What a picturesque way to wake up! I love the imagery.... ;)-->
What are the adults doing now? It seems to be the perennial job of some to mess with kids.
Without knowing what you are going through---The one beauty of baseball (and kids) is, if it boils down to it, the kids will figure out how to adapt without the adults. Which in one way could be a good thing for them anyway
My little league team played only about 12 games a year but somehow the kids in the neighborhood were still able to figure out how to play from dawn til dusk all spring and summer on our own.
Baseball is adaptable-- you can make up games with 3 kids or 30, it can be played in a field, a driveway or a bedroom for that matter, with any kind of ball, rolled up socks, or old tuna can.
I'm not a big fan of anything too organized, whether its religion, kids sports, or huge corporations, but I am highly in favor of letting kids use their imagination and natural enthusiasm whenever possible...
gees sorry--I dont even know what the real problem is yet...I'll shutup until I hear it out, until then I'll go back to the picture of you spitting nickels....
I've been involved in kid's sports (basketball, baseball, soccer) as a coach and a parent for over 20 years so I've probably seen it all. There's no question that adults can sometimes really take the fun out of sports for kids.
ok we signed him up late - after the draft - but i called and a board member said, no problem, sign him up, he'll be assigned to a team who needs a player. cool, no late fee, no punishment ? nope.
signed him up last year late also. no problem, but just making sure
(i know, it's all my fault)
so anyway, he's minor B whatever that is and he's 10 years old. he asks his coach if he can pitch (not be THE pitcher) just pitch at times. the answer is NO, NOT FOR ANY GAME WHATSOEVER. why because it's a RULE. if you sign up late, you don't get to pitch at all, not one inning.
so i have a 10 year old crying and i feel awful naturally. i look on the web site, i look on the application, i look everywhere. nothing stated about this rule
and guess what ? last year he pitched quite often after late sign-up
so i call the president of the league and tell him all this. i kiss his butt politely for at least 10 minutes. i tell him about last year. i tell him what the board member said. i ask him about this rule.
first, he basically calls me a liar (he said something like, well i wasn't there when you and the board member spoke, so i don't really know what happened). i tell him, i just told you what happened. he says well i can't say because i wasn't there. i said, you're calling me a liar ?
then he says, what did the coach say ? i say the coach said the rule is NO PITCHING not even for a second, that's the rule. so i'm calling you to ask about where it's written and why since i'm paying the same amount of money as everyone else, dah dah dah
he starts saying, didn't the coach defend the board ??????? i say, why are we talking about the coach ?
the conversation goes on. he tells me EVERYONE KNOWS THE RULE. i said i don't. i ask where is this rule written ? he says well we're finalizing the draft of the rules.... i said, AFTER THE FACT ? so the public is not informed. he says it's been a rule forever
i tell him last year there was no problem and no rule. we were late sign-ups and he pitched. he says well your son was 9 last year, now he's 10, and NOW WE'RE TALKING SERIOUS BASEBALL. so i say WE ARE ???????????????
ON AND ON
finally, and i mean finally, he says, well maybe we made a mistake in not informing you about no pitching for late signups after the draft. i said oh good, you made a mistake, so you'll let the kid pitch now and then.
he says THERE IS NO WAY YOUR KID WILL STEP ON THAT MOUND. he was rude, he was condescending, he was defensive, he was an as shole. (and i had kept it together really well for a long time so as not to ruin it for my kid.)
when he spoke DOWN to me for the 20th time, i just hung up on him mid-sentence.
that's when i wrote the post.
**
the next day i got to thinking about it some more and i called the mayor. he was kind enough to explain that sometimes these boards make rules like this because, after the draft, coaches try to sneak in players (pitchers) and stack their team (unfairly). so i said, ohhhhhhhhhh that's the other side of the story where kids get hurt. (i'm not totally sure if this damn board cares about kids getting hurt, some of it sounds like pure competitiveness to me)
it would have been nice if arrogant egomaniac president of the league told me the reason they have this rule, don't you think ? if he had explained it and told me why he couldn't let my kid be an exception because of all this other nonsense, i would have understood more.
