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You Can't Have An All-Star Game If Everybody Is An All-Star

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Armchair_QB, Jun 27, 2008.

  1. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    Basically, it was something done by the team itself...season-ending swim party, trophy, but no, we had decent unis and had to turn them back in. We got to keep the cap though.
     
  2. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    I don't even remember doing team awards. We probably did a pool party or two over the years though.

    Yeah, we had to give back the jersey, pants and socks too.
     
  3. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    Oh and team pictures didn't cost any money back then.
     
  4. SockPuppet

    SockPuppet Active Member

    The quote from the coach who said sports are great until the parents get involved ... that's spot on. From my experience, it's the parents who coach and run the leagues.
    The one summer I coached my son's team in a local Chamber of Commerce league was one of the most stressful of my life. The umpires treated the kids like they were straight out of juvie, they called the rules differently game to game and some of the coaches were more cut throat than Ty Cobb.
    One coach actually had one of his players intentionally make an out (the stepped on the plate to swing at a pitch) to end an inning. Our team was leading but the time rule (there's no timing in baseball) meant the next inning had to start in order for his team to get its home team last at bat. He wanted the kid to make an out so he could get his at bats and start fresh. (We still won.) The same game, he put his son in to relieve and didn't allow him warm up pitches because of the time issue.
    This summer, one of my son's friends played on a team at the highest age level in Chamber. His team lost a chance to make the playoffs. In the final inning, the coach of the other team told the umpire that the kid who was batting was wearing metal cleats. He had worn them the entire game. The coach waited until the kid was up in the last inning with two outs to "protest." Game over. In the same game, the coach kept putting in a "courtesy runner" (a faster kid, of course) saying the kid on base was going to catch the next inning. Of course, the kid never caught and the umps never did anything.
    Also, Chamber rules say the pitcher can wear metal spikes but he has to take them off when batting.
    Rules, rules, rules, rules. Why not teach the kids how to play the fucking game instead of worrying about rules that a bunch of power-mad adults want to institute?
    End of rant.
     
  5. My daughter's not in organized sports yet, but the best thing her dance teacher (who's been teaching for 30 years) did was to outlaw parents from the practices. I think she also told the kids to keep their routines secret to prevent stage moms and dads.

    We didn't like the idea at first - I have a picture of my wife lying on the floor in the lobby, sneaking a peek under the door during the kid's first practice - but we got used to it and made the final performance that much more surprising and entertaining.
     
  6. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    I don't see the problem in cleats worn. It's how the teams are created. You want to radically change the league? Go to the season-ending board election (they usually always have it at the end of the season when self-agenda issues are flaming hot), bring along a crowd that also wants to be radical, and body-slam every rule-change these people want to implement for self-serving purposes. The league just might dissolve.
     
  7. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    We never had particpation trophies, team photos were a part of your fee, we had all star games, we never had a mandatory one family must bring a post-game "snack" rule and we also played dodge ball with those red big rubber dodgeballs and nobody ever died.

    We've become a nation of wusses and it starts with how we handle our children.

    We're so busy trying to protect our kids from the boogeyman and trying to make everything so easy for them -- they have no ability, none, to handle failure or rejection -- which is why the suicide rate among teens is so high.

    Life is a struggle and we better learn again to let our kids struggle some if they want to survive in it.
     
  8. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Starting with 4-year-old t-ball?
     
  9. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    I agree in principle, but USED to, competitive play didn't start until 8,9,10. Now it's 4.

    Go ask a 6-year-old if he's constantly keeping up with the score in a game. To him, the highlight is what the postgame treat is going to be.
     
  10. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    To me, the emphasis should be on training and equipping at that age, up to say 10 or 12. Not winning. Sometimes the training and equipping get lost in the urge to be the next Casey Stengel or Vince Lombardi. And that's a parental motivation, not a kid's.
     
  11. andyouare?

    andyouare? Guest

    Huh?
     
  12. schiezainc

    schiezainc Well-Known Member

    I covered a little league game last night where a parent--in the stands--screamed at his kid because the kid grounded into a fielder's choice.

    Parent: "Oh, Josh, come on what are you doing to me? You can't swing on the first pitch. What's wrong with you?"

    Mind you, this is Major Little League we're talking about (10-12 year olds), it was the fifth inning and the team in question was up 11-4.

    My favorite part? "What are you doing to me?". Like this kid is ruining the guys life or something. Parents fucking suck.
     
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