A Little League Timeout

7 thoughts on “A Little League Timeout”

1. Well said, parents need to stop living vicariously thru their children on the field!

2. You hit it out the ballpark with your comments, Drew. Hope that sno-cone dousing catches on!

3. Dear Drew,

   I want to relate a story from long, long ago when i played Little League & Pony League. We had a player who was bad. Most of the season the kid could hit a ball if it was standing still. When he played right field your #1 fear was that the ball would be hit to him because not only couldn’t he catch but he seemed to have the arm of a wet noodle. It didn’t get much better for the kid because he had a father who constantly berated him and told him how crappy he was playing. Finally my father (the coach of the team) had seen enough. For the final 4 games of the season my dad had his father barred from the game.

   Then something amazing happened. The kid started to be able to hit the ball. He got base hits in the next 3 games. He was actually able to start catching the ball. Of course his arm was still a wet noodle but hey 2 out of 3 wasn’t bad. Dad was so impressed that he started the kid and let him play the entire game (instead of just the mandatory 3 inning – 1 at bat rule). That game he won the MIP ball (dad believed in calling it the Most Improved Player Award as opposed to an MVP award). When the kid got the ball the rest of the team cheered for him long and loud.

   I wish more coaches and parents were like my father and fewer like the loudmouth father of that kid. I forgot his name a long time ago. But I’ve never forgotten the memory.

   All the best

   Louis

4. Well put, Drew. My 14 year old son used to play, but because the game no longer was fun (if he didn’t hit the ball every time he went to bat he would get cut from the team), he became an umpire for the 5-8 year olds. Sometimes he does have to deal with parents.

   He heard a story of how one ump (sick of hearing the parents complain) went and sat in the stands for 1/2 an inning and was calling the game from there. When the parents asked why he was there, because he couldn’t see from the stands, he responded “exactly”. He then went back to the field, and the parents got the message.

5. Good Morning from Omaha,

   As a former little league parent and coach I have caused and created my share of havoc. Finally my son told me to “shut up”. Yes it hurt my feeling but he was right.As he got older he developed the ability to not hear me when he was on the sidelines during football games.

   I am a little slow, but realized that kids tend to play sports because they are fun and once the fun becomes work and workouts they tend to cease playing that sport and choose another.

   Its the childs level of competitiveness that needs to be quenched and while the parents can model children must find that competitive nature in themselves. Yelling at them, berating them and belittling them wont help.

   heck yesterday I saw a father and son at the ball field. Dad was hitting fly balls to his son and if the son missed catching the ball it appeared the dad required the son to do 10 pushups.The son did not catch a single ball hit to him and ended up doing “cheater” pushups as he had to do so many.

   I just shook my head. No matter how well intentioned the father was in his attempts, the son was no better at catching a fly ball after the session with his dad then he was before.And he still was not doing pushups correctly. NOTHING was accomplished.

   I was/am not perfect and if you were to speak with my children, yes there are two of them, they could fill a book with stories about me and my attempts to help them succeed in school and sports. Looking back I was pretty pitiful. Thank goodness, the lovely Mrs A knew what she was doing and steered me back on course.

   Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.

   Gene

6. As a youth soccer ref, I’ve ejected dozens (if not thousands) of parents, including one for running onto the field and chewing out her daughter for being out of position IN THE MIDDLE OF PLAY.

   Then there’s the dad who questioned my interpretation of the offside rule, and bet me $50 – in front of his wife and three spawn – that I couldn’t prove to him in the rulebook that I was right. Needless to say, I left the field richer.

   In any event, here’s a link to a delightful (and quite NSFW) read on the subject from Drew Magary on Deadspin – one of my favorite writers and one of my favorite sports sites, respectively.

   http://deadspin.com/5985288/which-sport-produces-the-worst-parents

7. Drew,

   Many years ago I learned the valuable lesson in refereeing. The head referee of the Martial division of the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, Inc) would absolutely refuse to look a video of a referee making a bad call because all of the videos DID NOT have the perspective of the referee/official. This gave me a whole new perspective on officiating and since then I have had the up most respect for officials of any sports where they must make the call in a fraction of a second. Sine then I have asked for the view of the official to question the call. If there is no view from the official then what the official called stands, regardless of what other views may show. Like many officials I did not have the assistance of instant replay and I do not like because it does not give the perspective of the official. The official may have made the correct call based on their perspective, i.e. a player may have blocked their view but with instant replay which is from different angle may show a “bad” call. Everyone says the official made a bad call but they do not show the view the vie from the official. Also, I do not appreciate the use of instant replay and the criticism that follows to slam the officials. I say put up or shut up and this includes the network yahoos.

   I challenge ALL spectators to try to officiate before they spout what a lousy call the ref made.