That was a big call in that situation

 

True but it was the right call, the guy was half way to 2nd before the pitch. It definitely didn't justify several men following me to my car yelling. It was more then a little unsettling.

 

I've never agreed with the logic that something should or shouldn't be called at certain points in a game. If something happens it needs to be called regardless.

True but it was the right call, the guy was half way to 2nd before the pitch. It definitely didn't justify several men following me to my car yelling. It was more then a little unsettling.

 

I've never agreed with the logic that something should or shouldn't be called at certain points in a game. If something happens it needs to be called regardless.

 

I mean kudos to you for making the call. That took some softballs on your part and you should be proud of it.

Jeesh, Rocket, why is your default setting "combative"? I just don't understand it.

 

"Combative" is a stretch.

I think "abuse" is probably misleading. If you become an official/referee/umpire with any expectations OTHER than being challenged by coaches and fans then that's on you when it happens.

 

I've never had a bad experience with a coach or fan. Yes, they've yelled. Yes, they said I was "100% wrong." Yes, they got mad. That's not abuse. That's part of the gig.

 

I had a coach come storming out of the dugout on a play last year and I quickly gave him a restriction. He was very unhappy. Saw him the next day and he was cool as could be and even apologized. I always tell players/coaches I don't take it personally unless you call me fat or ugly. It's all good.

 

Great response. I was going to post something similar. I've both coached and been a ref for middle school basketball. We use the word abuse to loose now. When you are ref you should know 50% of those in the crowd will disagree with every call you make. If you're to thin skined to be yelled at well then you will have a lot of struggles in life. Officating sporting events is the most easy money I've made in my life.

Me and my partner had a gentlemen waiting on us at our vehicle at the end of the night officiating. It could have got real ugly.

At an 8 year old baseball a friend of mine was asked to fill in as a base umpire and while not a registered ump, I know he knows the game pretty well. Runner on 1st and grounder hit to 2nd baseman and goes under his glove into right center. The base runner got a late start and the CF made a good play and forced the runner out at 2nd by a couple of steps. The coach comes screaming and running out of the dugout and says " you dumb SOB, don't you know when the ball goes into the outfield there is no such thing as a force out!" He had to taken from the field by 3 park employees.

I realize that refs are regular people that live in the local communities with their families. However, something that I don't care for is when the ref is all chummy with the coach right away from the beginning of the game. This makes it look like favoritism has already been established. And more often than not, it already has.

 

As a teacher, even if the student is my best friend's kid or another teacher's kid or even the kid of my own child's teacher, I am very cautious to not show favoritism in

the classroom toward those students.

 

In general, this has been my number 1 complaint about Kentucky since I moved here 10 years ago. People are not objective. People are connected and everyone is related and they take care of their own.

 

Rant over.