sptsman
member
Reged: 12/14/05
Posts: 6199
Loc: Missouri
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A few notes and thoughts: I generally pay little or no attention to this over-hyped display of everything that is wrong with youth sports. But I watched a few games with the kids from Columbia, including last night's knock-out loss to Beaverton Oregon.
First, the announcers, Brent Musberger and Orel Hershiser do a pretty good job of painting it as some sort of wholesome, evrything that is good and right about America event. On the rare occasions they catch one of these over-stressed, pushed-to-the-limit 12 year-old kids smiling, they play it up for all it's worth. Did anyone else notice the lack of smiling and laughter in those dugouts and on the field? Damn, for 12 year-olds, these kids are pretty intense. Too intense for 12...
Second, the coach for the Oregon team is an A-hole. They had him rigged with a mic. and had the camera on him a bunch, in last nights game. Apparently, they don't use a delay. He comes to the mound in the 3rd or 4th inning and tells the pitcher and the whole world, "The ump is squuezing the chit out of you..." (nice to let the kid know it is OK to blame the umps for your troubles). Then ESPN shuts off the mic. When they finally turn the mic. back on he's asking the pitcher how he feels. The pitcher, who threw 280+ pitches in the regionals the week before, tells him he's getting tired. The coach tells him to get through the inning, then goes to the bench and tells his other coaches "He's done..." The kids ends up pitching the rest of the game (over 100 pitches)!?!?!? Of all the shots of this coach, he never once smiled and was always rding the kids. He's the kind of first class plick that coaches for himself and not the kids... Good luck having anything left of your arm for high school ball, if you pitch for that a-hole.
Finally, I was impressed with the umpires. They called a great game and did a good job managing the kids. The first base ump got an interference call right on a rundown. The home plate ump did a good job sending the catcher out to tell the pitcher not to go to his mouth, with his hand, on the mound...
Watching that makes me glad we got out of the select ball and 75+ games a year with our boy. We played less than 25 games this year and had more practices. The kids improved and had lots more fun.
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"Hunts are best measured by the endurance of the memories they produce..."
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DjF
little buddie
Reged: 12/13/05
Posts: 5410
Loc: staring at an empty mailbox...
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I wonder how many of those pitchers go on to play college ball or beyond...and how many burn their arms out early???
I watched a bit Sunday and saw some awesome catches in the outfield...
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somewhere between "Hi, how can we help you?" and "Get off my lawn!"
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sptsman
member
Reged: 12/14/05
Posts: 6199
Loc: Missouri
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There are a few big leaguers that played in the Little League World Series. But I guaran-damn-tee you there are dozens of burnt out kids, mentally, emotionally and physically, for every one that goes on to bigger and better things in baseball.
The funny thing is that these teams are the ones that have gone through the sysytem and ended up in the finals. Even at this level, you can see the kids that "have it" and the kids that simply don't...
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"Hunts are best measured by the endurance of the memories they produce..."
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DjF
little buddie
Reged: 12/13/05
Posts: 5410
Loc: staring at an empty mailbox...
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we get the field to practice here in Lone Jack twice a week...90 minutes at a time...if we can scedule a weekend practice, that adds another 90 minutes a week, iffin we can get everybody there...our goal this year was to get pitchers can throw strikes...a toss to first to keep runners close...we had one bunt for a single...our record was 2 and 8...
and I bet our kids had a lot more fun!!!
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somewhere between "Hi, how can we help you?" and "Get off my lawn!"
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griffin
administrator
Reged: 12/13/05
Posts: 9631
Loc: the most dangerous city in Ame...
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I have mixed feelings.....I know some kids who play 50-75 games a summer and absoutely love it. They just want to play baseball....everyday they can. Unfortunately, they can't play every day in the local park like we did when we were kids, because there ain't enough kids to get a game going.....the rest are holed up beside a video game or some othe rindoor activity.
There'ts of kids in our neighborhood......but I don't see them outside very much....my kids play with each other, or their mom and I.
If a kid wants to play ball every day, he has to play on a select team or play for 2 or three different teams.
Yeah, I think it burns some of the kids up......and yeah, very few make it to the big leagues.....but it's always been that way. Playing pro sports is like winning the lottery, and alot has to go right for a kid to make it there. It should be that way.....the very few kids who make it all the way are the survivors.....the strongest of the lot....that's life.
I don't think that just because a kid plays 75 games a summer that he is automatically miserable....and I agree that there is no reason to throw a 12 or 13 year old until their arm hurts.....lifetime arm problems are bad no matter what you end up doing for a living.
Parents screw up little league.....not the kids....they're just kids like we were....they just want to play.
griffin
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"The Irish are one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." - Sigmund Freud
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Paul San Antonio
member
Reged: 12/16/05
Posts: 190
Loc: Ladue, Mo.
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I'd be like the coach in Bad News Bears (Walter Matthau) and hand out Beer to my players after a playoff game.
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H2ODOG
the one who never tires
Reged: 12/22/05
Posts: 10998
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More rules should be put into on how often a kid can pitch and the number of pitches. Most MLB players today get limited to around 114 pitches for most regular games, an it doens't matter what inning. I could see expanding the number of pitches thrown for the LLWS last games. A 13 year old pitching 100+ pitches in a six inning game is too much.
Playing a kid all summer long is up to the kid. I wouldn't put my boy in a league that played that many games at age 9 right now. Granted he loves to play, but the damn game should be just that. I'm just happy my kid has had the same coach since he was 6. Dudes a great coach and is out there to teach the kids something about the game, not about the importance of winning at age 9.
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It’s better to be hated for who you are, instead of loved for who you aren’t.
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sptsman
member
Reged: 12/14/05
Posts: 6199
Loc: Missouri
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My boy played 75+ last year at age 13. He played less than 50, the year before and no more than 25 this year. For a kids that loooooves to play baseball, he was miserable the last 1/4 of the season last year.
When putting on the uniform is a chore and not exciting, it's too much. When you have to yell at the kid to get ready, he's probably burnt out. When they all hoped they lost the Saturay night game, one September night last year, so they wouldn't have to play Sunday, it's too much... These are all kids that really love playing baseball and had a balst the first 50-60 games.
This past year was more practices and less games. The kids actually progressed faster and learned more. How many balls do you get to field and at-bats do you get in a game? Now, how many in a 1 1/2 hour practice with four coaches helping? To even make it more fun for them, we showed them how to play pepper and indian ball. We ended almost every practice with 10-20 minutes of one of those two games. At the end of practice, their parents had to yell at them to get in the car. They wanted to stay and play...
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"Hunts are best measured by the endurance of the memories they produce..."
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