midtnblu

Another perspective... If you go to a 3-man crew and drop the pay to $45, obviously you are taking $10 out of each umpires pocket. Travelling sometimes up to 50-60 miles for $45 (no mileage/gas allowance) is going to result in alot of good umpires hanging it up. It's OK during tournaments where you will get at least 2 games making it worth the trip, but 4-5 hours of time (travel and game time) for $45 considering current gas prices, would be hard to to take. Honestly, I, and most of the good umps I work with, do it for 2 reasons... x) We enjoy it (we work hard at it, unfortunately there are some that don't) y) extra money--(nice but not a necessity) x+y = z If the value of z dropped because of either x OR y then I would have to reconsider if this is something I still want to do. Look at it another way, if your boss said to you "Hey, we are adding another person to help you with your job responsibilties but we are cutting your pay by 20% and you still have to work the same amount of hours". How would that go over? I know I'll catch some grief for this, but not near as much as I do from L'il Tommy's mommy after ringing him up on strike 3 right down main street.

Great post HRB6! And for all those who think it is done for the $$. Left work yesterday at 4:15, drove 1hr and 10 min for a 6:00 start. Game lasted 2:30, drove 50 minutes to get home at 9:30. All for 55 bucks and a soggy post-game hotdog. I'm not complaining, and wouldn't have changed a thing about yesterday, but most of us don't do it for the money. And if you've never done it, there are plenty of local youth leagues who need umpires. Borrow some gear, and work one game behind the plate...please just do it one time.

In these cases, the runner initiating the contact should be called out for failure to avoid contact, by either using a legal slide or going around the defender. Ejection should only happen if there was malicious contact. This is usually one of those "you had to be there" situations that can't be recreated here.

What about when the horn blew after play had started. The ref, the one that called the foul on the 3, wasn't going to stop the action until he saw the SCHS player dribble the ball across the midcourt line. It should have been a backcourt violation, but he used the inadvertant horn as a way to bail out SCHS. 3 things: --- Foul on the 3 at the horn--It looked pretty clean to me. --- Above mentioned backcourt/bailout --- Out of bounds call---pathetic I'm not a fan of either team but it looked like the stripes were doing everything they could to get SCHS to win that game. TSSAA officials need to look hard a this one.

What about when the horn blew after play had started. The ref, the one that called the foul on the 3, wasn't going to stop the action until he saw the SCHS player driblle the ball across the midcourt line. It should have been a backcourt violation, but he used the inadvertant horn as a way to bail out SCHS. 3 things: --- Foul on the 3 at the horn--It looked pretty clean to me. --- Above mentioned backcourt/bailout --- Out of bounds call---pathetic I'm not a fan of either team but it looked like the stripes were doing everything they could to get SCHS to win that game. TSSAA officials need to look hard a this one.

So you are saying if both teams have 25 fouls at the end of the game, then that means the officiating was consistent? No matter what happened during the game or if one team is more aggressive than the other or one teams reaches in more than other or if the defensive pressure from one team is NOT consistent with the other team? Just as long as the foul totals are consistent. Just checking...

from a bystander whose team split with both WC and CA this season... I see this one as a toss-up. Back and forth all the way.

Like others, not sure this was much of an upset. I think Culleoka's ranking was based on won/loss and not much else. WC played well, Culleoka got beat. Didn't take long for Culleoka posters to complain about the officiating. This game wasn't close enough for officials to determine the outcome. Cullyrep, you said if WC would have played you straight up during the last quarter and a half it would have been a different ball game. They did play you straight up until then, and Cully was still getting beat.

Going to be great game tonight. Basketball anyone?

m-town... My response was mainly to an earlier post about raising the game fees. But in response to your comment about a ref and his "relationship" with members of the contest... officials are strongly discouraged from having casual conversations with participants. It's poor game management, and most of all IT LOOKS BAD. Usually at post-season games, and many other mid-season games, there are members of the TSSAA evaluating the game. Hopefully what you reported here did not go unnoticed by the TSSAA. Don't take my "unruly fans" comment personal, but you know as well as I do, most crowds have their share of them. The ones that scream and yell and berate an official because he paid $5 to get a courtside seat.

Raising game fees will only entice more "unqualified" people to do it "for the money". The problem is anyone who can pass a open book test and attend a few "rules meetings/clinics" can get a patch to call games. Granted, most start at lower level (youth league/JR Hi) and are evaluated before moving up, but there is such a demand for officials on a given night, most are forced to move up before they are ready. The opposite side of this argument says that alot of good officials have quit calling because the fans have become so unruly that it's not worth $65 to take all the crap. Raising fees may keep some of the good ones.

no pretty boy sighting tonight. S'town played one of their best games, if not the best, of the season. Defense was tight in the first half on both ends. S'town was able to knock down their shots, while WC struggled from the floor. S'town built a double digit lead late in the 3rd and threatened to put it away. WC climbed back to within 6-7 in the 4th on some 3's. But on this night the Eagles were just too good.

reminds me of a cheesy game-show host

It would be a shame if she was not able to play in the region. Hopefully, there was no further damage caused when she continued to play. I think more than a few people were surprised to see the coach put her back in the game, as next weeks games are more important than the one that Collinwood lost last night.

she went down right before the half, with an ankle injury. came back in the second half and went down again,and came back again... it was clearly bothering her. it looked serious enough that if this was any other game, she might not have returned the 1st time.

Final S'town 60-57

eagles 59-55 1:58 to go S'town possession up by 2... 1:13 to go

eagles by 4 with 3:25 to go in OT

S'town back to within 3 ... :23 to go timeout mp at the line. missed both free throws jason smith hits a 3 tied with 4.8 sec to go Headed for OT

MP by 6 :45 to go

MP by 5 with 1:20 to go

MP by 11 in the 4th...

.....MP 45 - 36 end of the 3rd

MP by 8 midway thru the 3rd

Report from wayne county... WC big over PC also... MP leading S'town by 8 midway thru the 3rd