C’mon, BLUE!

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . June 21, 2010 . 8:59PM

I know that you put up with a lot of junk from angry parents and unhappy children. You work in hot weather and have to wear nasty padding and risk overheating a lot of the time. You chance being hit by balls or bats or even flying little bodies on a regular basis and I have no doubt that every now and then a call you made might keep you up at night.

There are times I watch some of you showboating out there and I wonder if you realize that when you make bad calls over and over and over again so you can show off that you are breaking the hearts of little ones. Kids that may not play the sport of baseball again because of a loss they took seriously and one that you will forget the minute you go home. Last week, I watched one of you set the other team up for a win they didn’t deserve and our team said nothing. They played hard and when they lost, they lost with heart. But you did the same thing two innings in a row and when the inning was over I watched you smirk as you’d commented within my hearing how that kid could really hit and it was great to watch and see if he could bring the runs in.

Do not EVER bring your bias in a front of parent if you want to keep your job. It was all I could not to run out there and hit you with the umbrella I bring to keep myself from passing out due to heat. I’m aware you are, at most, 23 years old, but I will beat you to within an inch of your life if you ever and I mean EVER do that to some 9-10 year olds EVER again. Take your job more seriously and realize that you aren’t God, you are merely a person who is expected to be impartial so as to allow a game to be as fair as possible. You weren’t fair. Not even close.

When we faced that team again in the finals, the game was much closer. We had three umpires and I watched another umpire showboat his way around. He was closer to my age, however, and made fewer mistakes. What I do know is that he didn’t set up that same kid to hit grand slams and our kids didn’t go home crushed. They went home feeling like they’d done well that game and deserved to win second place in the tournament.

AJ said it best when he said, “Mama, I’m not even sad that we got second place. Why is that?” A job well done and game well played while doing your best is nothing to be ashamed of and they weren’t crushed by a score that was stacked against them from the start. Rest assured, if I see you next year, and you pull the same crap, you won’t get away with it again.

I’ve got your number.

Sincerely,

Me

P.S. Before you try to give me the letter from the Umpire, I’ve snoped it for you. Enjoy.