TSSAA Umpires @ State Tournament

[dave61502]

There is only one way to solve the problem!! Go to tssaa.org and request the forms for an umpire, fill them out and become one yourself. If you want to complain, then sign up and do something about it! Most associations do not have the enough umpires. If you want to weed the bad ones out, then more people need to sign up. Then the assigning official has plenty of choices for each game. Oh thats right, the funny thing is that this won't happen, but if you think you can do better then pay the fee and get some gear. I am a former head coach now umpiring and I have a whole new respect for umpires. Do I try to be consistent everyday I umpire? Yes, but I do have off days. It is also really hard for an umpire to be consistent when the pitcher is not consistent. As for the strike zone, each umpire's is different. We all see the ball a little different. I know there are some bad umpires out there, but if you not willing to step in and help, well we won't go there. It takes a really person to make a difference in every situation, but it only takes an idiot to run his mouth about a situation.

[catsbackr]

Ooooh, good one!

[riddlers]

QUOTE(tigerman @ May 24 2007 - 11:02 AM) 826465975[/snapback]Last I checked they do get paid.

And I don't seem to hear anybody begging them to do it,

so they umpire of their own free will and thus accept terms

1-5 of that list.

 

Look, in baseball there's a lot of close plays and somebody

is always going to be happy with the call & somebody's going

to be upset. Most of the time it ends up 50-50. But sometimes

missed calls lead to extra outs that lead to game changing plays.

Those are the killers.

 

Umpiring had nothing to do with favorite team

losing out this week. Nothing, so this isn't sour grapes.

 

But I've seen enough inconsistency this year to last a lifetime.

And that's frustrating. I always taught my kids to adapt to an

umpire & if he was consistently calling a pitch on the ankles

a strike, then you had sure better start swinging at it. Likewise on

a pitch at the letters. But when the strike zone changes from pitch

to pitch, inning by inning, it's frustrating for EVERYBODY.

Likewise for reversed calls from guys who are so far out

of position it's not even funny.

 

That's what gripes a lot of baseball fans...even us Babe Ruth league

graduates.

 

the inconsistency could come from the fact that guys who think umpires make great money and should be grateful that they are allowed to be criticized unmercifully by ignorant and unqualified individuals generally stay in the stands and post harsh criticizms on coach t instead of joining an association and showing us all how to do it

[1moreDBmom]

QUOTE(catsbackr @ May 24 2007 - 01:41 PM) 826466052[/snapback]Yeah, but he did get the pick right............(sorry couldn't resist).

 

 

 

lol at backr... now put your stick down and quit stirring the pot!

[Bill#49]

QUOTE(hasbeen7 @ May 24 2007 - 12:15 PM) 826466044[/snapback]Hey - tell it to the hundreds of kids who bust their butts starting in Jan to make it to this point. They at least deserve consistancy!

 

 

If the kids are reading this page then I AM telling them.

 

I agree about consistancy. If it is a ball for one team, then it is a ball for the other. If it is a strike for one team, then it is a strike for the other. Umps are human and they do the best they can. If anyone is more perfect then the ones who are doing it now contact the TSSAA and sign up to take their jobs. Then we can get on CoachT and complain about your calls.

 

QUOTE(riddlers @ May 24 2007 - 01:52 PM) 826466099[/snapback]the inconsistency could come from the fact that guys who think umpires make great money and should be grateful that they are allowed to be criticized unmercifully by ignorant and unqualified individuals generally stay in the stands and post harsh criticizms on coach t instead of joining an association and showing us all how to do it

 

 

 

Amen Brother!!