**
so i hope i explained all this the right way. i'm sure some of guys, pi and simon in particular, will understand it completely and probably even agree with it
but this jerk talked to me like i was a dope and he didn't give one crap about my 10 year old
so........
have i bored you to death ? i haven't posted because it was hard for me to explain. let me know your thoughts, if you feel like it.... i'll stand on my head and spit you a nickel ;)-->
ps. just so you don't think i'm the absolute worst mother in the world, we were at an ice hockey tournament during little league sign-ups. ice hockey is my boy's passion,
i admit i was wrong for not thinking about the dates, etc. the calendar got away from me plus i'm old
but still this guy was downright mean when i called him.
**
the mayor told me he only met him once and i said well he was probably polite to you, you're the mayor and you're a man ;)-->
myseestorEx... Mackie will be fine... just tell him to go and play and be the best he can and have the most fun he can and then promise him that you won't let him be late for sign up next year... he'll be fine and become a better ball player... (sound's good anyway) ... but he'll get over his disappointment at not pitching, besides, he can pitch in the neighborhood games and his arm will be better for "taking the season off"... (all of this sounds pretty good in theory... but, like mstar said, whenever I didn't get to play the position I wanted to, I just went ahead and played anywhere, I ended up having fun and forgetting about it)...
Just keep your promise to him NOT to be LATE next year! love you. (and I think you're a great mother)
A classic example as to why women should stay the hell out of sports and just mind the snackbar....Oops!...Crap!..How do I edit this thing?....Who taught us to go by first thought,anyway?...
Really,I think you're a great mom,excie(even if Mackie doesn't)but he will soon get over the tears...If he can pitch,he's obviously a good athlete,and I'm sure he'll be playing in other key positions...Like Tom said giving his arm some time off will be beneficial in the long haul...
I do think the league is a bit anal about the rules,being as they're only 10 year olds...I mean,all baseball is serious,and every game matters,as long as it's kept in the context that it is a game...Baseball is also a great leveler,or equalizer....One game does not ruin a season,or one season a career...I think versatility is one of the great qualities of a true ballplayer because baseball is a very versatile game...Your son will have this work to his advantage,...trust me...
It does sound like the league prez could have been more forthright from the beginning,and saved you a lot of grief,but unfortunately,Dale Carnegie is not required reading for the organizers of youth baseball...People get power hungry in youth sports...Coaches...umps....parents...and sometimes the kids...Sports are emotional....That's what's good about them....That's also what's bad about them...Your boy will move along just fine...Just make sure you do ;)-->...
A classic example as to why women should stay the hell out of sports and just mind the snackbar....Oops!...Crap!..How do I edit this thing?....Who taught us to go by first thought,anyway?...
i'll take that as a haha,
i have 3 boys 2 of whom r active in baseball, (10 yr old little league/7 yr old t-ball) i sponsor 2 teams and volunteer selling more cr*p then any one would ever want and or need, somewhere along the line the fun has gone out of these extra-curricular activities. would it be so difficult if they bent rules...
i know that the mayors children don't follow the same rules...
oh and buying the team wasn't a joke 2 years ago i missed the deadline but hey once i opened my wallet that problem disappeared.
was that wrong? most likely yes, but would i do it again yep.
Besides, if your son has the reflexes to be a goalie (and at least thinks he has the arm to pitch), he might be very good at it. (Catching, that is.) :)-->
I thought this was a thread about the little league player that killed another player from another team (that won the game) with a baseball bat. (this was on CNN this morning)
So what is it again that you are complaining about and is it really that bad?
what a sad sad thing, how truely forgiving the victims parents are,
At the playing field Wednesday night, a family friend read a statement from Rourke's parents, who urged people not to demonize their son's attacker.
He "is not a monster. He's a good boy who made a bad mistake. This is a mistake that will haunt both families for the rest of our lives," the statement said. from cnn
i hope and pray that all involved are somehow healed.
but..pain is pain a 10 year old little boy doesn't understand that not being allowed to play ball is paled in comparison to this horredous act, but should we dismiss his pain?
