By Philip K. Howard Bridge News Everyone was warmed up and ready to play a Little League baseball game in Slingerlands, N.Y., but because of a scheduling glitch, the umpire didn't show. But the longer the discussion went on, the more nervous everyone got. There might be legal liability, someone suggested, without the official umpire. The game was canceled. Teams of disappointed children went home.
Children play baseball all the time without an umpire.
But Americans no longer feel comfortable doing what they believe makes sense. We don't know. It seems it could be anyone, in almost any situation. Doctors are paranoid. Seesaws are disappearing.