You're out!

Why are we, at times, asked to do the very thing that we do not want to do?
I grew up downriver. As far as my friends knew their were only two sports. Football and Baseball. In my family the only real sport was swimming.
I did none of the above. Soccer and basketball were my sports ( by "my sports" I mean I played them, but I was never really good at either.) I was a member of the Pepsi Tiger's fan club. I have sat thru so many Tigers games that I can not even give a close estimate to the number of hours I have wasted. So on a superficial level I understand the game, balls, strikes, outs, and even some of the nit-picky rules (balks, ball thrown out of play.) I hold no claim to the ins and outs of the strategies that make a great manager.
The sport is so slow that I can not even stay awake for half of a game. Basically I do not enjoy the sport. Austin does, and he is pulling Collin & Hope with him. So what is a good father to do? I go to the game and root on the Chargers. That is until Tuesday's game, when the umpire did not show. Coach Conn asked if I could ump the plate. So I did. I am sure that I blew more than my fair share of calls. But it is only Jr high ball.
I found myself realizing that yelling at the ump is not a good idea. The first strike that I called a coach started to yell about the "bad" call (for the record I still think it was a strike.) If I were the vindictive type, I could easily see how the strike zone could grow as the coaches complain.

Austin has a game today if it is not rained out. I think I might be a little late to avoid a similar situation.

On a geeky note, Check out Larry's site if you have a Mac. If you do not own a Mac... I'm sorry. Go buy one and then you can use the cool stuff Larry talks about.