Many umpires have heard phrases such as “Don’t have
rabbit ears” or “Don’t go picking boogers.” While the intended meanings of
these terms may be to help an umpire’s game, they can also help lead to bigger concerns. By overlooking beginning signs of problems, you may also be ignoring bad
behavior, harassment and fanning the flames for later innings.
Chirping about your strike zone, sitting on buckets out
of the dugout, multiple players out of dugout during live ball play, are all
warning signs indicating you are allowing things to degrade unchecked.
These infractions are against the rules, the rules we
umpires get paid to enforce. If you do choose to ignore the chirping and
infractions, you are telling everyone it is allowed, that you are easy and will
take it. You are giving the keys to the zoo to the monkeys, and you are no
longer managing the game. They are.
As an umpire it’s easy to get lulled into an
everything is wonderful feeling as nothing of alarm has shown itself that day
or ten games into the season. Then comes game 15 in the season, and then suddenly,
it’s on. Two closely competitive Division I teams, one high octane coaching
staff whose attitudes are driving their players and loud, over the top fans.
Then to add to your incoming storm we have the blaring
sound system between innings. This is when you since that the game is becoming
out of control and the game has all the elements needed to test your metal and
sanity as an umpire.
As the game quickly continues going south, you should
set boundaries, but this is now easier said than done. The, fans, coaches and players at this point
neither know or respect your boundaries, because you have failed to set them. This
takes me back to my original point, it is much easier to prevent and control a problem when small and manageable before it gets out of
control.
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