Sports officiating?

This is a post about my upbringing and sports. My upbringing has really burned some bridges in my life and caused people to be angry with me.... What does that mean?

We are all taught certain values, beliefs and habits by our parents, teachers, friends, employers, and government… In the end, no matter what the influences, we manage to become who we are when all that information is formed together.

There is one hard taught lesson my father emphasized that has really come to light recently. That being my father held a strong belief that if you are going to criticize someone you better have walked I their shoes and if you have anything bad to say about someone, if you can not (and do not) say it to their face, do not say it.

I have lived with this in-bread advice for over 4 decades. It has caused many problems and saved me many times. After I walked in someone shoes, I am far more forgiving of the issues they face. That is why I have done so many times. I had the urge to highly criticize someone but before I did, I “walked in their shoes”. Like organizing a large running event, organizing a tennis tournament, being the director of a youth sports group, coached softball, baseball, tennis, hockey, football, basketball, soccer, and more. I have done so many things as I wanted to walk in their shoes and found when I had, I did not have much to say anymore.

There are so many criticisms I hear… The Doctor makes way to much for what he does, those overpaid government workers have it easy, salesmen are overpaid people who can charm the right person, teachers get overpaid for working 9 months a year, and so on. I recalled a friend complaining how his sister in pharmaceutical made $200,000 in one year and almost flunked out of collage. He said “she must have slept her way there” and I said he really needs to understand that industry before he says things like that! I do not believe all these statements to be true just like many other comments you hear about so many professions. This is because I have not been in their shoes so how would I have any idea?

Why does this come up now? Recently I have had some heated e-mails about baseball umpires and mistakes they made recently. I am not arguing they were not mistakes. What I argue is to criticize so harshly that which has never been experienced by most did cause me to get on the offensive. If you watch ESPN, even John Kroch said there were clear errors, but did not call for them to be fired. So many are calling them idiots and saying they should be fired. Now this is a subject dear to heart and in my dad’s own words, if you have not been in their shoes, do not judge them.

I get offensive, as I have been there. For 7 years I worked hard as a baseball umpire. Actually thought of making it a profession. Then I learned that most umpires are actually business owners, wealthy in some other way or retired from some other profession. You cannot raise a family at that profession. Well, truthful a select few do. Since that time I have become a Tennis Official. I have seen the same thing in this sport as well. I have worked professional events where after travel and other costs, I earned $300 a week for working 10-hour days.

A good friend of mine is a top tennis official. He has done the US Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon and is one of the top officials I know. I recently asked him about incomes. He said he nets about $1000 a month when all is said and done. He has other means of support.

But what hurts me most is the fact the society really does not understand what it is like in that position. No matter what you do you will be hated? Imagine if every aspect of your jobs was played over and over again by the press? You cannot back out of a gig late or risk loss of the nest assignment. Have a sick day and have consequences…

The really good officials (like many old friends and myself who were very highly rated) left baseball to get a job where we have health coverage and a wage we could raise a family. As I said, sure there are those who may make it, just like players. Like in “The Rookie”, the movie about Jimmy Morris and his quest to make it. Almost broke his family. And two years later, he was out of the majors. Point is, in officiating, very few hang on long enough to make it to the golden spot, unless they have another form of income.

So very few solid officials continue, as it is not a stable and thankful job. That makes the pool to select from thin. Just like a few years ago I commented the retail sector really hurt with solid customer service skilled employees. What I heard this is the best applicants they can get... Like I said earlier, have your job, every minute, on film and I bet there would be reasons to be fired if you hold them to that standard for a bonehead mistake, a mistated word to other little issue that is on tape...

So in this life when I look at someone and think they are just idiots. I look in the mirror and think, aren’t we all at times? We just do not have ESPN showing if 20 times a day, place it in the newspapers or debate their job status at the water cooler…

Like I said, been there, done that… whole new perspective…

Carry on.

Same old complaints....

You have heard this before. My weight is always been an issue for me. I can gain and lose 10 pounds a week. Lately more gains than losses! I have been working out and tracking everything I eat. I have been working out (Cardio) 30-45 minutes a day. I feel so much stronger and the knee hurts very little. I even went 3.1 MPH at a 15% incline for 40 minutes on the hamster wheel... I have been eating 2,200 to 2,700 calories daily. Nutrition has been very balanced. I lift weights in a full routine 2 or 3 times a week.

And I have gained all I lost in the past two weeks (5 pounds) and 3 pounds in addition to where I was 3 weeks ago. WTF is all I can say in a kind way. I am at 268. That is 30 pounds over last October and 65 pounds over my 2006 50 mile weight. I am only 34 pounds before I get to where I peaked in 2005.

Now many may get tired of all this complaining I seem to continue doing. But I am using this blog right now just to vent. It pisses me off... Makes me mad!

I want to go get a great big pail of ice cream I have been avoiding for weeks and eat what makes me happy. But instead I am heading to the gym for the second time today, I will ride the bike for an hour, then go home, eat a 500-700 calorie well balanced dinner (not enjoyable) and pout.

