2016 Catch All Thread

[lostfan]

My coworkers have a tendency to obnoxiously debate right-wing nonsense, and I finally got headphones approved for my workstation and work is 10x more tolerable now.

[lostfan]

Earlier today the kids I coach were doing warmup throws this kid says "I'm definitely not pairing with Richard" (my son) standing right in front of me. Then he turns around and says "coach, did you bring your glove so I can work on pitching?" I said "no my shoulder is sore. Not today." Then while he was still looking I threw a ball from the dugout to a kid in deep center field about 150 feet away (to those kids it may as well be a thousand feet). I mean... I was going to but you just insulted my son right in front of me, so f*** off little dude.

 

That was super petty of me to do but I don't even feel bad. Lmao. I wasn't wrong though. Be a better teammate.

Edited May 11, 2016 by lostfan

[bigruss]

Earlier today the kids I coach were doing warmup throws this kid says "I'm definitely not pairing with Richard" (my son) standing right in front of me. Then he turns around and says "coach, did you bring your glove so I can work on pitching?" I said "no my shoulder is sore. Not today." Then while he was still looking I threw a ball from the dugout to a kid in deep center field about 150 feet away (to those kids it may as well be a thousand feet). I mean... I was going to but you just insulted my son right in front of me, so f*** off little dude.

 

That was super petty of me to do but I don't even feel bad. Lmao. I wasn't wrong though. Be a better teammate.

That seemed like a good response. Why didn't he want to play catch with your son? Just being a turd?

[lostfan]

That seemed like a good response. Why didn't he want to play catch with your son? Just being a turd?

He was low key saying my kid sucks, and also being selfish because my kid can't make an accurate throw every time, which is the whole point of pre game warmups, and which half the kids on the team have trouble doing it

[Texsox]

Earlier today the kids I coach were doing warmup throws this kid says "I'm definitely not pairing with Richard" (my son) standing right in front of me. Then he turns around and says "coach, did you bring your glove so I can work on pitching?" I said "no my shoulder is sore. Not today." Then while he was still looking I threw a ball from the dugout to a kid in deep center field about 150 feet away (to those kids it may as well be a thousand feet). I mean... I was going to but you just insulted my son right in front of me, so f*** off little dude.

 

That was super petty of me to do but I don't even feel bad. Lmao. I wasn't wrong though. Be a better teammate.

 

I had about half my team not show up to practice last night. A trend that keeps getting worse. Our competitive season is over, but this is also a class that they earn credit for. Some of the kids made up really lame excuses which was basically just lying to me.

 

So f*** it. No more leaving for the course at 3:15 if half won't show up. They can sit in the classroom until the end of the school day at 4:05 and be stuck in all that s***ty end of the day traffic.

 

Yeah, it's good to be coach.

 

[lostfan]

I had about half my team not show up to practice last night. A trend that keeps getting worse. Our competitive season is over, but this is also a class that they earn credit for. Some of the kids made up really lame excuses which was basically just lying to me.

 

So f*** it. No more leaving for the course at 3:15 if half won't show up. They can sit in the classroom until the end of the school day at 4:05 and be stuck in all that s***ty end of the day traffic.

 

Yeah, it's good to be coach.

I had this happen last fall. Long story but the parents didn't want to take their kids to practice, and one kids mom in particular didn't want to come to practice on Saturdays. She got mad because her son learned nothing. Lol how's that my fault? First of all I'm sorry I didn't turn your wack ass son into Bryce f***ing Harper, but secondly how am I supposed to teach him anything if you only are at practice an hour and 15 minutes per week, until the sun goes down?

[Kyyle23]

i am simultaneously excited and terrified of my son starting baseball because of crazy parents

[Texsox]

I had this happen last fall. Long story but the parents didn't want to take their kids to practice, and one kids mom in particular didn't want to come to practice on Saturdays. She got mad because her son learned nothing. Lol how's that my fault? First of all I'm sorry I didn't turn your wack ass son into Bryce f***ing Harper, but secondly how am I supposed to teach him anything if you only are at practice an hour and 15 minutes per week, until the sun goes down?

 

They were looking for an excuse and a scapegoat so they could pull their kid out of the league.

[CrimsonWeltall]

i am simultaneously excited and terrified of my son starting baseball because of crazy parents

 

Probably pretty dependent on the kind of league you're signing him up for. The BASEBALL IS SERIOUS BUSINESS parents are going to gravitate towards "travel" leagues and all that.

