Rec softball gone too far

[Bob Cook]

This should be a rule for anyone to follow, in any league, at any age -- the quality of the officiating is in direct proportion to the quality of play. So if you're in beer-league softball, you don't get major-league umping. That's just the way it goes.

That's why at my kids' games, I don't get worked up over "blown" calls. The 13-year-old girl behind the plate at my 8-year-old daughter's softball game is most certainly not Bruce Froemming.

 

[Flash]

Umpires are only as good as the amount of **** they can handle ... I know some great umpires who aren't that solid on the rules, I know some terrible umpires who know the book by heart (of course, everyone's strike zone can be questionable at times).

The one word we are not permitted to use around here is 'brutal.' You use that and you're finding yourself in the parking lot.

I've only done it once ... a couple of weeks ago, in fact ... and I was shocked that I stayed in the game. But after a chat with the ump in question, I have great respect for him.

 

[Dignan]

Not sure what's sadder -- grown men acting like babies, or that someone videotaped a men's rec softball game.

 

[alleyallen]

Ha ha. No, that's not the kind of 'pie' the boys are after.

Would've been better if the shirt had said I <heart> 3.14.

I'd wear a shirt like that.

 

[Bob Cook]

Not sure what's sadder -- grown men acting like babies, or that someone videotaped a men's rec softball game.

Oh, it's worse than that. I remember I had a friend in high school who would do PLAY-BY-PLAY for men's rec softball. That's so, after the game, the players would go to a nearby bar and see the tape of themselves playing, with my friend's play-by-play overlaid.

 

[Flash]

Not sure what's sadder -- grown men acting like babies, or that someone videotaped a men's rec softball game.

Dude. It was the championship game.

 

[Flash]

Ha ha. No, that's not the kind of 'pie' the boys are after.

Would've been better if the shirt had said I <heart> 3.14.

I'd wear a shirt like that.

OK, that's damn funny. And a great idea for your Secret Santa this year.

 

[alleyallen]

Ha ha. No, that's not the kind of 'pie' the boys are after.

Would've been better if the shirt had said I <heart> 3.14.

I'd wear a shirt like that.

OK, that's damn funny. And a great idea for your Secret Santa this year.

That's it...I'm going to do it for sure now. And Flash, I'd love to send you a photo of said shirt.

 

[Ace]

Softball is fine if you have good players who are serious about it.

Or it's fine if you have not-so-good players who are out to have fun.

If you mix them, it's no fun. Too many people blow their tops.

 

[Flash]

Ha ha. No, that's not the kind of 'pie' the boys are after.

Would've been better if the shirt had said I <heart> 3.14.

I'd wear a shirt like that.

OK, that's damn funny. And a great idea for your Secret Santa this year.

That's it...I'm going to do it for sure now. And Flash, I'd love to send you a photo of said shirt.

I can't wait to see it.

Softball is fine if you have good players who are serious about it.

Or it's fine if you have not-so-good players who are out to have fun.

If you mix them, it's no fun. Too many people blow their tops.

An excellent summation.

 

[shotglass]

If I'd been on that other team, I would have informed the purple team that there's no damn way I was showing up the next day to play one out just because they couldn't keep their mouths shut.

Yeah, I probably would have had a punch thrown at me in that situation. :)

 

[Joel_Goodsen]

I will say one thing -- if you think softball is out of control, try playing in an adult flag football league, where you have all the same ridiculous over-the-top wannabe's (the ones wearing eye-black and nike high tops and chewing sunflower seeds) only they are wearing doo-rags (and that is not a racial statement, even the white guys sporting mullets think that wearing a doo-rag makes them cool and tough) trying to get their adrenaline rush by knocking each other's heads off!

I played one season of flag football and that's when I realized it is possible for people to have a negative IQ....

 

[Lester Bangs]

This should be a rule for anyone to follow, in any league, at any age -- the quality of the officiating is in direct proportion to the quality of play. So if you're in beer-league softball, you don't get major-league umping. That's just the way it goes.

That's why at my kids' games, I don't get worked up over "blown" calls. The 13-year-old girl behind the plate at my 8-year-old daughter's softball game is most certainly not Bruce Froemming.

I umpired all through junior high and into college and now look back at the **** I took from parents, that at the time seemed like no big deal, and think, "these idiots were talking to a 14-yo?"

I've gotten less and less serious about softball as the years have ticked on, and now just pretty much don't give a **** and play on a city league team. I stopped wearing pants three years ago, but still slide ... just too damn competitive.

Had an umpire last week who was brutal and belligerent about it ... it was almost like he was making bad calls to dare guys to say something to him. It's a playoff game and at one point I come to the plate and say, "You gonna smile tonight? We're having fun out here, right?" Umpires make all the difference and they don't even have to be great ... just minimally competent, confident and decent human beings and a good sense of humor helps.

Oh yeah, out here in rural Idaho, I'd say damn near every team has some numbskull wearing "69." It's usually the guy who last saw female genitalia on the day he was born.

 

[Flash]

Oh yeah, out here in rural Idaho, I'd say damn near every team has some numbskull wearing "69." It's usually the guy who last saw female genitalia on the day he was born.

During tournaments that have rec teams among comp teams, it's like they opened up the gates to the 10 nearest trailer parks and handed everyone a glove and a pair of cleats.

 

[finishthehat]

I used to work with a woman who played co-ed softball with her boyfriend. Another woman told me she went to one of the games, and the boyfriend blew his top and yelled at the girlfriend in public because she overran a base or something.

Not long after, I ran into him in a supermarket and, sure enough, he was wearing baseball pants and cleats. I didn't mean to, but I sincerely could not help cracking up pretty much in his face.

 

[the_dome]

On par with baseball pant guy, though, is the team that runs up the score to pad their own stats.

In my league, which is supposed to be the most "noncompetitive" one of the bunch, Good Team A kicked the crap out of Bad Team A 66-2 in five innings last week.


Talk about being Bush League....

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

I will say one thing -- if you think softball is out of control, try playing in an adult flag football league, where you have all the same ridiculous over-the-top wannabe'snever was'es (the ones wearing eye-black and nike high tops and chewing sunflower seeds) only they are wearing doo-rags (and that is not a racial statement, even the white guys sporting mullets think that wearing a doo-rag makes them cool and tough) trying to get their adrenaline rush by knocking each other's heads off!

fixed

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Nothing like when these moron "players" coach girls' softball teams and put their "A" teams into "B" tournaments.

Fun, fun stuff.

I'm amazed there aren't more homicides.

 

[Joel_Goodsen]

On par with baseball pant guy, though, is the team that runs up the score to pad their own stats.

In my league, which is supposed to be the most "noncompetitive" one of the bunch, Good Team A kicked the crap out of Bad Team A 66-2 in five innings last week.


Talk about being Bush League....

And let me guess, there were guys on Good Team A who can hit the ball a mile who were standing around waiting for walks even though the score was 40-2 in order to preserve their batting averages.

 

[finishthehat]

Oh man -- to me, even keeping stats is equal to pantswearing.

But then, I've never played in a softball league where at least half the fielders didn't have to put down their beers before making a play.