Bustin' Chops

Tonight had a couple of the things that makes coaching kids great fun and great work.  We had a mediocre practice followed by handing out uniforms.

I generally organize my practices using stations for teaching, and then bringing the team together for team type activities like infield, batting practice with live play on hit balls, or team exercises with throwing star.

Tonight, we did a typical game day.  We threw, stretched, took gameday infield, and then our pitchers pitched to our hitters.  I was not pleased.  We forgot to cover our bases, and when we dropped a bunt, it was mass chaos.  Good thing my doctor prescribed Prilosec.

I started busting chops: not in frustration, but because I had to.  The young catcher acted like she didn't want to be there and it made for a couple of catty remarks.  I had to pull the two aside and address it on the field.  Two good players pouting drag the whole team down, and as a coach, I can't let the attitude prevail.

I have preached "Family" to our team.  We are a family, we have to be there for each other.  Families have squabbles, and we dealt with one...together.  I believe it ended well.

Uniforms arrived.  Kids love the uniforms, and my girls were no exception.  They seem to like the purple we are going to wear, (my daughter, Heather's choice.) and wanted to get a certain number.  I give the coaches players first choice, then by age.  Like a family, everybody worked together to get what they wanted.  It was a light moment, one I enjoy.

Had to bust chops at the end, though.  I have not been pleased, and I broke that news to the team.  We have been too lax in practice, not playing with joy and intensity.  I broke the news to the 9 younger players: you cannot be saved by the five run rule.

Eyes went wide open.  I pointed out that if we don't get three outs, there is no rule to save us.  We could go through a game never batting.  Eyes started darting at the possibilities, all seemingly negative.  I pointed out we had too much talent on the field, but we had to make the play.  We have to make the right play.

The girls responded the way I wanted them to.  We circled up, and they gave a loud "Family!"  Looking forward to seeing what we learn.

So...am I off base?

Why Is Little League Declining?

The Elkhart Truth opened a can of worms last night when they asked their Facebook constituents why  Little League sign ups in our area were down, some as much as 50%.  Most were down at least 10%.  The Truth seemed shocked.

I'm not.

This season marks my eleventh on a Little League or travel field.  The early years were marked by little realization of the work involved in putting the league together.  As I got more involved, I realized how much effort went into the volunteer undertaking of running a league.

Little League used to be a place that drew the community together.  Little League was the place where America's pastime was taught.  Little League was something for everyone.  Now, it seems to be an afterthought.  What changed?

First, follow the money.  The Major League minimum in 1988 was $62,500, and the average player was paid (I will never say earned) under $480,000.  The average salary in 2014 is $500,000, while the average player was paid just under $4 million.  

Everyone has a son who is going to be one of those guys making that money.  Parents will do whatever it takes to get the son, the professional ball player.  They'll do it with money they don't have to buy better coaching, usually at the travel level, to impress people they care nothing about.

Your son has a better chance of becoming a doctor than a professional athlete.  May I offer your local listings as evidence?  Look up physicians and it is a major section of the yellow pages.  You can name the professional athletes in your area, most likely on one hand, at most two.

Second, travel baseball offers better coaching, more game opportunities, and a season that is not limited to May and June.   It comes with a price tag.  Large amounts of money to buy individual equipment, pay team fees, private lessons, and hotel/food/gasoline.

The level of travel play is better, but is not what it could be.  Americans have the tendency to overcompete and underpractice.  Some travel teams practice only during the winter, and play their games the rest of the spring, summer and fall.  The sum total of that effort is a lack of solid fundamentals, becoming more evident every year.

By the way, as a doctor, become a surgeon, especially one who does Tommy John surgery.  At the college and professional levels, reconstructive surgery are at an all time high.  Seems the specialization started several years ago and it is catching up to the professionals now.

Finally, kids are learning their team lessons in video games.  Play using online services allow networking and socializing at an adult level.  The connections made are being leveraged into competitive video game teams who have the opportunity to compete.  Why run the risk of being yelled at by a volunteer coach who may or may not know what they are doing, to coach yourself into a competitive world by trial and error, learning things that some adults never learn.  If you screw up, all you have to do is press "restart".

