Friday, August 11, 2006
Needing A Reality Check
Baseball Is a COMPETITIVE Sport
In Utah
some parents are angry because the other team intentionally walked the best hitter on their team. This controversy seems rather absurd to me.
During the championship game, the losing team is batting. When their best hitter comes up to bat with a man on third, the winning team intentionally walks him. The next batter strikes out, game over. Anyone knowing baseball beyond the most basic level realizes teams commonly walk good batters to win games.
The parents are angry not because they lost the game, not because the good batter was walked, but because it was an "insult" to the next batter! Admittedly, the boy up to bat is a sympathetic figure. He recovered from cancer and has a shunt in his brain.
The father of the boy seems to think such actions teach kids to pick on the weakest person. The winning coach says it just about winning a baseball game and the championship.
I agree with the winning coach. I'm sorry the one boy is not a good baseball player. I never was either. Which is why I chose other sports in which to compete. I believe the boy's father is teaching the boy the wrong lesson: that the boy should expect special treatment. WXPI in Pittsburg phrased their poll question like this: "Do you think the coach was right to intentionally walk a player in order to face a child recovering from cancer?" Nothing like framing the question in the wrong terms.
If you're up one run, facing the Giants in the seventh game of the World Series with a runner on base, do you pitch to Barry Bonds or whomever is behind him? Was the winning coach supposed to lose the championship so the father of some kid on the other team wouldn't feel bad.
Why is it that some adults believe that it is OK to hurt the feeling of some kids to "benefit" others who may be less talented in some way?
My youngest son, age 13, stand nearly 6 feet tall and weighs over 190 pounds. Needless to say, he enjoys football. During his last year of our local little league football, he was the dominant lineman, defensively and offensively. The man who runs the league and referees all the games has one major fault. He tries to even everything out.
During the championship game, this man kept making calls, and failing to make calls, in favor of the other team. At one point, when the other team was threatening to score, my son became quite angry when a holding was not called when a blocker grabbed his leg and held on. After calming him down, his coach moved my son to nose guard.
The previous year, a nulification of a fumble recovery by this man cost my son's team the championship.
It was 4th down and 5 for a touchdown and victory for the other team. When the ball was snapped my son hit the center so hard the center fell back into the quarterback, they both went down. My son's team won the championship and finished the season as the first undefeated team in the history of the league. (My son also returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown that game. Brag, brag.)
If you wish to compete in sports, don't expect special consideration unless you are in a league or setting, such as Special Olympics, that does so as a routine matter. If you're not as good, you're not as good, Accept it. Sports are about competition, playing hard and fair, and may the best team/person win. I've lost more than I've won but I love testing my abilities.
A player on a high school basketball team my oldest son played against had an obviously "withered" leg. The guy was good. He hustled, played hard, gave no quarter and expected none. Here's a kid who played high school football with no legs. He expected no special treatment other than to play.
As far as I'm concerned if you want you child to grow up to be a whiner, take the approach of the father in Utah. Otherwise, you teach your kids to play hard, play fair, study hard, work hard and use their brains. After that you just have to let the cards fall where they may.
UPDATE: in his comment civil truth points out that, once again, the kid knows how to handle the situation that the adults.
In Utah
some parents are angry because the other team intentionally walked the best hitter on their team. This controversy seems rather absurd to me.
During the championship game, the losing team is batting. When their best hitter comes up to bat with a man on third, the winning team intentionally walks him. The next batter strikes out, game over. Anyone knowing baseball beyond the most basic level realizes teams commonly walk good batters to win games.
The parents are angry not because they lost the game, not because the good batter was walked, but because it was an "insult" to the next batter! Admittedly, the boy up to bat is a sympathetic figure. He recovered from cancer and has a shunt in his brain.
The father of the boy seems to think such actions teach kids to pick on the weakest person. The winning coach says it just about winning a baseball game and the championship.
I agree with the winning coach. I'm sorry the one boy is not a good baseball player. I never was either. Which is why I chose other sports in which to compete. I believe the boy's father is teaching the boy the wrong lesson: that the boy should expect special treatment. WXPI in Pittsburg phrased their poll question like this: "Do you think the coach was right to intentionally walk a player in order to face a child recovering from cancer?" Nothing like framing the question in the wrong terms.
