What little Johnny's happiness is worth

FWIW, I don't think spending thousands on a 9-year-old to play baseball is for little Johnny's happiness.

 

Did you ever wonder why all the bratty youth athletes are named "Little Johnny" ?

 

Ya think? Oh these parents that want to live vicariously through their kids ...

 

If anyone is draining their child's bank account to pay for their kid to play traveling baseball, they probably can't be trusted to make too many decisions. If you're asked to pay in cash, something is a little hinky.

There is always someone else to blame for most of these parents.

The funniest story – or saddest – is the mom who showed up at the empty stadium with her kid:

“I drained my son’s savings account [to pay Anderson],” she told Inside Dakota Sports. “My whole family went to that tournament. There was not a soul there. He humiliated me in front of my family.”

 

Karate -- $1300 a year for what was a much more positive experience than anything we did in baseball. And I'm a baseball guy.

 

And to think, that 6 grand could have paid for a almost an enitre year's tuition at most of South Dakota's state universities:

http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/sPagesOHE/TuitionChart.cfm?State=SD&pageID=653&1534-D83A_1933715A=501ac40f4d5e320a9f166dc3a8398a857ad5b553

And don't they realize the odds of making it to the majors is so slim, they're better off having the kid play high school ball and hope a college notices them (or a newspaper puts his name in for trying hard?)

 

Some of these kids are 9 and 10. These parents are that delusional.

 

To play devil's advocate, baseball is one sport where if you practice and play a lot you can get substantially better than your peers and remain among the "elite" up to and maybe through high school.

It's not like football, where size and speed are key. Or basketball where you at least need to have a great shot if you not big or fast.

But you see parents all the time pushing these kids. They play on 3 or more teams at a time, play all year, travel, etc.

And, sure, Little Johnny is a good baseball player. But a lot of these kids that are elite at 9, 10, 11 and 12 really aren't that physically gifted and are just being run by daddy into the ground.

 

The other side of this (and I'm not defending the parents), $5,000 to families who make even six figure incomes isn't a huge drain. They could just as easily blow it on other shit.

 

True JR. Even if it's a financial burden, though, I'd submit that the time commitment will wear on everyone in the family.

 

Time commitment is an issue separate from delusional parents. I always figured that your responsibility as a parent was to provide opportunities where your children could excel--if they wanted to put in the effort.

I used to spend four nights a week during hockey, football and baseball season schlepping my sons to practices and games. I encouraged them but never drove them

I had no fantasies about my kids being professional athletes and then, bingo, my eldest son is now playing in the CFL

 

This, well said.