I haven't even touched on the problems involving parents, restrictive Little League rules, and the adult coaches who place winning ahead of teaching kids how to play the real game.  When asked why they quit, most kids answer "Adults".

I love coaching the kids.  I hate to see adults argue while the kids wait for them to get off the field so the game can continue.  I love seeing someone hang with learning something and then eventually get it.  I hate the negative yelling from the adults.  I love the kids and have told people I have 165 sons and about 65 daughters.  I hate hearing about playing time issues, and how politics are deciding someones playing time.

The perfect place to coach youth sports is at an orphanage.

What To Do?

Any other coaches fret over where to play a player?  How about where to bat a particular hitter?

I'm coaching my softball team, first year as a major manager, and I've got some options.  I have a blank canvas, and the paints have a little of ability.  I'm hoping for a little synergy.

The decisions I make will be the catalyst, but what to do?

I have a young team: four 12 year olds, seven 11 year olds and one 10 year old.  It's a good group of girls, a group I will cherish having the opportunity to coach.  They are typical girls in the age group: at least one Frozen sing-a-long breaks out during practice, and someone cries after being hit by a ball.  We have four pitchers that can throw strikes, but not one dominating pitcher.  We will make some plays on shear talent, but throw the ball away more often.

How do I maximize it?  The substitutes need to develop, as a couple of them could outplay the original starters with a little faith and a lot of elbow grease.

I have a good group of parents.  Everyone is supportive at the start of the season while hopes are high.  After a few losses, will they still buy in?  Playing everyone equally won't win all the games we will be capable of winning, but it could develop someone for future play.  Do we need to win now?

I'm going to balance it all somehow.  A good coach will credit the players when they win and blame themselves when they lose.  I accept the challenge, and believe we have charted a good course.

We need to play good defense.  We need to be a family.  If we work hard enough, it will be hard to give up.

It's a hard job.  Glad I get to do it.

So...am I off base?

Just Another Game

I have chronicled some of my son's baseball career in this forum over the last year.  His ardor for the game has cooled, but he still likes to play.  Tonight, he had the chance of a lifetime.

His High School team played a varsity game against Bremen at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium in South Bend.  He didn't play in the actual game, but the opportunity to take infield and play in a professional stadium is a joy most kids who play baseball will never feel.

It's not his first trip on the field.  He has run onto the field twice with South Bend Silver Hawks players and heard his name over the PA as part of a starting line-up, part of the Field of Dreams promotion.  He won a contest to throw a first pitch, which he almost air mailed over the minor league pitcher who was just happy he didn't short hop one.

It's not just baseball.  He played regular season hockey games in the Joyce Center at the University of Notre Dame.  He learned how to work the boards at Notre Dame hockey games and filled half a bucket with pucks.  He gave away as many as he kept to little kids.  He got a batting practice ball hit by Ken Griffey Jr. at his first major league game at Wrigley Field.  On another visit, he ran the bases at Wrigley Field.  He has an autographed hockey stick from Ian Cole, who is in the NHL.  He caught not one, but two foul balls in his first visit to Comerica Park.  He gave the first one a good school friend, who brought him along.  The second one was thrown to him by Harold Baines first base coach of the Chicago White Sox.  He has tons of autographed Notre Dame hockey stuff, NHL players all over the place.  He even got autographs from Kenny Schrader, a Nascar driver who will drive anything with wheels.

When he was six, I took him to the College Football Hall of Fame football clinic.  He ended up in a three point stance, nose pointed at the ground.  Barry Sanders got in a three point stance about eight inches from his nose and said loudly, "Eyes forward, son!"  Wish I had a picture of him nose to nose with a guy Hall of Fame defenders wished they get that close to him, just once.  Joe Theismann, seeing the Notre Dame shirt, took extra moments and showed him how to throw a football.  Why didn't I bring the camera.

I know it sounds like bragging, but each of the above are true.  I saw every one of them.  I don't know if he realizes how special each of these experiences are.   Hope he realizes how special it is that Dad saw each one.  I would have loved those experiences as a kid.  I hope he did, too.

So...am I off base?

Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts while waiting for the pug to stop dreaming.