Yes it is a shame what is happening to this child. And what happened was avoidable. simply stating a fact. Are you with me so far?
A little league player killed another little league player with a bat. simply stating a fact.
Life will go on for a child that might not play his favorite position on the baseball field, but he can still play and learn to develop of skills playing baseball. (unless the people in the league are now throughly ....ed at a parent).
gee how can i thank you Z ? i told my kid not to be sad about this season because if he was pitching he could beat his friend with a bat and kill him
what in the hell ????
i'm really insulted you brought this heartwrenching tragedy to this thread
**
as far as your next insult about the people in the league being thoroughly ....ed at a parent ?????? guess you missed my post about the president of the league being an arrogant condescending SOB
anyow, i know you're not a mom or a parent so ....
**
you other guys i appreciate everything you've said. i've been letting my son read it so it would help him. thanks too much
oh george, he LOVES catching !!!!!! looks like the coach wants to put him as shortstop for the most part, which is cool
oh yeah i don't want to forget, i told him if i'm late signing him up next year AGAIN, his auntie sharon would buy him a team ! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Shortstop would seem to be the perfect position for a kid who has goalie skills, excathie.
I can understand the position of the league up to a point. When I was involved in sports, especially baseball, there were always situations where coaches were trying to bring in a player late, after the draft. The kid was always the coach's son's best friend, or something, so they wanted to play on the same team, of course.
The league can take care of this by assigning the late kid to a team of their choosing, and definitely not the team of the coach that brought him in. That would take care of the problem of a coach trying to sneak in a "ringer" to help his own team. This kind of thing seems to happen more in baseball than any other sport, for some reason. The rule about allowing the kid to play, but not letting him pitch, seems kind of silly.
When I was coaching kid baseball, everybody wanted to pitch, even the kids who couldn't get the ball over the plate if they were standing two feet away from it. It was not easy to have to tell most of them they weren't going to be doing any pitching.
But here's an example of "be careful what you wish for:"
My older son was a very good baseball player from the time he started playing t-ball at the age of 5. When he was 10, he was a great hitter and fielder, but he really wanted to pitch. His coach that year let him pitch exactly one inning all season. At the end of the season, there was a tournament, and the team ran out of pitchers because there was a rule that a kid could only pitch seven innings in one week or something like that.
So the coach put Brian in to pitch the last two innings that game after only pitching in one inning all year. It was awful. He walked about seven batters, hit a couple more and ended up losing the game. The other coach was yelling and jumping up and down like his kids had really done something besides standing at the plate with the bat on their shoulders. It was the longest hour of my life. Brian asked the coach to take him out but he said they didn't have anybody else to put in. I could have killed him. I know the line is that kind of stuff is supposed to build character, but Brian never wanted to play baseball again after that day.
Sometimes I think the best thing for kids is to give them a bat and ball and send them to the sandlot with no parents anywhere around.
Yes it is a shame what is happening to this child. And what happened was avoidable. simply stating a fact. Are you with me so far?
imho perhaps u should stroll over to my thread Bad Manners.
to a ten year old child this disappointment is huge...are u with me?
it s*cks how much influence is placed on sports by society but it is what it is.
most parents don't want it, pirate was so spot on
Sometimes I think the best thing for kids is to give them a bat and ball and send them to the sandlot with no parents anywhere around.
how could u even for one minute think that i was comparing a child not getting signed up in time, and someone getting killed w/a baseball bat
do u have any idea how much work it is for the parents, drving them to practice sitting in the cold. keeping their cool while jerks yell cause ur kid just walked someone, or struck out? or watching ur child cry because the coach didn't play them?
i cried for those parents...but i also cried for exca and her son.
I played little league for 2 years as a kid. I loved wearing the uniform, and playing on a beautifully maintained field. My parents came to one game, but otherwise didn't think it necessary. Back then we used to be suspicious of parents that showed up all the time. It didn't seem cooincidence that their kids got more playing time, or batted in a better position. It was my first education in the art of schmoozing.
