I hate tee ball

[Inky_Wretch]

Actually, I love the kids on my daughter's team. But I do not like the league we are in. Tonight is the first game, first pitch scheduled for 7:50 pm ... for 5- and 6-year-olds.

Who the hell schedules kindergarteners to be playing ball that late?

Last year, we had a team of 4- and 5-year-olds. We had one 6-year-old, so the league wouldn't let us play in the Starter division - even though none of the kids had played before.

(And the paper never covers her games and are going to cost her a scholarship!)

 

[Iron_chet]

I think the SJ style guide warrants Starmanesque descriptions of kids sports, the enjoyable play by play not the Starman justice and colorful language

 

[LongTimeListener]

Kids are 5 and 6, there are bound to be a lot of moms in their mid to late 20s.

You'll like it.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

9:45 and the kiddo has been asleep for about 20 minutes. 6:45 is going to come damn early.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Just wait until the T-ball team from the next town over challenges you to a game. With score not kept, of course.

And then when they lose, they want to make it 2 out of 3.

 

[Spartan Squad]

Wife got a call from brother in law who heard we were going to be in his neck of the woods next weekend. He invites us to see the nephew play T-ball at 9 a.m. That's fine, except we won't get into town until late after a 6 hour drive. It's going to be a rough hour or so.

 

[old_tony]

Reminds me of the greatest headline in Onion history.

"Special Olympics T-ball stand pitches perfect game"

 

[Spartan Squad]

That's a headline that couldn't be written today

 

[Webster]

My favorite parent from my son's t-ball team last year was the mom who sent a group e-mail asking why her son was limited to only singles when he hits the ball so far.

The good/bad news is that this year, all games for 1st grade baseball are at 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays. It's a great time to play and if my daughter doesn't have sports, we are done with games by 11:30. The bad part is that it cuts into my EPL viewing. And it's excruciating to watch.

 

[Vombatus]

I think the same thing about EPL.

 

[swingline]

I had to look up what EPL is. So, you know, I got you beat, vombat, which rhymes with wombat, which is a marsupial native to Australia.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

My favorite parent from my son's t-ball team last year was the mom who sent a group e-mail asking why her son was limited to only singles when he hits the ball so far.

The good/bad news is that this year, all games for 1st grade baseball are at 10:00 a.m. on Saturdays. It's a great time to play and if my daughter doesn't have sports, we are done with games by 11:30. The bad part is that it cuts into my EPL viewing. And it's excruciating to watch.

I realize that Tee ball has to be handled differently then other levels of baseball, but there seems to be no end to it.

When I played a zillion years ago, everybody on each team got to be up each inning. Hard to argue with that one. These days it's, "Nobody is out. Everybody gets to first base (but no further) on a hit/strikeout/foul ball, etc... and everybody gets to score."

Meanwhile, in youth basketball and football, even when they don't keep score, the game actually still seems fun and competitive.

 

[Roscablo]

I realize that Tee ball has to be handled differently then other levels of baseball, but there seems to be no end to it.

When I played a zillion years ago, everybody on each team got to be up each inning. Hard to argue with that one. These days it's, "Nobody is out. Everybody gets to first base (but no further) on a hit/strikeout/foul ball, etc... and everybody gets to score."

Meanwhile, in youth basketball and football, even when they don't keep score, the game actually still seems fun and competitive.

Our town's rec league does do the singles only for tee ball, but all other rules are in place. It has to be fair you, you have to be hit home to score and if you get out you're out. I can't remember, it's been a few years, but I think they only get three swings, too. Surprisingly by the end of the season there is usually an inning or two where teams don't hit through each inning.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Ours was you get three swings and then you run to first. Meanwhile a kid would hit the ball into the deep outfield and would have to stop at first. When the last batter comes up, he hits a single and they would actually make everybody stop and then they would let the three kids who were on base round the bases.

I get not keeping score and I get everybody getting to bat. Beyond that, it's just ridiculous overkill. The kids stop trying to stop the ball because the know the player has to stop at first.

 

[Roscablo]

That's a little much. Once we hit through the whole order the inning is over. No one gets to advance.

Since it's just coaches in charge at tee ball here I've seen agreements to let kids take extra bases if they hit it well but that's not the rule. I get the one base if anything because of lack of feilding ability. We do have a one base per overthrow rule through coach pitch out of play or not. Once my oldest was in total player pitch pretty much all real rules applied.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The flip side of the "everybody gets to first" is 5-year-old All-Stars. Those exist now, with travel tournaments and everything. (Pitches come from a machine.) Our local Pony league went this route, which is the #1 reason I'm going to go the Little League route with my youngest son.

Less competition is a good thing until about age 9.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Basketball is done really well. They call traveling, but double dribble is enforced very lightly. The 5-6 year olds weren't allowed to steal, but blocks were allowed. They let the 7-8 year olds basically play the normal game.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

The flip side of the "everybody gets to first" is 5-year-old All-Stars. Those exist now, with travel tournaments and everything. (Pitches come from a machine.) Our local Pony league went this route, which is the #1 reason I'm going to go the Little League route with my youngest son.

Less competition is a good thing until about age 9.

Yeah, I could not agree more with this. My oldest opted out of the big basketball league this year because it was three practices a week and they would travel on weekends and went from November until the end of March. The coach called me and said, "You're making a huge mistake." and I'm thinking, "He's 8-years old."

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

The fact that traveling teams exist in any sport under the age of 12 is just insane.

 

[Roscablo]

The flip side of the "everybody gets to first" is 5-year-old All-Stars. Those exist now, with travel tournaments and everything. (Pitches come from a machine.) Our local Pony league went this route, which is the #1 reason I'm going to go the Little League route with my youngest son.

Less competition is a good thing until about age 9.

There's a core of my oldest's fourth-grade summer rec team that has been together nearly since tee ball. There are at least two kids on that team that easily could name their traveling team but the families have opted to keep them with friends and not have such a ridiculous time commitment. I think that's fairly noble in this day and age.