Most of my life I have been an avid Baseball enthusiast, whether as a player or just someone who loves to watch baseball games. Just in the last week I made a leap of faith into the realm of umpire.
Yes, I have agreed to become an umpire for the girls softball league here in town. A friend of mine asked if I would like to do this. I thought, why not. Sooooo….I commit to a Sunday afternoon training session. Boy, that was fun, not. First, off this is not playing softball. This is being the bad guy that everyone gets to yell at. The first thing they teach is “you are in charge of the field”.

Okay, so I leave this meeting a little intimidated, but, knowing baseball as well as I do, I say I can do this. They send me home with two different rule books. The one I have always played by and the one that has all this new stuff to learn. I have a minor panic attack, but calm down quickly.

Not 2 1/2 days later my friend and umpiring boss shows up at my shop to schedule me for two games.
Yikes….I’m thinking I have all the time in the world to read up on this stuff and get comfortable with the idea of being an umpire….not so. My first game is April 2nd and then the next one is April 4th.
Guess what I will be doing for the next three weeks. You got it, reading the rule books. At least I am only umping for 8 to 10 year olds. I’ll let you know how it goes.