Arguing With Idiots {Baseball Idiots}

Rodeo Clowns and Arguing with Them......

The heat and humidity levels have returned with a vengeance to Ohio....and while rain soaked many parts of the state, we in the Celina area had just a bit....all in all however, it was an unpleasant weather pattern in which to umpire baseball.  Then you top that off by arguing with coaching morons, and you end up scratching your head and asking yourself..."Why the Hell do I do lower level games?"

Things kicked off Thursday and Friday afternoons at Lima Central Catholic, where I worked the bases on Thursday, then Friday the plate for the Varsity ACME District....it was hot, but not miserable both days.  At the Varsity level, the games seem to move faster, the players of course usually better, and same for  the coaching.  Lima Shawnee, down in the losers bracket, won both Thursday(over Liberty-Benton) and then again on Friday(vs Findlay) to force a showdown with host LCC.  Shawnee would need to beat LCC twice, while the home standing T-Birds needed only one win to move on to next week's state tournament at Bryan, in the far northwest corner of the state.  Shawnee, like they did last season, came back, grabbed two wins, and thus move on, my hats off to them.

I wasn't there Saturday for the finals, instead I had opted to work the Junior ACME South Regional at Celina on our rubber infield turf....which was cooking by the time my double header got underway at 2:30 in the afternoon.  I should have known it probably wouldn't go well, when I noticed the coach from Team B was a larger than life rodeo clown that son Sam had tossed out of a game at Celina a few years back.  Sam had worked their game the night before, but unlike me, his memory tends to block things out, and he says he didn't remember the coach...I did!

With their team down in the winner's bracket final, the assistant coach continue to make off hand comments, along with pissing and moaning about my strike zone...in the heat, which required plenty of wet towels and water, I finally had enough of his young mouth, and bounced out from behind the plate and yelled in his direction, to basically "shut up", and if I heard one more word, he was gone...asking him if he understood, he says "yes" ...not done yet, I yell down at the head coach on 3rd base, that if I tossed his assistant, by rule, he's in the dugout for the rest of the game....the inning ends, with his team down 10-2, and here he comes.

Telling me that I can't threaten to kick him out{I didn't}, basically I reply, that I could do any damn thing I wanted...as he starts telling me to show him that rule, as he was an umpire for 15 years...I'm thinking ""Must have been a piss poor one at that".  Anyway as I turn to argue some more we bump into each other, and the rodeo clown accuses me of "bumping" him...Bullshit to say the least.  I, with gear on, might weigh 210 pounds, this guy is at least 340...if we had bumped I would have been sent backwards...I wasn't.  So much like someone from the Obama Administration, he was not exactly speaking the truth.  The game ended with his team on the losing end of a 10-4 final, meaning they had to play Coldwater in a late game(with me on the bases) to continue on in the tournament.

In the meantime, rodeo clowns tells the tournament directors that I had bumped him...."He's full of shit" I tell them...needless to say there would be no pre-game handshake between me and him before the next game....that game, with Coldwater up 8-2, was halted by rain for an hour in the bottom of the 5th....Rodeo Clown comes out and bitches that I made his pitcher toss in the rain, and I should not delay the game...by this time the wind was blowing 40 MPH and the rain was driving over the outfield fence....I just looked at the asshole I ordered the pitching mound covered.  He stated to my partner Sean, who was working the plate that if we couldn't finish the game, he would forfeit, as he wouldn't drive back for 2 innings, down by 6 runs.....lucky for his team, we started the game back up within the hour.

Coldwater's pitchers couldn't find the strike zone when we resumed...walking 8 batters in the bottom of the 5th to tie the game at 8-8....Team B won in the bottom of the 7th on a squeeze play....bringing them back on Sunday needing to win two games over Northmont, and somehow they did!  Now Rodeo Clown gets a shot at the Junior ACME State Title next week in Lima....{I call them Team B as to not embarrass the kids on the team, due to their fool of a coach, not to shy away from calling him what he is}

Anyway that was the weekend baseball and rhubarb action....I finally figure I need to cut the Summer lower level games off, beginning next summer....let the kids do them, I have no patience with morons....and even less when it is 90 degrees plus with humidity to match.  If I am going to argue with coaches, I at least want to do it with somebody that knows the game and I can respect.

The Rule as Written_____

Just in case you were wondering if I was correct or the Rodeo Clown Coach was right...here is the rule on page 29 of the 2012 Baseball Rules Book from the National Fedreation of State High School Assocations{which although ACME is not a member, the assocation does adopt the rules of}

"The umpire shall eject the offender from the game, unless the offense is judged to be of a minor nature.  The umpire may warn the offender and then eject him if he repeats the offense.  The warning of ejection shall be made at the end of playing action.  Failure to comply shall result in the game being forfeited.  For coaches who violate g(1-5), h, i, j, k, or l, the umpire may eject the offender.  For violation fo g-6 "both the head coach and the offending coach" shall be restricted to the dugout for the remainder of the game, or if the offense is judged severe enough, the umpire may eject the offender and restrict OR eject the head coach. 

Just so you know PRH knows his rules, and no rodeo clown needs to tell him differect.

back later>>>>