I honestly had much more fun getting some guys together and playing pick up games on a crappy field. We would start playing in the morning, break for lunch, pick it up later. There were no parents or other adults around, and we dtermined our own rules and stuck by them, the most common being the 'no right field' since we rarely had enough players to cover the field. The other was 'mound rule' where you threw the runner out by throwing to the pitcher since there wasn't enough players for first base either.
As far as the kid who died, well, what can you say about a tragedy like that. I do know that a 10 year old kid knows full well what a bat to the head will do, and I can'tbelieve the parents are 'understanding'.
the backporch step was homeplate, the buckeye tree 1st base, the back fence 2nd, and a mound of dirt 3rd. the neighborhood played and then had pop.
unfortunately (oh no my mother's voice is coming out of my mouth), those days don't exist where i live, i can't allow my ten year old to go to the park by himself, i wish i could. so if he wants to play someones got to take him, and that someone is me...
sharon-I don't have children, and sometimes I forget how times have changed.
When I was 10 I could disappear for the day at the park, and my parents didn't give it a thought. My mother was as paranoid and protective as they come too.
It's truly sad , yet understandable, that times have changed. I do think that even if parents need to show up, they should step back and let the kids play without getting involved.
After reading this whole thread, it reminded me of another way things have changed.
We didn't sign up' for little league, we 'tried out'. Those not good enough in the coaches eyes were cut, which seems to be the unforgivable sin today. I was cut the first time I tried out, and I was bummed, even cried. It didn't scar me for life though. I realized I needed to be better if I wanted to earn the uniform.
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mstar1
What a picturesque way to wake up! I love the imagery....
;)-->
What are the adults doing now? It seems to be the perennial job of some to mess with kids.
Without knowing what you are going through---The one beauty of baseball (and kids) is, if it boils down to it, the kids will figure out how to adapt without the adults. Which in one way could be a good thing for them anyway
My little league team played only about 12 games a year but somehow the kids in the neighborhood were still able to figure out how to play from dawn til dusk all spring and summer on our own.
Baseball is adaptable-- you can make up games with 3 kids or 30, it can be played in a field, a driveway or a bedroom for that matter, with any kind of ball, rolled up socks, or old tuna can.
I'm not a big fan of anything too organized, whether its religion, kids sports, or huge corporations, but I am highly in favor of letting kids use their imagination and natural enthusiasm whenever possible...
gees sorry--I dont even know what the real problem is yet...I'll shutup until I hear it out, until then I'll go back to the picture of you spitting nickels....
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Pirate1974
Save those nickels, excathie.
;)-->
I've been involved in kid's sports (basketball, baseball, soccer) as a coach and a parent for over 20 years so I've probably seen it all. There's no question that adults can sometimes really take the fun out of sports for kids.
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excathedra
ok we signed him up late - after the draft - but i called and a board member said, no problem, sign him up, he'll be assigned to a team who needs a player. cool, no late fee, no punishment ? nope.
signed him up last year late also. no problem, but just making sure
(i know, it's all my fault)
so anyway, he's minor B whatever that is and he's 10 years old. he asks his coach if he can pitch (not be THE pitcher) just pitch at times. the answer is NO, NOT FOR ANY GAME WHATSOEVER. why because it's a RULE. if you sign up late, you don't get to pitch at all, not one inning.
so i have a 10 year old crying and i feel awful naturally. i look on the web site, i look on the application, i look everywhere. nothing stated about this rule
and guess what ? last year he pitched quite often after late sign-up
so i call the president of the league and tell him all this. i kiss his butt politely for at least 10 minutes. i tell him about last year. i tell him what the board member said. i ask him about this rule.
first, he basically calls me a liar (he said something like, well i wasn't there when you and the board member spoke, so i don't really know what happened). i tell him, i just told you what happened. he says well i can't say because i wasn't there. i said, you're calling me a liar ?