-A lot of spring football games tomorrow.  It should be interesting to see some of what happens, just in Indiana.  Will Indiana actually stop their offense?  Nobody else did.  Will Purdue look like a Big Ten football team?  They didn't last fall.  Will Notre Dame look like a the team they were two years ago?  At least the quarterback is the same.

-Time to watch baseball any way.  Great pitching was on display tonight.  Tomorrow will feature some great weather around the Midwest.  Go find a high school game, if nothing else.  I think I'll watch a little softball.  Campbell vs. Longwood is on ESPN3.  Campbell is coached by Drew Peterson, a great friend of mine, dating back to college days at Bethel College.

-The Masters sees Bubba Watson with a huge lead after 36 holes.  The last time I remember a lead like this was Greg Norman in 1996.  He kept it together on Saturday and looked like he could just cruise on Sunday.  Then came the Great Collapse.  It was like watching a live autopsy.  Greg folded like a newspaper, handing Nick Faldo another Green Jacket.  Greg Norman, with all that talent, finished with two major championships, as many as John Daly, and one less than Larry Nelson.

-Loved Rick Reilly's article this week on ESPN.com.  To shorten the article, he says that Tiger Woods chased the wrong Jack Nicklaus.  He chased the Major Championship wins, but felt he could do it without the balance in his life that Nicklaus exhibited.  Jack and Barb raised five children, while Tiger kept more than five mistresses juggled.  Jack relaxed and enjoyed his fishing, while Tiger tends to spearfish without a tank.  Jack worked his schedule to be away from home no more than three weeks at a time.

Jack's best move was convincing Miss Barbara Bash to marry him.  He married a wonderful woman who did a great job raising the children mostly, mostly on her own.  She made sure Jack could focus on what he loved to do.  I heard a story that she was having major problem during a pregnancy while Jack held a lead going to the final round of a tournament.  She quietly suffered while he slept, and then went to the hospital after he left for the golf course.   Extreme? Yes, but sacrifices were made.

Jack could have agreed to do many things that could have generated large amounts of income, but chose to be a father.  He did everything he could to be at every game, make every concert, and be a father.  At least, that is how the story goes.

Maybe Jack and Tiger are a reflection of the era they grew up.  Jack was in a time where family was valued highly, keeping your word a way of life.  Faithfulness to your spouse was expected, and anything else was scandalous.  Jack was passionately in love with his wife.  It was life in the 50's.

Tiger married a supermodel and kept a stable of mistresses.  He looked good on the outside: married to a supermodel, life of a rock star, and competing to be the best of all time.  He started his professional life with $40 million of Nike's money to finance his start.  It all looked good on the outside, but was rotten under the skin.  He chose to look good, but do something else.  When he was discovered, the world tolerated it poorly.

I am a great fan of Nicklaus, a product of my day and upbringing.  I was taught to value the things Nicklaus held dear.  I don't like showy things that look good, smell good, but are rotten on the inside. Maybe that's why I've never cottoned to Tiger Woods.  I admire his talent, but want to root for a better person.

So...am I off base?

It's Not Right

I'm sitting in my chair, feet up, with the National Championship basketball game playing out before me.  It's college basketball heaven.   I traveled with a college basketball team for three seasons.  It is a great experience.

Several media reports place John Calipari leaving Kentucky for the Los Angeles Lakers, regardless of the outcome.  Whether or not the report is true, it will happen somewhere.  The young men that he recruited to Kentucky over the past three years are stuck with Kentucky or have to leave the school.  Something about that is not right.

Coaches recruit kids, who often see the professional athletic dream, not the classroom, to come play for them.  Their parents, unless they have had a sibling recruited or been through it themselves, can only provide gut feelings.  NCAA scholarships are one year and are renewable by the school, not the student.  The potential for exploitation is everywhere: the student could get stuck by a change in coaching, a change in academic emphasis, even intervention by the governing agency, the NCAA.

Coaches have none of those strings.  Their agents can scour the landscape for the best offer, usually at their percentage.  They can jump ship and leave the kids they told would play for them the whole way, teach them what they need to get to the pros.  At least the coach can get their money out the millions they earn for their institution.  The athlete is supposed to get an education.  What do they actually learn?