[Bill#49]

quote name='dave61502' date='May 24 2007 - 12:59 PM' post='826466066']

There is only one way to solve the problem!! Go to tssaa.org and request the forms for an umpire, fill them out and become one yourself. If you want to complain, then sign up and do something about it! Most associations do not have the enough umpires. If you want to weed the bad ones out, then more people need to sign up. Then the assigning official has plenty of choices for each game. Oh thats right, the funny thing is that this won't happen, but if you think you can do better then pay the fee and get some gear. I am a former head coach now umpiring and I have a whole new respect for umpires. Do I try to be consistent everyday I umpire? Yes, but I do have off days. It is also really hard for an umpire to be consistent when the pitcher is not consistent. As for the strike zone, each umpire's is different. We all see the ball a little different. I know there are some bad umpires out there, but if you not willing to step in and help, well we won't go there. It takes a really person to make a difference in every situation, but it only takes an idiot to run his mouth about a situation.

 

/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> GOOD POST!!!

[plowboy2]

Some of us here in East Tenn. are wondering how we end up with Dale Ford every year when we are in the playoffs (district -region)?This year he came in all the way from Nashville just to call a District game at South.The major league baseball association gave him 400,000.00 not to come back after he went on strike a few years ago.He still thinks he is in the majors with a gold plated teacup to calls balls,and strikes with.NO I don't want to be an ump,but they are some out there who are making a joke of it.The strike zone use to be from your chest to your knees.Now it has to be almost on the ground to be a strike and right where the teacup(thimble) is in the umps mind.Kids don't know where the strike zone is because of inconsistantly in umps.That's why they swing at low outside pitches>My opinion.

[1moreDBmom]

QUOTE(dave61502 @ May 24 2007 - 12:59 PM) 826466066[/snapback]I know there are some bad umpires out there,

 

 

And it is only the bad ones that we fuss about....

 

Take motorcycle drivers that weave in and out of traffic trying to pick up 4 car lengths on you before the next light... how many good safe motorcycle drivers do you know?????? Plenty of them.....but let one weave through traffic causing you to hit your brakes to let him in and out of your lane and see if you don't call "motorcycle drivers" a bunch of jerks that never learned how to behave in traffic.

 

We all know that there are more good umpires then bad ones...but that knowledge does not make it any less frustrating when you're standing with a bat in your hand in the 5th inning still wondering if 6 inces off the plate is a strike or a ball....batter can adjust and do so frequently...but if you keep them guessing and thus make them have to swing at everything that crosses the plate then you have created a very unhappy group of players...and I have seen BOTH teams upset in the same game...that is an umpire that is not trying to help one team with his strike zone but is frustrating both teams at the same time.

 

The theme I see in every thread about umpires always comes back to the strike zone and consistency. (I follow out of state High school baseball as well...and will gladly bring a couple of other states threads on umpires over here for you guys to see if you want...they all come back to the same thing...consistency behind that plate.)

 

I seldom see a game get "boisterous" where the strike zone is consistent. If you want to keep the crowd of fans off your back then get a consistent strike zone...high, low, outside, big, small, anything you want it to be.... as long as it's consistent you will hear a lot less crowd noise.

 

Respect is given to the umpire who is consistent...at least he appears to know what he is doing! Even when fan's disagree with a strikezone if it is consistent then the respect will still be there.

 

But if the guy in blue cannot make his mind up on strikes and balls behind the plate then evey close call he makes will be suspect....

 

 

Consistent

 

Consistent

 

Consistent

[red neckerson]

dave61502, riddlers, Bill#49 - Preach it hard!!!

 

1moreDBmom - you're right that consistencyshould satisfy most fans/parents but the reality is that far too many fans/parents don't really want consistency, they want the calls to go for their team or, most importantly, their baby. No matter how consistent you are, if you punch one out at the wrong time you'll hear about it - no exceptions.

 

All parents should be required to pass a basic rules class and take an etiquette course from E5 before every season before being allowed to attend a game.

 

By the way, I'm 50 years young, and is it just me or is the whole baseball thing different? I don't remember parents staying at every practice and "evaluating" the coaching. I don't remember parents hollering so loud and so often. I don't ever remember a fan/parent being thrown out of a game or a park. I guess it comes with age but it sure seems like the park used to be a more enjoyable place.

