IT'S JUST A GAME: UMPING WAS DEFINITELY A SUMMER OF CLOSE CALLS

It's that time of year when kids dream of hitting home runs in a summer ball league, but I'm still trying to shake the nightmare of umpiring little league in my former state of residency.

Now I don't know how serious the folks around here take their youth sporting events, but I was absolutely appalled at what I experienced last summer.

Granted, I was warned by a few of my former co-workers of what I was getting myself into. But desperate for a few extra bucks, I figured I could handle umpiring a few harmless games of youth baseball a week.

Well...

When the season started with a coach getting beat up by an angry parent following a practice game, I had a sickening feeling I might be in over my head.

In my first first night of umpiring, I nearly lost my hearing after a coach went into a full Earl Weaver-like rage following a close play at first base.

Following the game, a few "executive board members" of this league said I should have `taken control of the situation' and thrown the guy out of the game.

Yes, if I would have been armed with some type of semi-automatic weapon, I would have likely given this crazed lunatic the ol' heave-ho. But unarmed, I figured it in my best interest to let the man's emotions erupt in front of me.

It was scary at times, but I did survive a baseball season filled with more negativity than a pessimists' convention. The coaches yelled at the umpires and their players. The "fans" in attendance yelled at the players, coaches and umpires.

With their impressionable young minds seeing nothing but constant complaining, guess who else joined in the whining?

Yep, the 11- and 12-year-old players that were just practicing one of the "skills" they learned throughout the season.

Before the end-of-season tournament started, I wrote a column in the local paper I worked for expressing my opinion of the league. I was nearly run out of town.

The main argument I heard from several people was, "That's the way youth baseball is everywhere you go."

That's a pretty sorry excuse.

I realize there are problems in youth sports. But because that's the way it is in other areas of the world, doesn't make the ignorant behavior acceptable.

All I'm saying is if you're a coach or parent of a youth ball player, remember he or she is just a kid and is playing the game for fun. It's okay to win (I like to do it myself), but it's certainly not the end of the world if you happen to lose.

Keep it fun. Mistakes will be made by the youngsters as their underdeveloped bodies continue to grow. I understand it can be very frustrating watching young players turn a routine play into a circus act.

But if you have to yell at a player, yell encouragement. Kids seem to handle an encouraging word better than criticism.

But then, don't we all.

Rus Baer is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian