This is our readership...*sigh*

[WaylonJennings]

The person has a different idea of how the educational value of sports can be realized than I do.

I'm not going to get hysterical and call her stupid for it.

No she doesn't. Her kid doesn't play enough, and it pisses her off, because she feels the world owes her kid playing time. That's it.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

There is another angle to this.

When I was in Grade 12, I played on the high school soccer team. The honest truth is: I sucked. I only made it because about 15 kids tried out and the coach needed a bench. I barely played. But, I loved the practice time. I participated as much as I could in the drills, worked on my game and did improve. A ton.

I enjoyed that feeling of accomplishment. If I got that letter, I'd write that column.

 

[Starman]

The person has a different idea of how the educational value of sports can be realized than I do.

I'm not going to get hysterical and call her stupid for it.

No she doesn't. Her kid doesn't play enough, and it pisses her off, because she feels the world owes her kid playing time. That's it.

Well, we don't know how much her kid does play. As cited in my post above, maybe the kid never plays -- ever.

She's got a right to ***** about it, and the kid has the right to quit the team (and probably should).

If the coach has a history of never playing kids off the bench, he shouldn't be surprised if kids start quitting.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Of course, the kid probably played on an AAU team that cost the family thousands of dollars each season and the AAU coach, seeing those thousand-dollar checks, was only too happy to tell the mom the kid was going to be enshrined in Cooperstown someday.

 

[Cadet]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

 

[jlee]

This woman may be misguided, but she's not calling for the coach's head or demanding an investigation from the local rag. She's just venting in an LTE -- not the worst e-mail you'll receive today.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

In this state, many high schools have users' fees for their sports programs. They're usually between $100 and $250 a season.
One now-retired AD once said one of the things he was most proud of was that his school system never had users' fees. "Nothing good can ever come of them," he said.
He's right. I'm sure many parents of bench-warmers feel their $250 is just as good as the Division I prospect's family's $250 and that alone entitles their kids to play more.

 

[RickStain]

The person has a different idea of how the educational value of sports can be realized than I do.

I'm not going to get hysterical and call her stupid for it.

No she doesn't. Her kid doesn't play enough, and it pisses her off, because she feels the world owes her kid playing time. That's it.

You don't know that. It's possible, but there are a lot of people who feel the same way as her who don't have kids or whose kids are starters.

Almost everyone agrees that there are ages where competitions for playing time are inappropriate. She (and more people than a sampling of SportsJournalists.com would imply) feel the line should be drawn a little older. Big deal.

 

[CarltonBanks]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

 

[Tom Petty]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

actually, carl, it was relevant.

maybe i don't care what you think or feel about cadet's post and believe you should keep your snarky, little angry comments to yourself.

 

[Some Guy]

The person has a different idea of how the educational value of sports can be realized than I do.

I'm not going to get hysterical and call her stupid for it.

No she doesn't. Her kid doesn't play enough, and it pisses her off, because she feels the world owes her kid playing time. That's it.

You don't know that. It's possible, but there are a lot of people who feel the same way as her who don't have kids or whose kids are starters.

I would bet my first-born on the fact this letter-writer sired one of these little benchwarmers.

 

[CarltonBanks]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

actually, carl, it was relevant.

maybe i don't care what you think or feel about cadet's post and believe you should keep your snarky, little angry comments to yourself.

Excuse me for assuming you were smart enough to understand the "JOURNALISM ONLY" board is different from the politics board. My bad.

 

[pseudo]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

actually, carl, it was relevant.

maybe i don't care what you think or feel about cadet's post and believe you should keep your snarky, little angry comments to yourself.

Excuse me for assuming you were smart enough to understand the "JOURNALISM ONLY" board is different from the politics board. My bad.

Yeah, because nobody ever, EVER gets snarky about the "p" word on this board:

Reader comment threads should die, horribly, now.

HOLY CRAP! After reading all the leftist pap Fenian spews on the political board, and thinking the guy a complete and utter close-minded idiot, I finally can say "Amen, Fenian...preach it."
Just goes to show, even people who could not possibly be more different than you with their views on politics can have some thoughts you agree with. and I thought all liberals were clueless...

Calm down, I was just kidding about the clueless crack. I have a couple of liberal friends ... well, centrists friends anyway.

Not that I agree with Cadet. I suppose nobody ever, EVER complained about their kid's playing time before last April 15, either.

Anyway. Back on the original topic, haven't we all received at least one similar missive at some point? Yeah, life ain't fair, and your little darling apparently wasn't blessed with athletic talent. So sorry.

 

[Cadet]

Allow me to expand on my point:

In my corner of the world there is a pretty sizeable group of parents who enroll their children in private schools or homeschool programs primarily as a means to keep their precious offspring away from the black and brown kids in public schools.

These are the same people who call upon their state and municipal governments to refund their tax money for services they don't use, namely public schools. Some take it a step further and equate their tax dollars with providing services to illegal immigrants, and so they want their money back for public hospitals and medicare/medicaid as well.

Much like this letterwriter, they are too shortsighted to see the inherent societal value in things like public hospitals and public school facilities. I realize the content of her letter touched upon several issues, but this is the one that stood out for me. The concept that she isn't getting her money's worth from taxes because her kid rides the bench is one that seems to have its basis in recent political ideology crazily centered around equating taxation with socialism. Lord knows she's not the first nor will she be the last to complain about her kid's lack of playing time, but this particular angle of the argument seemed familiar.

And as for this:

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

STFU and fetch me a beer.