I can only hope that the big increase this AM was caused by water gain from my heavy lifting workout yesterday and tomorrow morning (I weight each AM) I will see a decrease. If not, I will just keep on this same path as I know from experience, losing weight, getting healthy and successfully running an ultra are never always fun! The reward comes from the success that only comes after all the pain, frustration and agony! I need to Carry on!!!! Not let the scale bother me as long as I feel stronger and I am not junking it out!

As I close, I just found out Pamela McNeill is having her CD release party on the same night as the UMTR party (November 14). The party starts at 9 PM at Bunkers so I can attend both, I just will leave UTMR at 8 PM. For those who do not know Pamela McNeill she is quite a accomplished signer/songwriter in the Metro area. I have an old post about her (All you quiet dreamers carry on) and close with her typical closing "Carry on". If you read that post you know the special meaning that her music has for me as well as the phrase "carry on". (Just writing this brings a lump to my throat and a tear to the eye. I wonder if I will ever not feel immense pain and sorrow from unexpected deaths?)

Anyway, I also support local musicians when I have a chance. (As long as I like the music.) If anyone likes the music, it should be a great night.

Maybe tomorrow I will break my foot drop kicking the scale? Either way, I need to keep pushing onward and remember to be happy!

Carry on!

Movin on up...

I really liked the Jefferson's: the show and the theme song. Recall..

Well we're movin' on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin' on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin',
Just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues,
Gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby,
There ain't nothin wrong with that.

Who does not love this theme song? That theme song has been a favorite of mine as I climb hills in the past and now as I walk the treadmill at 15% inclines. Stupid in a way, but it does increase my spirit. Maybe I can get Carl to write new lyrics for a Superior Trail theme song? He is great with words!

The past few weeks I have been doing at least a mile or 20-30 minutes on the 15% incline of the treadmill. Picking up the pace a little. Did 1.75 in 30 minutes the other day. Just walking, huffing and puffing! It is really a great workout, as long as you do not hold on to the treadmill. Knee has a little stiffness, but I think it is just part of the process and things are getting better.

I recall the first day I tried the 15% incline, it was a little hard as it took 23 minutes to get in the mile. Today I am starting to feel like I could do an hour. I may try that next week. An hour at 15%. Not the animal workouts Adam has been putting in, but I am still happy with them. I ma getting a better understanding of how Diane did most (or all) of her training on the treadmill and walked the ST 100 to finish. I still recall her and I yo-yoing between miles 30-35 with her passing me on the uphills with her awesome walking strength and me passing her on the down hills with my heavy weight being hard to stop on the downhills.

Been reading about many people looking forward to Surf... I am looking forward to seeing them finish a 50. Should be a hoot to volunteer.

I found out my tennis event on the weekend of the UMTR event was cancelled. YIPEE, I GET TO GO. It was nice last year and look forward to it again. Hope many plan to make it out there. Yes that means you Kurt and Carrie... It would be nice to hear Carrie's half success. Saw she finished, congrats!

Anyway, after not being able to workout and kept movin' on up the scale (pounds), I have two weeks of regular workouts and am down 5 pounds. Yep, I moving on up... But I hope it leads to the North Side (Superior Trail!)

Carry on!

What a differance a few years can make?

I was at Ashland, WI this weekend for Shelley's first half marathon, The Whistlestop Half-Marathon. I used to have very high regards for this race, but after this weekend, I left with a new impression. I think some of the problems is that is is hurt by past success... Thank god there is a great course and a scenic course, of I am not sure i would suggest anyone go there again.

It all started going wrong Friday after got to the event check in... At check in we were informed we have to pick up the race chip at the start. That seemed goofy. (Later when we looked in the bag, we learned there was also no pins for the number.) We went to the pasta dinner... The lines were long. Not sure they were prepared for the amount of people they had waiting. When we got to the end of the line, there was no pasta. As we waited about 3 minutes, a guy came out and said "we can not cook it fast enough". This was early in the night, about 6:15 PM... When we left the line was longer and people appeared to wait longer than we did...

Ok, not a great start, but we went back to the cabin and went to sleep. We woke to howling winds and snow. About an inch. The road was a little icy. Temp near 30 but the wind chill must have been singe digits. Great...

We went to the start I had Shelley wait in the line for the biffy while I got the pins and the chip. I went to a barn to get the chip (and there was again a line!) and I asked about pins for the number. No one knew. One person suggested I go out by the start (a few hundred yards across a field) and check there. At that location, a person to me to go back to a table near where I got the chip and they were on the table... less than 50 feet from where I got the Chip.

Then there was an announcement the race was going to start 10 minutes late. Well, after waiting so long for the biffy in the frigid cold, Shelley and I went to the car to warm up. The car was fortunately parked about 30 feet from the start. We saw people lining up to start and got out of the car to see what was going on Before we knew it, the start gun went off? But there was less than 200 people in the race. I thought there was 1,500+... THEY STARTED IT ON TIME WHEN WE WERE TOLD 10 MINUTES LATE... I really had a felling they had no clue what they were doing!