 

If you're just talking about getting your son interested in baseball by having him play in a local community league, you'll be alright. My son played for a bit (grade 3-5) and I never saw a parent lose their s***. Maybe a couple who yelled at the ump too much from the stands.

[lostfan]

My son has been playing for 5 years. Last fall was actually the first time I had any bad experience like that. That kid's mother was just a special kind of b****.

[bigruss]

I've always wanted to coach but the politics in it seem like a drain I don't need, my favorite and best coach growing up was forced to quit by parents. He was fantastic with kids and really knew how to coach them up, which is a lot harder than one would think. But his one flaw was that he was relentless on the umps and other coaches (but never got on the opposing players), you could be up by 10 runs and he'll still argue balls/strikes with the ump. I guess his act got old, which is too bad because every kid wanted to be on his team (and no other team wanted to play against his).

[southsider2k5]

I've always wanted to coach but the politics in it seem like a drain I don't need, my favorite and best coach growing up was forced to quit by parents. He was fantastic with kids and really knew how to coach them up, which is a lot harder than one would think. But his one flaw was that he was relentless on the umps and other coaches (but never got on the opposing players), you could be up by 10 runs and he'll still argue balls/strikes with the ump. I guess his act got old, which is too bad because every kid wanted to be on his team (and no other team wanted to play against his).

 

It depends on what age group you are looking at. For the young guys, this is stupid. They should be learning the basics of the game, teamwork, sportsmanship, respect for authority, and having some fun. Once they start to push into the middle school area, then you can start to get more serious about it. I despise the people that make young youth sports into a highly competitive environment. That isn't what it should be about.

[lostfan]

Kids 10 and under, yes you try to win, but the winning isn't that important. I know that makes some Baby Boomers roll their eyes and go on "everybody gets a trophy" rants (uh, who gave the kids the trophies anyway?) but there's a reason for it. One of the games we won without a single hit, because the other team didn't have any good pitchers. That win didn't mean much because my kids didn't learn anything. I'd rather us lost the game, but see that they were hitting and fielding properly.

 

I like to think I'm a pretty decent hitting instructor, I know several drills I have them do, and they work. Several times, I will show the kids one specific thing they're doing wrong and have them correct it. Suddenly they start hitting the ball (or if they were already hitting, hit much harder) and they look up at me like "you actually know what you're talking about, don't you?"

[bigruss]

This was 3rd/4th grade, and we had 2 leagues so the better kids played up and the kids who weren't as good or didn't want to compete too hard played down.

 

While the coach definitely wanted to win he was never unpleasant to the kids, he would just always mess with opposing coaches/umps. Never in a mean way, he never called them names or swore (well loudly haha), he would argue the little things when they didn't really matter. But, at the same time, he connected with kids at that age when few can, and the entire team was focused on winning (again, no small feat for that age). We won the championship both years which I don't think any other team had done in quite some time in repeating. And while we were all competitive those were also some of the most fun years I've ever had, great introduction into pitch baseball.

[Iwritecode]

My daughter played softball for about 6 years. There were only a couple of times I got really upset. One was when the kids were around 7 or so and the opposing coach kept sending his runners around the bases because he knew kids that age have trouble throwing/catching the ball consistently. Our girls would be throwing the ball back to the pitcher and he'd have his kids still running.

 

The other time was when my daughter was a few years older and the umpire was calling strikes on balls that literally bounced on or before the plate. I later found out that our coach told the umpire to "expand the zone" because we were winning by a lot. Finding that out actually made me even more upset.

[Jose Abreu]

I played little league from 2007-2013 and the parents weren't too bad. Even in travel, there weren't any real nutjobs

[Chisoxfn]

I've always wanted to coach but the politics in it seem like a drain I don't need, my favorite and best coach growing up was forced to quit by parents. He was fantastic with kids and really knew how to coach them up, which is a lot harder than one would think. But his one flaw was that he was relentless on the umps and other coaches (but never got on the opposing players), you could be up by 10 runs and he'll still argue balls/strikes with the ump. I guess his act got old, which is too bad because every kid wanted to be on his team (and no other team wanted to play against his).

I have no respect for a coach who rails the umps for freaking kid games. None. The umps are typically volunteering their time (yes some get paid) but growing up in our league an off-duty cop was our ump and he'd ump practically every game in our league except for when his son's team played (made me think of it cause I bumped into him today when dropping my daughter off at preschool). The message being sent to kids at that point is wrong, imo.

[Chisoxfn]

This was 3rd/4th grade, and we had 2 leagues so the better kids played up and the kids who weren't as good or didn't want to compete too hard played down.

