For those of you that know him or have gotten to know him over the years, say a prayer for my old man. He joined me on so many road trips during my umpire days that the players and coaches got to know him over the years. He might've even waited for your parents to talk shit about me when he was around, let them keep talking, then tell them that he was my father. 😂. (Where you think I get my pettiness from?) Everyone who knows me knows he's been through hell and back for a hotdog and a handshake over the years. I don't often get personal on here, but if you are a praying person, then please include him in your prayers tonight. He could sure use them....

@nextlevelbb All backside

RT @CoachHoneyMHU19: One of the coolest things I’ve ever been lucky enough to be apart of!! #HighMotor

Ya know, it's EXTREMELY telling how many people care about you when you stop being as beneficial to them and their lives. It's amazing how many people will pickup the phone when you are of absolutely no use to them. I may have 17 concussions and forget damn near everything, but I can promise you that shit like this is not forgotten.

@CoachSheets3 @NAIABall @GGC_Baseball @MidwayUBaseball @chuckbox1969 @ButchBaseball29 @SkippersDugout @GotDunks21 @CoachBram5 Take him in the freezer section, tell him to grab you a 12 pack and lock him in there 🤣

@itsJohnRocker @BernieSanders Let's continue to mend fences here, obviously not a huge fan of John Rocker due to me being a fan of the Mets, so I can safely this is the first time in my life I AGREE with @itsJohnRocker

Overall, very accurate representation. From my perspective, the main issue with the lack of knowledge about smaller schools is simply the visibility. For Whatever the reason, high school players today don't seem to start watching college baseball until they are already committed.. they have no respect for anyone under D1, hence the D1 or bust mentality. In a way, I understand WHY they think that way, bc In their mind anything other than D1 is not quality baseball but that's simply bc they have never WATCHED A GAME AT THAT LEVEL. They don't spend weekend and weeknights watching JUCO/NAIA ball or high level D2, which to me, can be just as entertaining as D1 and is definitely just as talented in some areas. I've seen that MOST (not all, but most) D2 programs have just as talented of ball players at the top of their lineup/rotation. Seriously.. for example, I umpired Seaver King (helluva baseball name) at Wingate his last year there. He actually told me he had already started moving to wake forest at the time. He was a Future first rounder playing at Wingate (D2-one of the best in the country). Today's players don't do their own research, they expect coaches and 'advisors' to teach them about this stuff, but when we try it is often met with resistance. I tell them to go watch your @GGC_Baseball or @twbulldogs, @RUBaseballAAC, etc and they either laugh it off or they tell me they will and never even think about it again... Players, want to get ahead of the pack? Do your own research. You'll come to the same conclusion everyone else who has been around Non-D1 baseball came to, that there are DAMN GOOD baseball players and DAMN GOOD competition at all levels. The other issue is players just think much higher of themselves as ball players than they really should. A lot of them base how good they are on the metrics they receive from PG and other showcases, but that's just it, it's a metric. Not a meter telling you how good you are, it's telling coaches that you may have tools, and you may need polishing but you have the tools to play there. Players aren't realistic about their ability level and their ability to play at the next level. Some of that is their parents fault for telling them it's okay every time they O-for, and part of this is on us coaches for creating players like this. Too many travel coaches are not HONEST with players, telling them they are not as good as they think they are, not telling them what they need to get better at to get to the next level, they just tell them how great they are out of fear of losing them on the roster.. CANT LOSE THE PLAYER FEE. Some coaches do great at this, others struggle and it shows across the landscape of baseball.. Coaches need to do a better job of educating players on EVERY option, not just telling them what they want to hear. And players need to do a better job of doing their own research and understanding where they ACTUALLY fit. Most of this can't truly be done until you go and physically watch a NAIA/JUCO game and you see the size/strength of the dudes at the 'lower levels'

@SierraCharlie21 @RealCJ10 🤬🤬🤬🤬

@RealCJ10 @RealCJ10 only if we can do karate in the garage.

RT @RealCJ10: Did we just become ……friends?