It is a sign of how far college sports have drifted from their original intent: an extracurricular activity for their students.  The NCAA lost control of the situation when the dollar became more important.  The dollar led to the decline in character.  Decline of character leads to players showing on police blotters and college rosters at the same time.

Northwestern football players might have it right.  The college player generates the money by their skill.  Maybe they need to cash in early.  They generally don't play pro ball, even the really good players.  Would the NBA D-League generate this kind of interest and cash without colleges being involved?

I'd like to be more positive, but I've seen it happen once too often.

So...am I off base?

SPECIAL EDITION-Why Fort Hood?

I don't have any answers.  I wish I did.  Maybe it could shed some light on what has happened.

I have great respect for the people that protect our country and way of life.  I had two of them in my family.  My father served honorably in World War II in a medical unit in France.  My brother, Don, served in Vietnam, earning enough citations to be buried in the Garden of Valor when cancer took his life.  I married into a family which served.  My father-in-law served between World War II and Korea. His brother-in-law served in Korea, turning his hair white for life.  Some scars can't be seen.

The shooter was a veteran, too.  He served in Iraq, and was married.  He went back in his mind and took it out on the brothers who serve with him.  I can't imagine either one.  I'm not in his shoes.

Why Fort Hood?  My dad went through Hood.  Fort Worth is a great town.  I have a nephew in Fort Worth now, finishing his medical residency for the Air Force.  He seems to enjoy the area.  Last I knew, he was working toward psychiatry.  He is needed.

I am grateful for this country.  The opportunity to succeed or fail based on God's direction and my own initiative.  My children have the same opportunity.  The people at Fort Hood help insure they can carry it through.

Pray for the victims.  Pray for the perpetrator.  Pray for our country.  Thank God for the blessings.  Thank the people who serve.

The Business of Baseball

When will Cub fans learn?  Do they still pack Wrigley Field to see this team?  Because they do, the Championship will never come.  It is, after all, the business of baseball.

It's the sixth inning of their second game of the year and they are still looking for their first run of the season.  Sixteen innings of futility is hardly anything for a franchise with over 100 years of championship-less baseball.  However, it is an indicator of the current Cub team.

Starlin Castro is the closest thing to an All Star in the lineup and he lacks the consistency needed by a Major League shortstop.  He seems streaky with the bat, and has prior off field problems.  Seems like a model citizen in today's "You don't qualify with less than three felonies" athletic world.

Jeff Samardzija is the unquestioned number one starter.  It could be an interesting problem when a contender makes a trade for him as their number four starter.  He does pitch with guts and still gets his wins without a lot of support.  He deserves a better fate only available to him in another city.

Chicago is living up to Tom Dreesen's credo: "Chicago raised bad baseball to a higher art form."  The business of baseball says, "If the seats are filled without winning, why make the effort to win?  If less money is spent on the field, it fills my coffers."

The Reds were my team as a child until I started playing and practicing so much golf, nothing else could fit.  I picked up the Cubs in 1984, a diversion from playing college golf.  Thirty years I have stayed true.  I have followed the Angels even longer, picking them up after reading a book on Nolan Ryan.  In 2002,  a World Series victory was my reward for waiting for all the late scores.  It was a sweet feeling.  The Angels got down to the business of getting it done.

My son even lived and died with Sammy Sosa: lived a lot when he hit a lot of home runs and kept taking the Cubs to the playoffs, died when he turned out to be a steroid monster.  While he plays high school baseball, he rarely watched games any more.  He describes himself as a Rays fan.  It's the business of getting on with life.

I might be forced to follow his lead.  I might only get as far as Cincinnati.  I still have my Angels, and hope to regain some of the feeling I lost as a kid.  Marty Brenneman used to call it "...and this one belongs to the Reds."  Joe Nuxhall closed the postgame with "This is the old left hander, rounding third and heading for home."

And so I shall.  A lot of Cubs fans will say "Get lost.  You weren't a real fan anyway."  Really?  After thirty years?   Good riddance to the frustration.  It's the business of life: infinitely more important, and meant to be enjoyed.

So...am I off base?