Greetings and salutations true, blue believers,
So, yes…as you are well aware, Blue Crew News is indeed a baseball umpire-centric publication and I wanted to take a moment before introducing this month’s edition to give you a brief testimony on officiating MAC’s other sport…volleyball. Yeah, volleyball, man! I just wrapped up my rookie season refereeing volleyball and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you’re not officiating this wonderfully intense sport, you should!.
I also wanted to take a moment and shine the spotlight on Steve Levine, BCN’s Special Legal Correspondent. This past August, Steve published a piece here regarding some recent legal actions taking place in courts across the nation involving the actions or inactions of amateur sports officials. Last week, the editors were contacted by an attorney out of New York who, in preparing the defense of his client who is an amateur sports official, wanted more information about one of the cases that Levine cited in his article which Steve was quickly able to provide. Again, nice job Steve! Pen keyboard > sword and all that!
And with that…I say welcome to the final 2025 edition of Blue Crew News! Our beloved baseball may be shut down now for the season and yet your equally beloved newsletter soldiers on. Association President Dave Maher has his final written address of the year for you with a peak at what’s ahead with the annual banquet (a tradition like no other!) and the 2026 pre-season. Grab Dave’s message here.
Association Rules Interpreter Bob Nasser is also here, first with a BCN exclusive as he welcomes a new member to the rules committee and second, he also gives us a look ahead outlining some plans he and the committee have for 2026. Specifically, some ongoing resources and features in development for the benefit of you, the individual umpire as you continue to navigate your personal development within the craft of umpiring as well as continuing to raise the bar for the association’s collective umpiring acumen on the whole. Bob’s piece can be found here.
Blue Crew News’ intrepid and incredible interviewer Gary Reals also wraps up our year nicely with another unique and special profile of our brother Nick Rosa as well as some fun photos. Join Gary here for a look into another marvelous umpire on the rise within the association.
Finally, Rick McIntosh has checked in with us this month. With tax season right around the corner, Rick has some very helpful updates and highlights for you to consider when preparing your umpire/independent contractor status tax return. You can view Rick’s piece right here.
And so my fellow umpires, that’s all for this month and…that’s all for this year! I would like to close with some quick thank yous…to Norm Gordon and Tim Strutzel, without them none of this is still happening. To Michael Chmar, thank you for being our North Star and fully minding the shop when I was out earlier this year. To John Porter and Rob Porter thank you for the freedom to serve the association.
To all of our content providers, thank you for providing our house with so much of what it needs to exist. To Jim Clayton, thank you for pulling all the levers, pushing all the buttons and taking the pieces of BCN for each edition and putting it all together.
To the MAC/NVBUA Board of Directors, especially President Dave Maher, thank you for your guidance and support. And last but not least, thank you to you my fellow umpires and readers for checking in on us and picking up what we are putting down here. Hopefully, all of you are better umpires as a result of our work.
On behalf of all of us here, I wish you a safe and relaxing off-season and I look forward to seeing all of you at the banquet in December! Blue Crew News will return in 2026!
Excelsior,
Robert Fobian
Editor, Blue Crew News