Friendly reminder about using social media

[BLWizzRanger]

Just a local service announcement to curtail use of social media as an umpire.  This actually happened this past week to me as a BU.

While in 'A', going through my thought process as I was waiting for the next pitch to occur, the F4 mentions to the F3 that "the umpire behind the plate talks SH*# about us on Facebook."

Read that again if you must.  I haven't cared enough to check out if this is true, however, privately, the PU has talked about the school and their football team where his son was a player on the Freshman team. 

So, did he talk about the baseball team? I doubt it. But it doesn't matter when the message gets distorted from the original topic.

I'm curious as to what you would have done?  Talk to the player? Talk to the coaches?  Talk to your assigner? Talk to your partner?  Anything? 

Right or wrong, I did two things.  First, between innings right after this happened, I pulled the player aside and called an assistant coach over and mentioned to the player that he shouldn't be saying that within earshot of another umpire.  I didn't know if the postings were true, but, I didn't need to hear it.  Left it at that.

Second, I did mention to my assigner what happened and left it up to them to do anything further. I am out of it at this point unless confronted by my day's partner.   I, of course, don't want this to bite my brothers in the ass if, my day's partner gets assigned to the team again and the team uses the Facebook post against them.   

Finally, I didn't perceive my partner as biased against the team during the game.  I don't think he will be.  But, all it takes is one low pitch to be called a strike for the kindling to ignite.

[The Man in Blue]

I wouldn't have said anything to the player, but I spend all day listening to kids conversations and picking and choosing my battles.  

I would have mentioned it to my partner (assuming he was the talking type), but I wouldn't belabor the point.  You'd (hopefully) give him other feedback, so why not mention this? 

.

[BLWizzRanger]

Well, in some small figment of my imagination, the player was questioning my partner's integrity.  The player perceived that my partner said SH*# on them, therefore, the player can't expect him to be fair.

[The Man in Blue]

I don't disagree with the potential in your assessment.  I just question the point where an umpire decides to inject himself into a player-to-player conversation.  For the sake of conversation here, I'm saying be cautious of the line between handling something and looking for something.

Maybe that is the teacher side of me.  I find there is value in not reacting to everything a kid says, and holding your cards until the right time.  Other times, it needs nipped in the bud.  Whether he was impugning your partner in front of your or just carelessly talking SH*# to his buddy, I can't say because I wasn't there.

[SeeingEyeDog]

As with a lot of these sensitive issues, I'm not sure our beloved forum is the right place to sounding board. Your culture may not be @The Man in Blue's...

Honestly, BlueDude, I would recommend speaking with a local mentor. Do NOT mention your partner's name...simply discuss what happened. Just the facts. Propose courses of actions you are considering and ask your local mentor what they recommend. In order to protect the innocent and the chain of custody, you do not need to feel compelled to tell your local mentor what you did or will decide to do on the matter in question, of course...

I have been off social media entirely since 2012 and I have never looked back or felt bad about the people I left behind. I had an immensely diverse group of social media friends and acquaintances which was both interesting and created a lot of problems as issues of politics, religion, etc. caused a great deal of friction. Highly recommended...the people who really matter in your life will respect your decision and find other ways to stay in touch with you...or not, in which case, they weren't important.

~Dawg