The games began...and I'm beat

On Monday the games began - with four games spaced out every 3 hours.  The umpires were assigned to games based on a special algorithm that is not comprehensible outside of Taylor MI - so I won't try to write it down...Suffice it to say that some guys had two games - e.g. the first and the last;  some had two games in a row; and one member of the crew, yours truly, did 2 games, took a break, and had the nightcap as well.  I was pretty well beat by the time the last game was over...but here I am at 1:00am starting this blog.

After the games, the festivities don't stop.  The good folks from Taylor know how to put on a party.  There is a hospitality 'suite', which is really the hotel conference center, where the adults connected to the series get together for a meet and greet, and so much more.  Team managers, coaches, parents and friends join the staff and the umpires for a couple hours of eating, drinking and fundraising.  Little League International provides some financial support for Jr League World Series, but they raise a lot of funds on their own...and the nightly hospitality session is a chance to auction off 'one of a kind' memorabilia - signed balls, bats, jerseys, etc.  

In my three games on Sunday, I had a couple close plays (one especially at third base on a throw from right field that caught the runner from first going to third on a single - good throw by the Australian right fielder).  The hardest part of the day was keeping track of the new rotations that we are following here at Taylor - I'm pretty sure I got them correct.

Monday is a lighter day for me - right field for the 1:00 game and alternate for the 7:00 game.  That should give the old bones a day to recuperate.





I found out that there is a streaming site for the games, so if you are interested in following any of the games, you can do it here: 

www.ustream.tv/channel/jlws