Sports: America is Losing Baseball
Passing this gem of an article, or should I say directive from my friend Holder of the Truth. Well done, well said and true. Coaching baseball and various other sports I cannot stress enough how to the point he is on all levels. I agree, and don't care who this offends myself. I love baseball, and you should too.
America is Losing Baseball
Do you want to see something depressing? Try going to a little league baseball game. Nine kids on a diamond and at least six of them don't want to be there. What the hell is going on when a game of baseball is torture for a grade school kid? I cringe every time a ball is put in play. Most of the kids are either afraid of the ball or have absolutely no clue what to do with the ball if it mistakenly finds its way into their glove. When I was in grade school I knew where each player on the diamond should go once the ball was hit, and so did my teammates. NOT TODAY! AND GOD FORBID YOU TRY TO COACH THE KID!
"WAKE UP JOHNNY! CHARGE THE BALL! THROW IT TO FIRST!"
"DON"T YOU TELL MY KID WHAT TO DO! YOU TAKE THIS TOO SERIOUSLY!"
"LADY, I'M TRYING TO GET YOUR KID TO PAY ATTENTION SO THAT HE DOESN'T TAKE ONE IN THE FACE!"
We are becoming a nation of wusses led by overly sensitive and ridiculous single mothers. (If this statement offends the reader, you can't imagine how much I could care less.)
What the hell has happened to America when kids think of baseball as an obligation rather than a rite of summer? What the hell happened to the neighborhood game that spontaneously took shape right after breakfast, right after lunch, and right after dinner? Where the hell are the dads playing catch with their sons on the front lawn? Where the hell are the days of summer when a kid could get 24 at bats in a game that lasted until it was time for dinner? Well, they're gone baby, gone...and no one seems to care.
WELL I CARE! FOR THE LOVE OF BART GIAMATTI, I CARE!
I feel like I am a part of the last generation that has a chance to save baseball for America. I worry that in 20 years the major league game will be played exclusively by Latins and Asians. (If this statement offends the reader, you can't imagine how much I could care less.)
The hell with that noise. Baseball is America's game, let everyone else have soccer.
So how can we save baseball for our sons, daughters, nephews, nieces? Here are some ideas:
1. Watch a ball game with a kid and talk with them about interesting game situations as they occur.
2. When you take a kid to a ball game, keep score. Teach them how to keep score. I'm not talking about "GO" for ground out or "PO" for pop out. A kid should know what 6-4-3 means by the 3rd grade.
3. Have a kid pick their favorite position on the diamond. Say they pick shortstop. When watching the game, follow the shortstops and talk about what they did right and what they did wrong.
4. For god sake, play catch and teach technique. It will not only help them to become better players, but it will also keep them from getting nail in the chops by the ball.
5. Call me old fashion, but try to get them engaged about the history of the game. When I was 10 I knew who Babe Ruth was.
6. Rent the movie "The Sandlot." Kids need to SEE the way childhood is suppose to work.
7. When you take a kid to a game, get there early enough for batting practice so that you can watch the infield drills. (This can be hit and miss at major league games. College and minor league teams still do the infield drills.)
8. Take away the video game crap. I don't care how much the whine. I have intentionally avoided temptations like Madden Football because I don't ever want to spend my youthful days on the couch. What kind of a life is a kid living if the most athletic bone in their body is in their thumb.
9. Take the kid out to a diamond with a bunch of rubber coated balls and pitch batting practice. Throw every forth ball at the kid. This will teach the kid to get out of the way of inside pitches while still being aggressive, and it will train him to not be afraid of the ball.
10. Don't give up on a kid too soon. Kids have shorter attention spans than kids from 20 years ago. They have too many distractions. Try different things to keep them engaged when playing and watching baseball.
Baseball is worth saving. Do your part.
"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of the hit-and-run." - Branch Rickey
"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of the double play." - Holder of the truth
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