Posted on 08/10/2006 8:59:04 AM PDT by BaBaStooey
Fine... I'll go along with you if you can answer me why the opposing coach put "cancer kid" immediately behind his best hitter in the lineup unless he was practicing gamesmanship himself.
It's never too soon for your first lesson in capitalism and competition, unless we want our kids to grow up into Euroweenies. If you think kids aren't competitive by age 10, you're crazy.
Been there, done that. The kids want to win.
Where do you keep your trophies from when you were 10?
They were very important when I was 10. There all gone now, because I moved on to bigger and better things. Things that I wouldn't appreciate as much if I hadn't learned to win AND lose when I was 10.
If you do, you might as well just embarrass him further.
The coach that batted a cancer patient after the teams best hitter should resign for trying to use guilt to make the other team pitch to his best hitter.
Please please please stay the heck away from any league my kids ever play in. At 9 and 10 winning is for the parents, not the kids. I've seen more parents argue and fight in these kinds of games than I ever saw from the kids.
Parents and coaches who would even consider an intentional walk to a 10 year old should be ashamed. When they are old enough to play the 'full game' as deemed by the rules, then you can start coaching nuances, until then, pitch, hit, catch, throw, and run.
Do you know how many bean balls you would see as a result?
The local little league near me had a problem because of that with the kids all getting ticked off and just nailing each other like crazy.
Even the coaches were being overwhelmed.
FWIW, did you notice they intentionally batted the sick kid right after the teams best hitter?
No he didn't, he intentionally batted a kid with cancer after the star player, trying to guilt the other team into pitching to his slugger.
His shouting is just to distract everyone, and let him use guilt again next time.
Um, he did this intentionally, he batted a cancer patient with the intention of shaming the other team into pitching to his best hitter.
By making such a ruckus about it now, the next team he plays will be scared of looking bad and will pitch to his best hitter.
The coach is using shame and guilt and a cancer patient to intimidate other teams into pitching to his best hitter.
No one makes a mistake like that with out intent.
Well until I get a time machine and a mind reading device I'm gonna be a bit short on that one.
In little league it is not uncommon to have 2 or more poor hitters this isn't exactly the national league where you drop P to the 9 automatically. I've seen more than one coach work a 'double' line up - 4 good, 1 bad, 3 good, 1 bad - to avoid having a 2 or 3 hitter soft spot in his lineup. It could be completely reasonable for the kid to be in the 5 hole.
Then again, you could be right. It could be gamesmanship. I simply don't have that answer. I just wish people would let kids be kids. We seem to have 2 extremes anymore - on one hand we have the parents who need their kid strapped into a full face helmet and kevlar body armor to ride their bike to the corner, and on the other hand we have the parents who think their kids need to learn the tough life lessons at 9. How about you let them play - let them be kids? When they fall down, clean em up and send em out to try it again.
| Created: Monday, August 07, 2006, at 15:32:44 EDT | ||||
| Would you: | ||||
| Walk the slugger |  |
38% | ||
| Pitch to the slugger | |
62% | ||
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Aw, geez, I hope you feel good for making the other 17 kids feel cheated knowing the coach wussed out and didn't play the game the way it was intended, as a frigging competition, not some feel-good meeting of the glee club.
Do you really think the cancer kid wan't to be pandered too? I doubt it. He'd feel like crap to know he was patronized.
Of course you walk him. It's not about picking on the cancer kid, it's about avoiding the most dangerous batter. I'd walk him no matter who was behind him.
I refuse to judge the actions of the coach being critized in the article based solely on the complaints by one side. I'm willing to accept that the opposing coach didn't set this up intentionally, but since he's whining about it, I'm not so inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The fact is, the only person who comes out looking good in all of this is the kid, who takes the right attitude in the end.
How do you know this? No mention of this in the article.
By making such a ruckus about it now, the next team he plays will be scared of looking bad and will pitch to his best hitter.
What next game? Its a "championship" game. That means it's the last game of the season.
Yes. He has shown more wisdom than most of the adults in this episode.
Of course you walk him. Let the Sox put in a pinch hitter if they are serious about winning. Too bad about the kids illness, but what does it have to do with baseball strategy?
It is the most basic common sense.....unless you really believe that any manager would logically conclude that batting a cancer patient after the best hitter on the team makes sense.
By any chance, do you actually watch any baseball at all?
What next game? Its a "championship" game. That means it's the last game of the season.
The phrase "wait till next year" even come up?
It's a championship game!
You play to win or you go home.
Want a moral lesson - go to church.
Obiously the coach who put in the cancer surviving kid was playing to win by playing the "victim" card.
Despicable!
That coach should have been banned for pulling should a callous stunt.
I'd probably tell the pitcher to not give Jordan anything good to hit but not intentionally walk him. And if I'm the Yankee manager, I'm calling a squeeze bunt if Jordan has any running speed at all, thereby preventing the sickly kid from being put in the situation to win/lose the game.
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