First off let me give you my thoughts on the subject. Most umpires make the correct calls most of the time. Somtimes we make calls that coaches do not like. Alot of coaches don't have a clue what they are even looking at when it comes to making a call they only se what they want to see. I am not picking on any one coach, just giving you and idea waht we as umpires have to deal with on a weekly basis. I don't know of many umpires that do this for the money, they do it because of the kids involved. Yet we take constant badgering from the umpires in the stands and in the dugouts who have almost got me believing they can see things better from 60 to 150' away than me. If everyone want to be an umpire come out to some classes , pay your dues and join us, because you all seem to know the rules better than us.
For all the complaints I hear on this forum it leads me to belive that there is not one good ump anywhere that we go. Well except Brettman but he must live in Alaska or I am sure you would all be telling us how bad he is if he did any games in this forums areas.
You think we do this for the money, before i make one dime umpiring I have spent over 500.00 to 1000.00 just in equipment, uniforms, shoes, hats, ball bags, socks, etc.
This is not a one time purchase I buy new shirts every year, new hats, shoes, brushes, you get the idea. I umpire ASA, NSA, Pony, NCAA and to keep up with the different rules for those associations you have to attend classes, clinics, etc. Now I know not all umpires spend or do as many games in year as I maybe do and probably don't belong to more than one of the above associations. But for the most part there are a lot of good umpires out there and most don't deserve the things that are said about them. I can't speak for the other umpires but I do this because i enjoy seeing a kid smile when she makes a good play. this sport keeps kids out of trouble and give them the chance to play ball at the college level when they get older.
If we didn't make mistakes somtimes they wouldn't even call us umpires........
they would call us Coaches and Parents because we all know they never make a mistake.