, are fairly new broadcasters and are just learning the business, let alone the rules. 

[The Man in Blue]

6 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

I'm replying as a long- time umpire and a network broadcaster.  No excuse, but many of the LL announcers, especially in the regionals, are fairly new broadcasters and are just learning the business, let alone the rules. 

That I believe wholeheartedly.  In my previous career I worked around a lot of media and journalists.  When I went to that job, my bubble was burst.  I had envisioned the grizzled beat reporter who had been covering the local scene for years ... a reporter who knew everybody and where every body was.  I quickly learned it was McMedia and the local reporters were kids out of college who knew next to nothing about the world but would work cheap because they were on TV.  We hired a few reporters to come to our public relations group and they all doubled or tripled their salary.

[834k3r]

18 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

I'm replying as a long- time umpire and a network broadcaster.  No excuse, but many of the LL announcers, especially in the regionals, are fairly new broadcasters and are just learning the business, let alone the rules. 

And for the most part, I'm okay with that. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

On the other hand, Ravech (the guy doing PBP for ESPN for LLWS) has been calling baseball games for decades. He has no excuse, IMHO.

[Velho]

6 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

On the other hand, Ravech (the guy doing PBP for ESPN for LLWS) has been calling baseball games for decades. He has no excuse, IMHO.

Agreed. The Regionals were a lot of games and they needed more broadcasters (not to mention they weren't on site for most if not all). The WS level though are all top end broadcasters that should be better. But then again, look what we get at the MLB level so maybe this is the top they can do.

[834k3r]

1 minute ago, Velho said:

Agreed. The Regionals were a lot of games and they needed more broadcasters (not to mention they weren't on site for most if not all). The WS level though are all top end broadcasters that should be better. But then again, look what we get at the MLB level so maybe this is the top they can do.

What gets me is the statements they make about rules aren't even that difficult. How hard is it to understand IFF will NEVER be called on a bunt?