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Michael Steele's avatar

Kudos for going out there! I volunteered to umpire one casual exhibition game coached by one of my closest friends. When I missed a call at third base, that friend raked me over the coals in front of everybody. Loudly.

That one game was enough for me!

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Charles G's avatar

You could substitute "public school teacher" in place of umpire or journalist and the article would still be right on target.

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Matt Schlichting's avatar

Mail carriers, too.

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Will Leitch's avatar

These are both dead-on.

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Stacy Boyd's avatar

Beautiful piece. Moving, optimistic and made me see umpires (and hard, helping jobs) in a new way. My dad was a softball umpire in Lagrange, GA when I was a kid. He loved it but never shared much about why he did it. Maybe he felt the same as you and your grand dad.

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Will Leitch's avatar

It is definitely what I'm going to do as my own hobby when these kids are out of the house. It'll be my woodworking in the garage.

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Virginia McLaren's avatar

Excellent column. Follow you every time your newsletter posts to my e-mail. We lived in Athens for about 15 years until we headed back to California in 2022. I enjoy your references to the city. I have fond memories of that town.

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Will Leitch's avatar

It's a wonderful place! It misses you!

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Jim's avatar

The umpire story reminded me of a book I read you might enjoy “The Best Seat in Baseball but You Have to Stand” by Lee Gutkind. It follows a NL umpire crew which included Doug Harvey. You might like it

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Will Leitch's avatar

I don't know this! I'm going to look it up, thank you ...

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Jevon Jaconi's avatar

I would have asked your grandfather what the appeal process was. lol

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baseball books's avatar

i suppose you should take it as an honor that your Illini rantings awaken long dormant feelings in this long-ago Michigan grad. GO BLUE !!! (but have fun in Minny...)

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Will Leitch's avatar

I am ... sorry about this basketball season.

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baseball books's avatar

I can FEEL the smirk behind your kind words. Have fun anyway...

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James Dolan's avatar

I am a Penn State alum and a long suffering Penn State basketball fan. Hope we get you in the Big Ten Tournament! 😁 Thank you for another excellent column. I appreciate your writing very much.

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Will Leitch's avatar

I *CANNOT* watch us play you anymore. The last two years have been extremely painful.

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James Dolan's avatar

We’re coming for you on Friday! 😁

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Stefan Shepherd's avatar

I umpired for a season of intramural softball in college. I mostly called stuff on the base paths, which was easier than calling balls and strikes. For the most part, people -- students -- were cool. Tried volleyball, a little harder but not wildly different. The players in both were a lot nicer than the people playing basketball whom I reffed a few games. (To be honest, I wasn't good at all.)

One other point you can make (which applies to "public school teacher" or "mail carrier" or "journalist") is that you probably get what you pay for. I mean, you need a love (or serious interest) in what you're doing, but at some point, you gotta pay a reasonable amount. The amount of yelling, even in softball, wasn't worth the $4.25 (or less) minimum wage I was making, even if it was nice to be outside on a southern spring night.

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Will Leitch's avatar

Yeah ... it's a correlation of the old idea: "If you want to have a successful career as an umpire, marry rich."

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Rob Barnes's avatar

Another Home Run, Will! Such wonderful writing.

Don't know if you noticed on "that" Bruce Weber's Coaching Record page - it says the final AP Ranking for 2005 was 1??? Ooops...

Enjoy the tournament with your son and Go Illini!!!

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