 

[spud]

Back in the day, when I was a kid

I just rolled my eyes so hard they fell back into my brain.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I got an anonymous letter from a parent. It said, you know, just kind of bummed out this year b/c the boys only get two weeks off before they start summer conditioning. Normally they only get three.

But here's my point. IT'S DIVISION I FOOTBALL!! IT'S THE BIG 12!! IT AIN'T INTRAMURALS!!! And we're a little bummed out we didn't get three weeks? Go play intramurals, brother. Go play intramurals.

 

[CarltonBanks]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

actually, carl, it was relevant.

maybe i don't care what you think or feel about cadet's post and believe you should keep your snarky, little angry comments to yourself.

Excuse me for assuming you were smart enough to understand the "JOURNALISM ONLY" board is different from the politics board. My bad.

Yeah, because nobody ever, EVER gets snarky about the "p" word on this board:

Reader comment threads should die, horribly, now.

HOLY CRAP! After reading all the leftist pap Fenian spews on the political board, and thinking the guy a complete and utter close-minded idiot, I finally can say "Amen, Fenian...preach it."
Just goes to show, even people who could not possibly be more different than you with their views on politics can have some thoughts you agree with. and I thought all liberals were clueless...

Calm down, I was just kidding about the clueless crack. I have a couple of liberal friends ... well, centrists friends anyway.

Not that I agree with Cadet. I suppose nobody ever, EVER complained about their kid's playing time before last April 15, either.

Anyway. Back on the original topic, haven't we all received at least one similar missive at some point? Yeah, life ain't fair, and your little darling apparently wasn't blessed with athletic talent. So sorry.

Point??? What does this have to do with the parents complaining about their kids playing time? I don't get the connection.

 

[jfs1000]

Sigh....this is our failure.

For kids in rec league and little league I agree with the lady. I think making little league competitive has harmed baseballin the country and scarred kids. I also hate the youth travel leagues.

BUT...once you get to high school what an athletic team is trying to teach is dedication,discipline and competition.

This isn't about playing for fun, this is about competing. The fun of high school sports comes in competing, not playing. It drives us to excel and hone our skills.

High school sports are competition driven, and that is an important lesson we can teach. In a competition, the goal is winning.

We have it backwards in this country. Little League star flames out on the real diamond.

 

[CarltonBanks]

Sigh....this is our failure.

For kids in rec league and little league I agree with the lady. I think making little league competitive has harmed baseballin the country and scarred kids. I also hate the youth travel leagues.

BUT...once you get to high school what an athletic team is trying to teach is dedication,discipline and competition.

This isn't about playing for fun, this is about competing. The fun of high school sports comes in competing, not playing. It drives us to excel and hone our skills.

High school sports are competition driven, and that is an important lesson we can teach. In a competition, the goal is winning.

We have it backwards in this country. Little League star flames out on the real diamond.

Seriously? What is wrong with teaching kids about working hard to get ahead? What is wrong with teaching them they have to work towards their goals? The earlier the kids learn the "life is not always fun or fair" lesson, the better. Little league was not ruined by competitiveness, it has been ruined by meddling parents who can see no flaws in Little Johnny. I loved little league. I rode my bike to the game, kicked some ass with my friends, grabbed some ice cream and rode my bike home. One year my team won 1 stinking game, but we all had a blast. Now, with every parent thinking their kid could get a scholarship or make it big, they are IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. I actually had a parent ask me why we did not do a feature on her son, a marginal senior high school player, because it would help, maybe, get him a scholarship. When I explained to her it was not the job of my staff or my paper to get kids scholarships she got all bent out of shape because "the local paper should be supporting the local kids!" And the kid? He just kind of looked at me and rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking at him. The parents are the problem, plain and simple. And being a part of a team, even if you aren't the star or even a starter, teaches a young kid plenty.

 

[Angola!]

I love this "if my kid doesn't use it, I shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality. So if your kid isn't in drama class, they should take away the theater? If your kid takes after you and can't write, they should do away with the school newspaper?

I would bet this woman learned her talking points at one of those tax day teabagging parties. Her property taxes are funding socialism!!1!

Can you keep the political crap in the proper place? No one here wants to read your snarky political garbage. There is a place for that.

actually, carl, it was relevant.

maybe i don't care what you think or feel about cadet's post and believe you should keep your snarky, little angry comments to yourself.

Excuse me for assuming you were smart enough to understand the "JOURNALISM ONLY" board is different from the politics board. My bad.

Yeah, because nobody ever, EVER gets snarky about the "p" word on this board:

Reader comment threads should die, horribly, now.

HOLY CRAP! After reading all the leftist pap Fenian spews on the political board, and thinking the guy a complete and utter close-minded idiot, I finally can say "Amen, Fenian...preach it."
Just goes to show, even people who could not possibly be more different than you with their views on politics can have some thoughts you agree with. and I thought all liberals were clueless...

Calm down, I was just kidding about the clueless crack. I have a couple of liberal friends ... well, centrists friends anyway.

Not that I agree with Cadet. I suppose nobody ever, EVER complained about their kid's playing time before last April 15, either.

Anyway. Back on the original topic, haven't we all received at least one similar missive at some point? Yeah, life ain't fair, and your little darling apparently wasn't blessed with athletic talent. So sorry.

Point??? What does this have to do with the parents complaining about their kids playing time? I don't get the connection.

You're not very bright, maybe that's why you are a Republican.

The point is, you jumped onto Cadet for making a joke - so psuedo showed how you do the same thing. So climb off the high horse chief.