The Little League Coach

Sports Uniform Stuff

A place where anyone and everyone can discuss Team Sports Uniforms, Baseball Uniforms, Basketball Uniforms, Cheerleading Uniforms, Field Hockey Uniforms, Football Uniforms,
Lacrosse Uniforms, Soccer Uniforms, Softball Uniforms, Track
Uniforms, Cross Country Uniforms , Volleyball Uniforms,
Wrestling….
I think you get the picture.

This is how “Sports Uniform Guy” the founder of the blog (catchy name here) The Sports Uniform Guy describes his site. I have to admit, I didn’t realize there was so much to talk about concerning sports uniforms, but apparently their is!

All of us have to purchase uniforms for our league and all of us are intimately familiar with the process. I think this is akin to being strapped down and having my toenails extracted one-by-one, but the Sports Uniform Guy (Love that name) makes uniforms interesting and exciting!

He is actually a pretty cool guy, with a fantastic perspective considering that fact that he is old and (holding my nose) an EAGLES FAN!!!! UGGGGHHHH…But at least he is a true Philadelphian, so he is true to his home team and I respect him for that. It could be worse, he could be a Cowboys fan! Oh yeah, didn’t the Redskins just spank the Cowboys and the Eagles in consecutive weeks in their own stadiums??? But I digress as I am still basking in their glory.

All kidding aside, (yeah right) when I logged onto his site today Sports Uniform Guy I was met with smiling and casually vivacious future Vice President Sarah Palin. How great is it going to be to watch her stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down during McCain’s state of the union speeches! I am looking forward to that! Again, I digress!!! I am bad tonight.

Anyway, all kidding aside (and I mean it this time), I have had the pleasure of conversing via email with The Sports Uniform Guy and he seems to be both knowledgeable and service oriented. A quick perusal of his site supports my first impressions of him.

He mixes current events such as a controversial cheerleader uniform for the University of Idaho, with serious content such as the latest fashions in the basketball world. He takes hard line stands on throwback uniforms after seeing those horrible Jets uniforms a couple of weeks ago, and has light fodder such as Uniform Spelling Snafus. He seems to cover all the bases and keep a very dull subject, Sports Uniforms, light and entertaining, as well as informative.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

General
Cheerleading, Philadelphia Eagles, Sarah Palin, Shopping, Sports, sports uniform guy, Throwback uniform, uniform, University of Idaho
8 October 2008 comment TrackBack-URI

Paid vs Volunteer Umpires

Sorry about not posting last night. I had a minor’s practice at 5PM, a major’s practice at 6:30PM, and a senior’s practice at 8PM. All is good w/ that except I started watching the debate w/ my wife and next thing I knew it was 1AM. Sorry about that, how about that Sarah Palin? Won’t be too tough to listen to her talk for 4 years will it?

I should preface this post with the fact that I umpire in Little League as an unpaid volunteer and for travel programs as a paid umpire.

I was sent an article as part of an umpire’s newsletter today written by Jim Smith of Pennsylvania District 22. I assume he is the umpire in chief for that district, though it never really says. The article, titled Volunteer vs. Paid can be found here:

http://www.littleleague.org/Page57168.aspx

Great read wasn’t it?

I have to agree there is little more gratifying then volunteering time for Little League. It is fun and extremely rewarding. My personal opinion is you never pay money for anything for Little League unless it turns you a profit. For instance, we once paid a guy to come in and show us how to run our bat-a-thon and make it profitable. When I left that league of 1,400 kids we were bringing in $140,000/year in batathon money. We paid him 5%. A good investment I think.

Another opportunity to pay a company and actually bring more revenue into the organization that you would have otherwise, is a snack bar company. My personal favorite is a sponsorship company. They can sell advertising all over your park for a small fee and bring in tons of money for the league.

The bottom line is, you shouldn’t pay people directly for work they do for the league and the volunteer organization, but paying a company to increase revenues to the league is smart. Umpire are an expense, not a profit center, profit centers should be exploited, expenses reduced. With this corporate philosophy throughout the league, the kids will reap all the rewards.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why Do We Hold Grudges?
• Don’t Like What You See on the Field?
• Volunteers, You Have to Ask Them
• Not Every League is “Little League”

General, Umpires
baseball, General, Jim Smith, little league, Little League Baseball, paid, Sarah Palin, Sport, umpire, volunteer
4 October 2008 comment TrackBack-URI