then he says, what did the coach say ? i say the coach said the rule is NO PITCHING not even for a second, that's the rule. so i'm calling you to ask about where it's written and why since i'm paying the same amount of money as everyone else, dah dah dah
he starts saying, didn't the coach defend the board ??????? i say, why are we talking about the coach ?
the conversation goes on. he tells me EVERYONE KNOWS THE RULE. i said i don't. i ask where is this rule written ? he says well we're finalizing the draft of the rules.... i said, AFTER THE FACT ? so the public is not informed. he says it's been a rule forever
i tell him last year there was no problem and no rule. we were late sign-ups and he pitched. he says well your son was 9 last year, now he's 10, and NOW WE'RE TALKING SERIOUS BASEBALL. so i say WE ARE ???????????????
ON AND ON
finally, and i mean finally, he says, well maybe we made a mistake in not informing you about no pitching for late signups after the draft. i said oh good, you made a mistake, so you'll let the kid pitch now and then.
he says THERE IS NO WAY YOUR KID WILL STEP ON THAT MOUND. he was rude, he was condescending, he was defensive, he was an as shole. (and i had kept it together really well for a long time so as not to ruin it for my kid.)
when he spoke DOWN to me for the 20th time, i just hung up on him mid-sentence.
that's when i wrote the post.
**
the next day i got to thinking about it some more and i called the mayor. he was kind enough to explain that sometimes these boards make rules like this because, after the draft, coaches try to sneak in players (pitchers) and stack their team (unfairly). so i said, ohhhhhhhhhh that's the other side of the story where kids get hurt. (i'm not totally sure if this damn board cares about kids getting hurt, some of it sounds like pure competitiveness to me)
it would have been nice if arrogant egomaniac president of the league told me the reason they have this rule, don't you think ? if he had explained it and told me why he couldn't let my kid be an exception because of all this other nonsense, i would have understood more.
**
so i hope i explained all this the right way. i'm sure some of guys, pi and simon in particular, will understand it completely and probably even agree with it
but this jerk talked to me like i was a dope and he didn't give one crap about my 10 year old
so........
have i bored you to death ? i haven't posted because it was hard for me to explain. let me know your thoughts, if you feel like it.... i'll stand on my head and spit you a nickel
;)-->
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excathedra
ps. just so you don't think i'm the absolute worst mother in the world, we were at an ice hockey tournament during little league sign-ups. ice hockey is my boy's passion,
i admit i was wrong for not thinking about the dates, etc. the calendar got away from me plus i'm old
but still this guy was downright mean when i called him.
**
the mayor told me he only met him once and i said well he was probably polite to you, you're the mayor and you're a man
;)-->
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Tom Strange
myseestorEx... Mackie will be fine... just tell him to go and play and be the best he can and have the most fun he can and then promise him that you won't let him be late for sign up next year... he'll be fine and become a better ball player... (sound's good anyway) ... but he'll get over his disappointment at not pitching, besides, he can pitch in the neighborhood games and his arm will be better for "taking the season off"... (all of this sounds pretty good in theory... but, like mstar said, whenever I didn't get to play the position I wanted to, I just went ahead and played anywhere, I ended up having fun and forgetting about it)...
Just keep your promise to him NOT to be LATE next year! love you. (and I think you're a great mother)
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excathedra
thank you my friend and i believe you're right
as well as mstar
you guy are the greatest
thanks so much love you
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sharon
auntie sharon says **** it buy a team...
always need a tax write off...
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simonzelotes
A classic example as to why women should stay the hell out of sports and just mind the snackbar....Oops!...Crap!..How do I edit this thing?....Who taught us to go by first thought,anyway?...
Really,I think you're a great mom,excie(even if Mackie doesn't)but he will soon get over the tears...If he can pitch,he's obviously a good athlete,and I'm sure he'll be playing in other key positions...Like Tom said giving his arm some time off will be beneficial in the long haul...
