I'd have shot this coach
 

What a flipping moron.

Walk the best hitter etc....

I have two simple rules for the players -
Have Fun
Don't Walk

Then I add - throughout the season -
Everyone Starts - Everyone plays
They can't all start the same game because there's too many, but everyone will play in every game.

I don't care if we lose every game. Coach it!

Ok, throwing a baseball at someone is part of the game as you said, but walking the best player is no longer part of the game? Someone tell that to MLB.

I saw this story a few days ago and fail to see what this guy did that is so wrong, is it his fault the kid was next? Did he give the kid cancer? What if the kid got a base hit? Would he get a movie deal like Jmac? There can be no Jmac without someone willing to put him in the game.

Do I think this coach thought the kid would get a hit? No, but that’s the crazy thing about sports, upsets do happen when they are least expected and if there is no walk there is no chance a upset could happen.

Imagine if he did hit it… Would there be a uproar that the best kid got walked?

So why is there one now?

Torn -
You think this kid is playing again next year?

I read about this in SI because that over-opinionated douche bag Rick Reilly wrote about it in the column that I read right before wiping my ass with the paper it's printed on.

They keep score because someone has to win & someone has to loose. Would it be better if they all batted every inning, everyone got a hit, everyone scored? All games end in a tie, no hurt feelings. Ice Cream & small plastic trophies for everyone |thumb

So start the crappy players in the beginning of the game & pull them out for the end when it counts. (this statement is coming from me, the freckle faced kid that played the 1st 3 innings in right field every game & didn't get a hit until his 4th year of little league)

He did coach it. He did what every coach is supposed to do & that's give his team the best chance to win.

What about the other coach? What moron puts Mendoza behind Bonds in the batting order? I don't care if the kid came in 1/2 way thru the game - have a little foresight when you're making the line-up card before the game.

This article in SI & their lack of NHL coverage (I don't think they even mentioned that Carolina won) is causing me to cancel my subscription.

So now a coach has to worry about what happens next year?

What kind of parents would put their kid with cancer in a position to "lose a game" they should be shot. In fact, what kind of person would put ANY kid in a position to lose a game? What kind of sicko would put so much pressure on a kid that a huge game like this could alter their lives if they just happen to be the last kid at bat?

You can not have it both ways, if the kid is going to play, he is going to play why should he get special attention? I blame the parents for putting him on the team and then for causing this uproar which is what I think it’s really about, attention.

GG I ditched SI years ago and got Sporting News and they had a very good NHL coverage this season.

dareutwo, I have to agree. Get the last out and they win. I think it was ok to pitch around the other guy to get to the guy that is no good. Do it every inning...he's an idiot. Doing it in the bottom of the ninth to win the game is different.

I'm sure it makes the kid and his parents feel bad but what can you do. Had the coach pitched to the good hitter and he got a hit to win the game the kids on his team would have asked (and all the parents) why the hell didn't you pitch around that guy, we could have won. It's a catch 22 in a way.

|thumb |thumb these are kids, this is a learning process, a time to have fun. Way to much is put on winning, the parents need to chill out, and let the kids play have fun and grow up!

Then why keep score? |huh

So they should not learn that losing is part of life? That sometimes life can be unfair?

I guess I posted that wrong above. Just to be clear..."dareutwo, I have to agree" I meant I disagree as I'm sure you could tell by reading my post. I agree with Torn and Greenguy, last inning is the time to win.

None of the kids in my neighborhood was in Little League. But we played pick up games in the park all the time.

No parents or coaches were there. Just kids playing ball to have fun. But I'll tell you something, both teams played to win too.

With no parents or coaches to tell us what to do, we didn't pick the bad players until last, and that included anyone who had any disabilities.

Some kids never got a chance to bat. Other kids we'd hit to all the time since they couldn't catch a ball coming out of the sun to save their lives and would dive out of the way of a line drive.

I think it's good for kids to have fun. But there seems to be a lot of artificial structure being created for them today. And it all seems to be oriented at preserving childhood at the expense of nurturing maturity.

All part of the bigger gameplan really.

great post Simon....

I'd like to hear more from Farr. They only printed this statement.

"It was a baseball move," Farr has insisted over and over again. "We played within the rules. We were trying to win."

It was a baseball move but was it a little league move? I'd like to hear his moral feelings on it. If he feels bad for the kid but decided it was more important to win then I might be OK with it.

If he stays the course with who gives a crap about ethics as long as it's legal then I don't buy it. He should have ethics and think twice about doing it with kids.

I remember about 35 years ago when a kid's father actually got in a fist fight with a little league soccer coach because he pulled his son out. These are kids. Winning is important but let the kids play. The kids should decide who wins and looses.

I'm not sure that I'm totally against this guy but I would want to chat with him before I'd allow him any where near my kid.

Little League World Series (or something similar) was on last week - the loosing kids were crying. Loosing is a part of life.

That scenario doesn't really fit here - especially if the soccer league was like this baseball league where everyone plays.

I can't help but remember those wonderful words of wisdom in Dodgeball.

From Patches O'Hoollahan "Always pick the bigger stronger kids so that you can gain up on the smaller weaker ones" :)

That is not what I said. I'm just saying they are kids, let them play without winning being the most important thing. Of course they will learn to loose, only one team will win. Kids today learn life is unfair just by what's going on in the world.

Let them play, let them all have a chance to play. Treat them the same when they win or loose. My son played football from pee-wee up till he graduated. By the time he played middle school football, damn things changed. It got to be cut throat, a lot of the parents acted like the kids and the coaches were verbally abusive to the kids. I just think it's gotten out of hand. Kids learn by encouragement not by coaches screaming in their faces.

The wrench-dodging sequence cracked me up
 

For SirMoby...
|jester|