If you're up one run, facing the Giants in the seventh game of the World Series with a runner on base, do you pitch to Barry Bonds or whomever is behind him? Was the winning coach supposed to lose the championship so the father of some kid on the other team wouldn't feel bad.
Why is it that some adults believe that it is OK to hurt the feeling of some kids to "benefit" others who may be less talented in some way?
My youngest son, age 13, stand nearly 6 feet tall and weighs over 190 pounds. Needless to say, he enjoys football. During his last year of our local little league football, he was the dominant lineman, defensively and offensively. The man who runs the league and referees all the games has one major fault. He tries to even everything out.
During the championship game, this man kept making calls, and failing to make calls, in favor of the other team. At one point, when the other team was threatening to score, my son became quite angry when a holding was not called when a blocker grabbed his leg and held on. After calming him down, his coach moved my son to nose guard.
The previous year, a nulification of a fumble recovery by this man cost my son's team the championship.
It was 4th down and 5 for a touchdown and victory for the other team. When the ball was snapped my son hit the center so hard the center fell back into the quarterback, they both went down. My son's team won the championship and finished the season as the first undefeated team in the history of the league. (My son also returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown that game. Brag, brag.)
If you wish to compete in sports, don't expect special consideration unless you are in a league or setting, such as Special Olympics, that does so as a routine matter. If you're not as good, you're not as good, Accept it. Sports are about competition, playing hard and fair, and may the best team/person win. I've lost more than I've won but I love testing my abilities.
A player on a high school basketball team my oldest son played against had an obviously "withered" leg. The guy was good. He hustled, played hard, gave no quarter and expected none. Here's a kid who played high school football with no legs. He expected no special treatment other than to play.
As far as I'm concerned if you want you child to grow up to be a whiner, take the approach of the father in Utah. Otherwise, you teach your kids to play hard, play fair, study hard, work hard and use their brains. After that you just have to let the cards fall where they may.
UPDATE: in his comment civil truth points out that, once again, the kid knows how to handle the situation that the adults.
The child's name was Romney. Here is his response, quoted in Sports Illustrated:Sounds like a great kid to me.
By the way, the next morning, Romney woke up and decided to do something about what happened to him.
"I'm going to work on my batting," he told his dad. "Then maybe someday I'll be the one they walk."
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you cant have kids failing oops deferred success, it may hurt their precious ickle feelings..
real life doesnt work like that, in business its everyone for themselves, their company.
from sports illustrated via the UKCF board
http://tinyurl.com/popqv
i dont understand baseball, but the below stunned me
*** As my godson rounded second base, the ball was rolling around in the outfield after taking a generous carom away from anyone with a glove. Inexplicably, my godson pulled up at second base and stood on it, clapping his hands.
What the hell happened? Maybe he knew he was going to hit for the cycle and wanted to get the double out of the way early. Maybe he pulled a hamstring. I ran down to the dugout where my best friend was on the top step yelling things like, "Atta boy, Walt!" and asked him what the heck was going on. He informed me that in this Little League there are no home runs allowed because the parents and administrators of the league feel it is unfair to the other kids. He continued to tell me that parents don't like it when their children are made to feel bad by being crushed by a home run, so all home runs in this league are only doubles
After watching my godson get pulled, I was further incensed by how the game ended. With the brand-new scoreboard in center field reading, "Dodgers 6, Mariners 1," I watched in horror as it was reset to read, "Dodgers 6, Mariners 6"! Huh?
No one loses in today's Little League world. What the powers-that-be fail to realize is that not only are they ensuring that no one loses, but also, sadly, that no one wins, either. Forget crushing the opponent and taking slow home run trots; today's kids are taught that what matters most is being a good winner and a good loser. Who is a good loser (aside from the Atlanta Braves)? Why are we trying to protect kids so much as to deny them the feeling of humiliating one another? These kids are in for a shock when the real world gets a hold of them, because as you and I know, there are winners and losers in life. **
real life doesnt work like that, in business its everyone for themselves, their company.
from sports illustrated via the UKCF board
http://tinyurl.com/popqv
i dont understand baseball, but the below stunned me
*** As my godson rounded second base, the ball was rolling around in the outfield after taking a generous carom away from anyone with a glove. Inexplicably, my godson pulled up at second base and stood on it, clapping his hands.