I do think the league is a bit anal about the rules,being as they're only 10 year olds...I mean,all baseball is serious,and every game matters,as long as it's kept in the context that it is a game...Baseball is also a great leveler,or equalizer....One game does not ruin a season,or one season a career...I think versatility is one of the great qualities of a true ballplayer because baseball is a very versatile game...Your son will have this work to his advantage,...trust me...
It does sound like the league prez could have been more forthright from the beginning,and saved you a lot of grief,but unfortunately,Dale Carnegie is not required reading for the organizers of youth baseball...People get power hungry in youth sports...Coaches...umps....parents...and sometimes the kids...Sports are emotional....That's what's good about them....That's also what's bad about them...Your boy will move along just fine...Just make sure you do
;)-->...
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sharon
i'll take that as a haha,
i have 3 boys 2 of whom r active in baseball, (10 yr old little league/7 yr old t-ball) i sponsor 2 teams and volunteer selling more cr*p then any one would ever want and or need, somewhere along the line the fun has gone out of these extra-curricular activities. would it be so difficult if they bent rules...
i know that the mayors children don't follow the same rules...
oh and buying the team wasn't a joke 2 years ago i missed the deadline but hey once i opened my wallet that problem disappeared.
was that wrong? most likely yes, but would i do it again yep.
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jardinero
J.
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GeorgeStGeorge
Pitching, shmitching!
:D-->
Catching is a lot more fun.
Besides, if your son has the reflexes to be a goalie (and at least thinks he has the arm to pitch), he might be very good at it. (Catching, that is.)
:)-->
George
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Zshot
I thought this was a thread about the little league player that killed another player from another team (that won the game) with a baseball bat. (this was on CNN this morning)
So what is it again that you are complaining about and is it really that bad?
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sharon
what a sad sad thing, how truely forgiving the victims parents are,
At the playing field Wednesday night, a family friend read a statement from Rourke's parents, who urged people not to demonize their son's attacker.
He "is not a monster. He's a good boy who made a bad mistake. This is a mistake that will haunt both families for the rest of our lives," the statement said. from cnn
i hope and pray that all involved are somehow healed.
but..pain is pain a 10 year old little boy doesn't understand that not being allowed to play ball is paled in comparison to this horredous act, but should we dismiss his pain?
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Zshot
No, let dismiss the childs pain.
Let's maintain a perspective and not over re-act.
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sharon
oh please...
i am not over reacting i was simply stating a fact
and u?
/
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Zshot
Sharon,
I did not say that you were over re-acting.
Yes it is a shame what is happening to this child. And what happened was avoidable. simply stating a fact. Are you with me so far?
A little league player killed another little league player with a bat. simply stating a fact.
Life will go on for a child that might not play his favorite position on the baseball field, but he can still play and learn to develop of skills playing baseball. (unless the people in the league are now throughly ....ed at a parent).
lets see...
lives ruined vs sad for a season...
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excathedra
gee how can i thank you Z ? i told my kid not to be sad about this season because if he was pitching he could beat his friend with a bat and kill him
what in the hell ????
i'm really insulted you brought this heartwrenching tragedy to this thread
**
as far as your next insult about the people in the league being thoroughly ....ed at a parent ?????? guess you missed my post about the president of the league being an arrogant condescending SOB
anyow, i know you're not a mom or a parent so ....
**
you other guys i appreciate everything you've said. i've been letting my son read it so it would help him. thanks too much
oh george, he LOVES catching !!!!!! looks like the coach wants to put him as shortstop for the most part, which is cool
oh yeah i don't want to forget, i told him if i'm late signing him up next year AGAIN, his auntie sharon would buy him a team ! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
thanks again you guys
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Pirate1974
Shortstop would seem to be the perfect position for a kid who has goalie skills, excathie.
I can understand the position of the league up to a point. When I was involved in sports, especially baseball, there were always situations where coaches were trying to bring in a player late, after the draft. The kid was always the coach's son's best friend, or something, so they wanted to play on the same team, of course.
The league can take care of this by assigning the late kid to a team of their choosing, and definitely not the team of the coach that brought him in. That would take care of the problem of a coach trying to sneak in a "ringer" to help his own team. This kind of thing seems to happen more in baseball than any other sport, for some reason. The rule about allowing the kid to play, but not letting him pitch, seems kind of silly.