 

While the coach definitely wanted to win he was never unpleasant to the kids, he would just always mess with opposing coaches/umps. Never in a mean way, he never called them names or swore (well loudly haha), he would argue the little things when they didn't really matter. But, at the same time, he connected with kids at that age when few can, and the entire team was focused on winning (again, no small feat for that age). We won the championship both years which I don't think any other team had done in quite some time in repeating. And while we were all competitive those were also some of the most fun years I've ever had, great introduction into pitch baseball.

Here is the problem..you as kids see him ripping on the umps and now you think that is an acceptable approach. It can snowball from there. I even think of my softball leagues where people would flip out at the umps and how I'd laugh (although I will admit, once or twice, only on total hosejobs, did I voice my displeasure with a loud "realllly" or "noooooo way" that was it. When it is the big leagues, I understand.

 

And people will say, its okay, no it really isn't. In high school and college it isn't tolerated, like at all. Yes with the coaches to an extent, but certainly not with players. Focus on the fundamentals and what you can control. Blaming the umps is an excuse and just starts the tradition of blaming others vs. taking responsibility.

[lostfan]

I have no respect for a coach who rails the umps for freaking kid games. None. The umps are typically volunteering their time (yes some get paid) but growing up in our league an off-duty cop was our ump and he'd ump practically every game in our league except for when his son's team played (made me think of it cause I bumped into him today when dropping my daughter off at preschool). The message being sent to kids at that point is wrong, imo.

One of the moms (the same asshole I was referring to in my earlier post) went all ballistic on the ump when her son was the catcher and he called the runner safe. I was trying to tell her look, I was standing right there, the kid dropped the ball, it was the correct call. When you didn't see me react that should have been a clue.

[bigruss]

Here is the problem..you as kids see him ripping on the umps and now you think that is an acceptable approach. It can snowball from there. I even think of my softball leagues where people would flip out at the umps and how I'd laugh (although I will admit, once or twice, only on total hosejobs, did I voice my displeasure with a loud "realllly" or "noooooo way" that was it. When it is the big leagues, I understand.

 

And people will say, its okay, no it really isn't. In high school and college it isn't tolerated, like at all. Yes with the coaches to an extent, but certainly not with players.

I see your point and it's quite valid, but just to point out I haven't ever really thought it was ok to rip on umps, in fact I was usually one of the more respectful players on the field to umps throughout my career. Only time I would get upset is if they were d-bags to me for no reason, which unfortunately happened more than preferred in my HS games.

 

Like I said, he didn't swear or call the umps/coaches names, he would just bicker balls/strikes in games that weren't necessary, argue outs, etc. He was just intent on winning and backing his players 100% of the time, didn't matter if you were up 10-0 or in a tied game. I can see out the act got old and it's too bad he couldn't simmer it down because he's a HUGE reason why I fell in love with the game, and without his coaching/patience I don't think I would've stuck with it.

[southsider2k5]

I have no respect for a coach who rails the umps for freaking kid games. None. The umps are typically volunteering their time (yes some get paid) but growing up in our league an off-duty cop was our ump and he'd ump practically every game in our league except for when his son's team played (made me think of it cause I bumped into him today when dropping my daughter off at preschool). The message being sent to kids at that point is wrong, imo.

 

That all rolls up into the "respect for authority" thing kids should be learning at a lower level. Berating an umpire in during a little league game just shows kids that is OK to be publicly disrespectful to authority figures.

[bigruss]

Ok so this steamrolled a bit more than expected, and I probably didn't clarify enough. He wouldn't yell at umps, get in their face, swear, etc. He would just constantly be complaining about calls, not that that's great for kids to see but heck there's worse things and he would NEVER allow his kids to do the same.

 

He wasn't near perfect, but it killed me that he got pushed out of coaching as he was the reason I not only kept up with baseball but made me appreciate and love the game.

[Texsox]

My son has been playing for 5 years. Last fall was actually the first time I had any bad experience like that. That kid's mother was just a special kind of b****.

Five years and hasn't mastered warm ups? He needs a new coach.

[Texsox]

My travelling coach for baseball taught me so many lessons, many I use in my own coaching. Respect was #1. For the game, yourself, teammates, opponents. When I've had the unpleasant task of cutting kids I remember his method. Youth coaches like him are really rare. He also financed and ran the local youth football program until the park district was large enough to buy him out. We literally went to his parent's garage to pick up our equipment. For what it is worth, he was gay. No one really mentioned it. I learned the fact years later.

[RockRaines]

Well its officially official, baby #2 on its way