I am frickin' speechless

“You really need to get a life, bit.”

“What a loser. I'm rather surprised they can only keep him from being a coach for the next year. I read it rather quickly though, so I might have missed something there.”

“The coach was very competitive. He wanted to win,"

its frickin t-ball for 8-year olds! gimme a break!”

“In my tball league when I was a kid we didn't even keep score! Insane.”

“What's T-ball? I've never heard of that term. From the article....I know it has something to do with baseball.”

“If he is convicted, the league will deal with him harshly -- a one-year suspension from coaching.

um....

Wow. It is good that they have standards.”

“stanlee - T-ball is like baseball without the pitcher - the ball is placed on a plastic T (like a big golf tee) at an appropriate level for the young kid and then the kid hits the ball with the bat and play proceeds as normal for baseball”

“its a precursor league to little league stanlee.

I used to coach when my son was around 6. Every kid batted every inning, the last kid up got to hit a home run while every other kid had been advanceing one base at a time.

We didn't call outs.

We didn't keep score.

Every kid played on the field every inning as well.

The kids had fun, and so did I.

Just imagine what this guy in the story is gonna be like when his kids are playing high school sports!”

“1. If guilty, he should be banned from organized sports for life.
2. If I was the dad of the child that was assaulted then I'd have a very hard time not kicking the $hit out this punk. I guess I wouldn't help my family too much from jail, but it would be hard not to give him the tire iron treatment.”

“This mentality of competitiveness at all costs is waaaaaay over the top.

The lack of serious consequences on the part of the league is as disturbing as the act itself.”

“I'm friends with the guy in charge of my towns park and rec. Their nickname for lots of the parents is simply the "psychos." I've coached younged aged kids, but have always stayed away from 4th grade and above simply because I don't won't to deal with the competitveness. I get enough of that with work, don't need it for my relaxation.”

“I know what you're talking about, DH. My oldest isn't interested anymore in any organized sports, and I don't even encourage it anymore because I get so tired of the extreme competiveness of some of the parents. They are nuts.”

“younged aged kids huh? I guess I created a new phrase there. Oops.

I really want my kids to be involved in sports because of the lessons about life and teamwork you learn and also the physical aspect of it. Part of life is also learning to deal with idiots. The guy in the article, though, is a different brand of idiot. Way over the top.

I am personally not that athletically gifted, but I competed against those that were and got alot out of it. I was buddies with the basketball team and played until 10th grade when I changed over to cross country. In the summers I'd run 3 miles to the hs gym, play ball with the gym rats for a few hours and run home. We were actually talking about this at the office yesterday. I had friends that were jocks that I didn't quite fit in with and then friends with nerds where I fit in a bit better. Eventually the engineer thing kicked in, but I think I learned a good bit from that other environment. I want my kids to as well. Especially my son because it's very apparent the apple didn't fall far from the tree. When you get into the business aspects of what I do you can't be a nerd anymore. He'll have to learn that to and the social aspects of sports is a great place to start.”

“Compare sports to the competition between gods........................war,war,war.........?????????????????”

“DH, I agree that lots of great lifeskills can bne learned through sports, cooperation, sharing, stepping down etc...I see a lot of those skills being learned elsewhere like band (orchestra) debate club,scouts etc....

I really dislike the common attitude surrounding sports. The over competitiveness and win at all costs attitude is shameful. I especially dislike HS sports. Working for a public school district for the passed 11 plus years has shown me a far uglier side of "student atheletes" then I would have known.

I am also one of the many who were not atheleltic at all in HS, I was teased by the jocks (and beatup a few times) because I was a fat misfit kid. Obviously my view is skewed by my experience.

Ironically I am prolly the fittest person in my graduating class and my daughter has picked up a love of excercise through Sass and I. I will actively disuade her from school sports and cheerleading stuff. She can learn life skills elsewhere.”

“I played sports until high school. My sport of choice was soccer. Thankfully, being in Indiana at the time, soccer was only JUST starting to become popular, and didn't have quite as many psycho parents.

I would consider myself a good player up until high school. When I got there, I got left behind. For my freshman year, I MAYBE got to play for 15 min all season. My sophomore year, I didn't get to play until the second half of the season, at which point I was able to play JV, and I worked my way up to a starting position. My junior year, I started JV and played every min of every game. I quit senior year b/c of torn ligaments in my foot and also b/c my school team had a policy that every senior got to be on varsity. I wanted to EARN a spot on varsity. I didn't want it to be given to me. Maybe I was too proud, but I never really fit in on the team, anyway.

I would say that I had a positive experience with sports UNTIL high school. It would have been nice if there had been a much less competitive recreational league of sorts I could play in at the time...but everything was too competitive at that point, and the players turned into asses b/c of it.

I played intramural soccer in college. It was an absolute blast. Just enough competitiveness to be interesting, but also fun. If a team was short players, we would redistribute players so we could have a game. I'm hoping to find some sort of adult league I can play in this fall.”

“An alternative view.


My son is 6 and in "instructional" league.

3 innings.

Each team goes through the batting order each inning. The coach pitches. THere is no striking out, but fielding
outs are made, but don't count.

One of the kids on my son's team was not physically disabled, but had evident social, maturity issues.


At one at bat, on a cold April day, he took 20 minutes. TWENTY. He would just do pirouttes with the bat, and laugh. The coach was INCREDIBLY patient. The assitant coach worked closely with him on grip, postion etc. Finally he held the bat with him and guided it to the ball for a hit.

The kid resisted every effort. Actively tryig to MISS the ball.


In the field he would run after every hit, wrestle for the ball . . . and the HOLD it. OR run away with it. He would fake throw, dropping it behind him, or fall down on it.

Afte the 20 minutes at at we had a session of 10 minutes of waiting for him to get the ball in from the outfield.

This kid was soley responsible for delaying the game 1/2 hour.


OH . ..and he fell down while running bases. Several times, between each base.


I wanted to do more than hit him in the head with a ball, believe me.


AND NO. It was not physical. He is 8 (the other kids are 6). When he was "on", he could hit better, run faster, and field just fine.

It was mental.


It made me mental.

I had every sympathy for his parents. I think he should have had the opportunity to play.


I just think at some point there are limits.

E.g. If he is in there trying GREAT. When he checks out, and actively tries to miss the ball while hitting, or falls down 4 times on the way to first base, or hangs on to the ball in the outfield . . .he should have been yanked and disciplined.”

“you know you namby-pamby liberals dont believe in discipline, and thats the problem with kids today ;-)”

“A just punishment...

Anchor this HUMP of a coach to home plate.
Legs apart, knees facing the pitcher's mound.
No nutcup.
Helmet on head for safety.
Invite Roger Clemens for "pitching practice".
Twenty or so fast balls oughta do it.”

“Lee, that's one funny story. I'd love to see that kid play! LOL”

“He must have read Karl Rove's book.”