When I was coaching kid baseball, everybody wanted to pitch, even the kids who couldn't get the ball over the plate if they were standing two feet away from it. It was not easy to have to tell most of them they weren't going to be doing any pitching.
But here's an example of "be careful what you wish for:"
My older son was a very good baseball player from the time he started playing t-ball at the age of 5. When he was 10, he was a great hitter and fielder, but he really wanted to pitch. His coach that year let him pitch exactly one inning all season. At the end of the season, there was a tournament, and the team ran out of pitchers because there was a rule that a kid could only pitch seven innings in one week or something like that.
So the coach put Brian in to pitch the last two innings that game after only pitching in one inning all year. It was awful. He walked about seven batters, hit a couple more and ended up losing the game. The other coach was yelling and jumping up and down like his kids had really done something besides standing at the plate with the bat on their shoulders. It was the longest hour of my life. Brian asked the coach to take him out but he said they didn't have anybody else to put in. I could have killed him. I know the line is that kind of stuff is supposed to build character, but Brian never wanted to play baseball again after that day.
Sometimes I think the best thing for kids is to give them a bat and ball and send them to the sandlot with no parents anywhere around.
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sharon
imho perhaps u should stroll over to my thread Bad Manners.
to a ten year old child this disappointment is huge...are u with me?
it s*cks how much influence is placed on sports by society but it is what it is.
most parents don't want it, pirate was so spot on
Sometimes I think the best thing for kids is to give them a bat and ball and send them to the sandlot with no parents anywhere around.
how could u even for one minute think that i was comparing a child not getting signed up in time, and someone getting killed w/a baseball bat
do u have any idea how much work it is for the parents, drving them to practice sitting in the cold. keeping their cool while jerks yell cause ur kid just walked someone, or struck out? or watching ur child cry because the coach didn't play them?
i cried for those parents...but i also cried for exca and her son.
could i offer u a cookie?
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hiway29
I played little league for 2 years as a kid. I loved wearing the uniform, and playing on a beautifully maintained field. My parents came to one game, but otherwise didn't think it necessary. Back then we used to be suspicious of parents that showed up all the time. It didn't seem cooincidence that their kids got more playing time, or batted in a better position. It was my first education in the art of schmoozing.
I honestly had much more fun getting some guys together and playing pick up games on a crappy field. We would start playing in the morning, break for lunch, pick it up later. There were no parents or other adults around, and we dtermined our own rules and stuck by them, the most common being the 'no right field' since we rarely had enough players to cover the field. The other was 'mound rule' where you threw the runner out by throwing to the pitcher since there wasn't enough players for first base either.
As far as the kid who died, well, what can you say about a tragedy like that. I do know that a 10 year old kid knows full well what a bat to the head will do, and I can'tbelieve the parents are 'understanding'.
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sharon
highway..
the backporch step was homeplate, the buckeye tree 1st base, the back fence 2nd, and a mound of dirt 3rd. the neighborhood played and then had pop.
unfortunately (oh no my mother's voice is coming out of my mouth), those days don't exist where i live, i can't allow my ten year old to go to the park by himself, i wish i could. so if he wants to play someones got to take him, and that someone is me...
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hiway29
sharon-I don't have children, and sometimes I forget how times have changed.
When I was 10 I could disappear for the day at the park, and my parents didn't give it a thought. My mother was as paranoid and protective as they come too.
It's truly sad , yet understandable, that times have changed. I do think that even if parents need to show up, they should step back and let the kids play without getting involved.
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sharon
that's why i sit on the bleechers
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hiway29
After reading this whole thread, it reminded me of another way things have changed.
We didn't sign up' for little league, we 'tried out'. Those not good enough in the coaches eyes were cut, which seems to be the unforgivable sin today. I was cut the first time I tried out, and I was bummed, even cried. It didn't scar me for life though. I realized I needed to be better if I wanted to earn the uniform.
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