any people think advancement in umpiring is a matter of luck or a matter of politics. That's wrong. Everything you do in umpiring is really a matter of choice. Luck can help but not if you have made poor choices. Judicious politics is no more than making good choices.

The choices we make are the key to advancement, true advancement that is. There will always be the flash-in-the-pan — someone who gets to a particular level they have not earned. But if you want to live at the level you advance to, then you have to make the right choices along the way.

At first we may umpire for the chance to stay in the game or for the money or for the power or for any variety of reasons. After we have been umpiring awhile, we begin to vaguely assess what we are doing and why. That is when some umpires start thinking about quitting while others begin formulating goals.

Continued...