@IanSmittyGA @GTBaseball @PrepBaseballGA Who was umpiring this? I actually really like him

Legit baseball question for everyone sick of Cold Weather and ready for real baseball to start: WHO WINS? MLB’s ‘ All-Time Hall of Fame’ team? Or MLB’s ‘All-Time Never Gonna Get In/Banned from Hall of Fame’ Team? 5 game series. WHY

I mean, I guess the argument still holds true that as long as they stay consistent with that same zone, to both sides, it’s up to the players to make the adjustments? Personally, as an umpire I feel like that’s A LOT to give to two MAJOR LEAGUE pitchers, not only that, but in the postseason nonetheless…. Kinda a lot to ask of hitters at that level, but there’s a reason I’m on twitter and they’re there 🤷🏻‍♂️

People who know me, know I CAN’T STAND STEPHEN A. SMITH. Refuse to have him on my tv. I won’t get into that, but just know I’m not a fan. However, he’s 100% right and I really don’t think there’s a sane, rational argument for the opposite to be said.

Billy gets the #DOOD tag

@pjonesbaseball @RUBaseballAAC

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE NERDS IN THE BACK LET’S BE HONEST: The only ‘Ball’ you can throw where the velocity matters is the ball that gets stuck in his rib cage. Throw that one hard.

I’ve actually coached against and umpired more guys that, I wouldn’t necessarily consider them ‘bad coaches’ but I also would never ever accuse them of being GOOD coaches, by any means. (W/ the exceptions of dudes like @MicahOwings and @JonMarkOwings32, etc. I could be 109% wrong about this, but I feel like a lot of the guys that make it to at least pro ball (especially more nowadays) tend to make it bc of their natural athletic ability and their ‘ceiling’ if you will. Not too often do you see the guy who spent 3 years as a backup in high school, played well enough in one year to earn a scholarship only to sit first two years in college-which ends up being the best thing for him bc he gets to play behind an all-American shortstop who teaches him how to truly play the game the right way, teaches him consistencY, HOW TO BE A PRO BEFORE HE IS A PRO. Don’t twist my words, I’m not saying that naturally gifted people can’t be good coaches. I’m just saying that very often the best coaches I see are the ones who weren’t the most naturally gifted so they had to learn how to play the game and they had to learn how to do the little things and they had to learn how to be a good teammate, how to study the game, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the dudes Who may not be the most Physically gifted make up for it in the idea that they have been kicked in the teeth, probably multiple times, and they know how to get up throwing haymakers. To be completely fair, this tends to be more prevalent in today’s baseball as opposed to the baseball of even 10-15 years ago, let alone prior. GRIT, determination, and the natural drive to want to say ‘F*** you’ to anyone who knocks you down and tells you to stay down. Getting real with yall and not sugar coating it….. Unfortunately, The players that were always the best athlete, always projected to be the one who goes ‘D1 then to the show’, at the younger ages are (through no fault of their own) often coached by people who may not understand that in order for a player like that to be successful, you can’t make things easier for them and kiss their butts the way every other coach of theirs probably has, out of fear of losing the player and the production. I can’t tell you how many coaches I talk to that say ‘trust me, you know damn well what I want to say. Unfortunately, his dad will pack his shit and leave before the next half inning if you discipline the kid at all. So we’ve got coaches afraid of losing players, so they refrain from COACHING THE KID PROPERLY. Sometimes the coach is unaware, sometimes they are well aware but the understanding of what is best for the kid vs. what is best for the sake of my success this season takes precedent. I’d say today you see less experienced coaches more frequently, but that’s because of sheer number of travel teams. That’s it, no other way to put it. But the ones who do have experience are either not able to coach properly out of fear of losing the player or they don’t understand what it takes to get a naturally gifted player to really comprehend failure. Most importantly, how to deal with it, when they don’t fail very often at the level they’re at. This often sets natural players up for failure in the long term bc they can’t handle the adversity. No coach challenged them to do so for whatever The reason.