There were still people coming to the start confused when the male leader came by (3 mile mark). Over a thousand started over 5 minutes after the real start, as they were told the race is going to start 10 minutes late. Many people just sat in the cars trying to stay warm and got out of the car at 8 minutes after, 2 minutes before the assumed start.

The road was slick but the sun was coming out and it was warming up. I just stood there waiting for Shelley and saw so many people confused as they came to the start line and there was not official start for them...

Then my day was spent seeing Shelley every 2 miles. Watching the aid stations, I was so happy I had her carry a bottle as the stations were to small to serve the crowds that were there... Very short and understaffed.

The race was a success for Shelley. She was about 2:35 and really was fresh the whole way. She said it was enjoyable course. She wanted to get out of her wet clothes but wanted to get here finishers shirt. Oh, the put that a block away in another tent... She went to the tent to get her finisher shirt. GUESS WHAT, they were so understaffed, she stood outside the tent for about 10 minutes waiting in line to get her shirt... And the wind chill was easily in the low 30's. She got real chilled being in wet clothes.

So we were really having a sour taste of the experience, when we decided to pay $7 to have her time posted on her medal. We dropped it off, they said about 30 minutes. We waited30 minutes, then I checked and we were 14th in line and it took about 2 minutes each. So we went to the entertainment tent and got Hot Chocolate. We waited in the tent for 30 minutes and went back, we were now 13th in line... I asked what was that all about and he just said "we put all these ahead"... They were from the other races (10K/5K). He said another 30-40 minutes. Now we could have went to shower and ate already... But we had wasted over an hour waiting for the medal the way it was. SO we decided to go the the grocery store and returned in an hour. The medal was done... BUT THEY SPELLED HER NAME WRONG! We just shook our heads and left.

Shelley fortunately loved the course and the success she had. She did not like the weather and as she has little experience with races, she did not get bothered by the rookie effort I saw by the under-prepared organizers this weekend. So many errors and lack of communication. There are so many ways to make this easier (Like give pins in the packet, give the chip the night before so the race site is not so congested and packed trying to get people the chip, like put the shirts near the finish and hand them out near the medals, by learning to spell, by being prepared for larger numbers.)

I left with the impression they can not handle a larger high class event. They have done a great job based on my experience with a smaller race, but this was way to much for them to handle. If they are trying to get the size down and make it more manageable, they are succeeding as I will no longer suggest this as a half or full marathon to participate in...

I did take many pictures. They can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/peasemines/DropBox?feat=directlink

Carry on...

Whistlestop, but not to run...

I am on my way to Ashland, WI for the second time in my life. I enjoyed one of the best fall marathons in the nation (in my opinion) there over a decade ago and now to be support for Shelley. She is doing her fist 1/2 marathon. In my history of running, I think like many of my fiends. That being a half marathon, just a boring training run.

Although I look back to 1984. I look back to my first 10K. I remember being nervous and was thinking "what I am doing!". I finished and recall limping the next two days. This is the same process I had for my first 15K, then 1/2 marathon, then marathon, then 50K, then 50 mile and so on. So I respect those worries and will support those mental barriers I know I had once in my life... In fact, coming back from this knee surgery, I am having these fears about a 2 mile run, once I am cleared.

I know she will be fine physically. I think she is in her best shape ever (well, the past 5 years I have known her). She has been lifting weights as well as several quality training runs and her core and upper body is much stronger. I am more concerned about the mental part of the race. Over the years, I have some to learn, mental training is more important that physical training in longer races, at least for me. Last fall we ran a casual 12.5 miles together when I lied to her about how far we were in the run and I did not give her a watch. At the end of the run, when I told her how far she went, she immediately became very sore and fatigued. The mind is an amazing thing that I truly believe stops results in many more DNF's than any physical issue overall.

I am looking forward to Carrie Neuburger (Kurt's wife) also running her first 1/2 marathon. I have not seen them since Afton 50K and I hope her training went well. At this time of the year, should be a great time for pictures and I will have three camera's. Whistlestop is the best for spectators as well. It is easy to see your runner almost every two miles and a beautiful course. Should be fun!

Carry on...

This was sent to me... had to share...

QUOTED FROM BILL COSBY
"They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk:

Why you ain't,
Where you is,
What he drive,
Where he stay,
Where he work,
Who you be... I'm like....

And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth
In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids.

$500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit.

Where were you when he was 2?

Where were you when he was 12?

Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?

And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward:
Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from??

We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa ......

I say this all of the time. It would be like white people saying they are European-American. That is totally stupid. I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, or the Netherlands. The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to Africa . So stop, already! ! !

With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap .......... and all of them are in jail. Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.

We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now.

We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks have to do a better job.

Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer."
Dr. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed.D.