[1moreDBmom]

QUOTE(red neckerson @ May 24 2007 - 05:14 PM) 826466190[/snapback]All parents should be required to pass a basic rules class and take an etiquette course from E5 before every season before being allowed to attend a game.

 

 

Now that's a good idea!!!

 

QUOTE(red neckerson @ May 24 2007 - 05:14 PM) 826466190[/snapback]By the way, I'm 50 years young, and is it just me or is the whole baseball thing different? I don't remember parents staying at every practice and "evaluating" the coaching. I don't remember parents hollering so loud and so often. I don't ever remember a fan/parent being thrown out of a game or a park. I guess it comes with age but it sure seems like the park used to be a more enjoyable place.

 

 

I have a newspaper clipping from about 4 years ago now where an EX Little League President says the biggest problem came when we raised money and put expensive uniforms and expensive bats and expensive (name your piece of equipment here)...... on the kids and started playing vicariously through them....

 

If we took a handfull of plain no numbered muscle shirts ( 2 colors) and a 1 maybe 2 baseballs out to the fields in a box and throw it all in the middle of the field the day after school lets out for the summer. Mow the field for them when the grass gets knee high. Those kids would make the teams as fair (no draft by the parent/coach is needed to keep it all fair.) They would play a fun game of ball with very little arguing...and what little arguing does happen teaches negiotating skills they can use the rest of their lives! Let them call their own games...tust me one team is not going to cheat another team either with strikes and balls or on the basepads!

 

I know this method works well because I played ball all summer this way and had a grand old time! I am 46...so I can identify with you neckerson....

 

Commercialization, with sponsors and all the hoopla is what is ruining this game we all love so much.

[riverdaleman]

E5 you have critque me on a few calls i think your favorite one is a check swing you know the one if he hit it..it would have been a ground rule double and the bat never left his shoulder...or when you want to hit a kid beacsue someone jsut squeezed on you up 8-1 and instead of hitting the kid he throws strikes!!!! so i will truley trust whatever observations you make of me LOL

I am not one to tell somone to ump a game if they dont like it that is not my style im afraid he would grab my mask and do a better job LOL

what i will tell you is that UMPIRES REALLY DONT CARE WHO WINS THE GAME...WE WANT STRIKES AND OUTS THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE GET A GAME DONE and we do not cheat a kid we may miss it but we wont cheat them

I also want to point balls and strikes if a pitcher is throwing strikes and is all around the plate he will get calls if you have a guy that is throwing the ball everywhere and then throw a close pitch in there it is probalby going to be a ball because you havent got the umpire in a groove youve got him looking all over the place for the pitch because that is where they are coming

as far as camp you are suppose to go 1 every 3 years and you have to attend meetings with your local assosication 3 times a year and take a test the assigner usually RECOMMENDS umpires to do state and some TSSAA officials will observe one or two games

[tigerman]

QUOTE(riddlers @ May 24 2007 - 01:52 PM) 826466099[/snapback]the inconsistency could come from the fact that guys who think umpires make great money and should be grateful that they are allowed to be criticized unmercifully by ignorant and unqualified individuals generally stay in the stands and post harsh criticizms on coach t instead of joining an association and showing us all how to do it

 

 

Are you calling coaches ignorant & unqualified ?

I've heard more than one this year question the CONSISTENCY

of umpires, especially on balls and strikes.

 

I don't believe for one minute an umpire picks one team &

favors them over the other with his calls. I would never suggest

that. I've seen them hurt both teams that were playing.

 

And I get sick of this mentality of if you don't like the way we're

calling, go pick up an application and join us. I don't care to

thank you very much.But if I did, you can be darn sure I would

bust my rear end to the best umpire I could be. And if I saw

I wasn't getting it done ( and trust me, when coaches, players and

fans from both sides are upset, you ain't getting it done), I'd be

smart enough to step aside.