f yours is truly the soul of an umpire, December is one of the months you reflect on seasons past and the season to come. I’ve always felt "Harking the Herald" in part heralded the start of the mental baseball season.

Sure, when my last tournament game is finished, whether it’s August or October, I want to put the games out of my mind for a while. But the while is over, and the Christmas season is when I can while away the hours anticipating the early spring. It becomes a personal assessment of strengths and weaknesses of my game as it existed when last season ended.

After reflecting on the more memorable games and incidents of the past season, I generally consider what I want to do differently this coming year. Understand, I do not advocate change for the sake of change. Hey, if everything is working, stay with whatever groove you’re in. Yet few of us can honestly say "everything" was "perfect" last year. My personal challenge during these hours is to decide what, if anything, needs fixing. In other words, is it time for change?

All this may sound kind of hokey. "C’mon, Scott," may well run through your questioning mind, "you’re worried in December about things that won’t get started until late March?"

Continued...