What the hell happened? Maybe he knew he was going to hit for the cycle and wanted to get the double out of the way early. Maybe he pulled a hamstring. I ran down to the dugout where my best friend was on the top step yelling things like, "Atta boy, Walt!" and asked him what the heck was going on. He informed me that in this Little League there are no home runs allowed because the parents and administrators of the league feel it is unfair to the other kids. He continued to tell me that parents don't like it when their children are made to feel bad by being crushed by a home run, so all home runs in this league are only doubles
After watching my godson get pulled, I was further incensed by how the game ended. With the brand-new scoreboard in center field reading, "Dodgers 6, Mariners 1," I watched in horror as it was reset to read, "Dodgers 6, Mariners 6"! Huh?
No one loses in today's Little League world. What the powers-that-be fail to realize is that not only are they ensuring that no one loses, but also, sadly, that no one wins, either. Forget crushing the opponent and taking slow home run trots; today's kids are taught that what matters most is being a good winner and a good loser. Who is a good loser (aside from the Atlanta Braves)? Why are we trying to protect kids so much as to deny them the feeling of humiliating one another? These kids are in for a shock when the real world gets a hold of them, because as you and I know, there are winners and losers in life. **
I read the article. The coach did the right thing, the father is overidentifying with his son. The upshot is that instead of a few fans in Utah knowing his son struck out, now the whole country knows. I commented in more depth over at GM's corner: http://gmroper.mu.nu/
I wasn't ever really into sports, but the best game I ever played was a 'street tennis' match that I lost by one point.
But I didn't get all torn up about losing because even though I played an awesome game, the opponent played only one point better. The same goes for my other competitive events: video games, cards, 4-square, chess...etc.
Part, if not the most important part, of sportsmanship is learning how to handle losing like a champ, and winning with class. If you have true sportsmanship, losing stings a little, but your competitive nature channels into the next game, sort of a 'get-over-it-ness' we need more of in this country & this society.
'Cause there is no worse feeling of winning against someone who's given up, or losing to someone who has no class.
And let's not forget how much 'get-over-it-ness' some of these 'sports-parents' need in their lives. I haven't heard about much recently, but when those Daddys were beating up other Daddys because Junior's team lost, there is a serios flaw in someone's sportsmanship.
But I didn't get all torn up about losing because even though I played an awesome game, the opponent played only one point better. The same goes for my other competitive events: video games, cards, 4-square, chess...etc.
Part, if not the most important part, of sportsmanship is learning how to handle losing like a champ, and winning with class. If you have true sportsmanship, losing stings a little, but your competitive nature channels into the next game, sort of a 'get-over-it-ness' we need more of in this country & this society.
'Cause there is no worse feeling of winning against someone who's given up, or losing to someone who has no class.
And let's not forget how much 'get-over-it-ness' some of these 'sports-parents' need in their lives. I haven't heard about much recently, but when those Daddys were beating up other Daddys because Junior's team lost, there is a serios flaw in someone's sportsmanship.
I've also left a lengthy comment at GM's Corner. In brief, though, this is another example of adults interfering because they think they know best. In reality, the children know best. The child's name was Romney. Here is his response, quoted in Sports Illustrated:
By the way, the next morning, Romney woke up and decided to do something about what happened to him.
"I'm going to work on my batting," he told his dad. "Then maybe someday I'll be the one they walk."
Bravo Romney!
By the way, the next morning, Romney woke up and decided to do something about what happened to him.
"I'm going to work on my batting," he told his dad. "Then maybe someday I'll be the one they walk."
Bravo Romney!
# posted by 
: 5:07 PM
: 5:07 PM
civil truth - The kid certainly knows what to do and wants to face the challenge. Thanks for letting me in on that.
All of these comments reminded me of when I was in college and took up tennis fairly seriously. I met another student who was better than I. We played 2 - 3 times a week for several months and I lost every set. But my skills improved. Then the day came that I beat him 6-3 in a set. All the losses were worth that one victory. But, if I hadn't been willing to lose, I never would have won.
All of these comments reminded me of when I was in college and took up tennis fairly seriously. I met another student who was better than I. We played 2 - 3 times a week for several months and I lost every set. But my skills improved. Then the day came that I beat him 6-3 in a set. All the losses were worth that one victory. But, if I hadn't been willing to lose, I never would have won.
My comment will be very short: "Damn Fine Post" and one of the reasons you are on my "Highly Recommended Blogroll!"
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# posted by : 5:23 PM
: 5:23 PM Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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