we moved from southern cali to northern cali in august and when i signed blake up for baseball here, i assumed it would be just like home. i mean, i knew he played pony ball in so cal- but i didn't realize little league was something different. i figured a freaking baseball league, was a baseball league.
reality check, meet jenn. hi!
so i'm frustrated because little league up here means the following things: kids don't pitch to eachother (it's coach pitch).. the coach pitches 8 balls to them and if they don't/can't hit it, they get a walk.. they don't keep score.. you can't slide head first (when i asked what they would do when blake slides head first into home plate because he will.. they said they would discourage it. the fuck you will discourage something that is completely natural and normal to do when you play baseball).. you can't steal or lead off.. the first inning consists of both teams batting around completely (instead of 3 outs and the inning is over).. there are no pick offs cause there are no lead offs.. it basically consists of coddling your kids into little pussies so that they have fun instead of play competitive ball. i don't care if that sounds nice and sweet. i don't want nice and sweet. i want competitive, follow the fucking rules, teach my kid something, challenge my kid, REAL baseball. they try to say that kids this age don't have the attention span and they make up all these excuses as to why they have the stupid rules they do. they don't have the attention span because you don't let them. you keep these kids in the dark when it comes to the basic fundamental rules of how you play real baseball. i'm super frustrated because i'm afraid that blake will be confused this season. the things he's been taught to do, and how he's been taught to play, all of a sudden aren't "right" in this league. and he can't do them anymore. and that's crap. because they ARE right. it's how you play baseball, it's just not apparently how you play little league. i.just.worry. my sister told me this morning that in our pony leagues at home- they tell the parents that if this league is too competitive for them, they should take their kid over to little league. i think that says it all.
here is a picture of blake doing something he won't be able to do this year as a 7 year old, that he did when he was 5.
ps- all of this could completely change once the season starts. it might not even be a big deal at all and i am just pre-freaking out. it might not affect blake in the slightest and he'll just be so happy to be playing baseball that he won't even notice the rule differences. so if that turns out to be the case, please disregard this post.
pss- i wish i could blame this on pms, but i can't. this craziness is just me.
30 comments:
Hell no! Your not psycho. If he's a boy, that means he's a guy in training, which is going to mean that the first inning there are 3 outs, he's gonna start walkin to the bench after being in the outfield, and when he realizes no one else is walking there, he's gonna be like.....WHAT the...? THEY STRUCK OUT!!! THAT'S TOTALLY NOT FAIR!!!! Seriously....how do you play baseball without knowing that 3 STRIKES AND YOUR OUT!!!
Good luck with that....
jenn- seriously. it's just SO different than what he's used to playing, but i'm feeling like a freak for freaking out about it! i don't want him to be coddled. bottom line is, he's TOO good to be fucking coddled. he doesn't need it. ARGH!
oh yeah, and jenn.. they don't do strikes and balls either. !!!!!! the kid gets 8 pitches and if he can't hit them, HE GETS TO WALK TO FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this isn't baseball!
Love your blog!!
The lady in boots at Disney...PRICELESS!!
KELLI! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I AM LMFAO @ YOUR COMMENT! comments make me smile. marry me?
Ugh, that is totally fustrating! This is the age they should be developing these kids and not coddling them. Maybe if they started the season this way and slowly introduced the fundementals but a whole season of this is crazy...for the kids and the parents. Do they step it up when he turns 8? Also, at least he'll be a rock star when they do start allowing them to play real baseball since he'll already know.
Of course these kids don't have the attention span, they're bored out of their fuckin' minds! If I wasn't challenged and just had to stand in the field, I'd lose it.
melissa- that is what i'm fucking talking about! i'm like, blake only stands there and looks at the butterflies when he's FUCKING BORED! you give them nothing to do, he's going to do nothing. and that's what i think too- do this crap for 1/2 the season, and then introduce kid pitch and other stuff. but not allowing them to slide head first, or to steal is just STUPID. TEACH THEM THE GAME OF BASEBALL. they aren't too young to learn these concepts. you just act like they are. it's stupid and makes no sense to me. i guess next season he'll go up to minor's but i am DYING to know what changes and it had better be everything i listed in this post! shoot me?
who rocks the house? jennster rocks the house and when jennster rocks the house.....she rocks it all the way down! woooo oh yea dur-i agree.....kids should be challenged. case closed. none of this changing rules shit in baseball, who do they think they are? *shakes head* why don't they just call is something else because baseball is umm baseball...no coach pitching allowed, that's stoooopid.
yeah thats retarded. i agree with you. all the little leagues here play the RIGHT way. the way blake USED to play. i've never heard of this madness til RIGHT NOW!
becks.. the lesson is, put your son in pony ball and not little league. lol
What the HELL? Even when my little sister played fucking Girl's T-Ball as a 5-year-old they had more freedom than that ;)
I think it's silly that kids these days (boys and girls) are being so sheltered.
tell me about it. let the kids play ball the right way.
Do they not have pony league up there?
Did BF play little league? If so, he did pretty well as a college baseball boy. There is hope. :)
Screw it all and sign the boy up for football.
hooch- there is no pony league up here. fuckers. and bf did play LL i just found out. he told me to not freak out about it, but it's too late. football is this summer!
whoa......what is baseball without 3 outs, sliding, stealing, and the kids pitching?
Socal is definitely where it's at. I just moved away from there too. You are definitely not psycho, I say next year you coach!! yeah yeah
thanks jen!
That seems like a pretty crazy way to play baseball - and nobody plays it right up there? Sheesh.
Wow, I have never heard of that, except the coach-pitch ages, which here are right after tee ball. You might want to look around and see if there is a travel tema in your city....it's more expensive with the travel and all....but the travel league here is more challening for the kids, and they actually have to try out and make a team.
that was another thing.. no tryouts here either. at home, they tried out. i'll just suffer through this season and then look at options- or make a fucking option. lol
no.. 8 strikes and you WALK. lol
The game should be played properly. If kids are capable of doing so, and you say Blake already has then there's no reason to hold them back. The coach probably should discourage head-first sliding on the grounds that you're more likely to damage your hands and so be unable to continue back to not allow it is crazy. There's evidence of growing non-competitiveness in some kids sports over here so its not a thing parculiar to north California.
rick- it just pisses me right off! let them play the game.
Ok This is how the kids play here up to age 7. But considering he played real ball i can see how frustrating it is. The don't call 5-7 yrs olds ball little league either. Its's Tball. They though do get pitched to by the coach and theyn after 6 tries they put the T up. But Like i said if you played "Real" Ball then i totally see how frustrating it is.
I should also add, They can slide. They never tell them no sliding. The coaches even encourage it.
Last batter of the side also gets to run the full bases. Unless he gets out at first or something. This way they can make a play at home. Everyone runs
now Billy's league wich starts in 3rd Grade, they play real ball except no stealing. They don't do that untill 6th grade
it's just different and frustrating when i want blake to learn the RIGHT now now, instead of later. especially when he already knows how to play, and now those ways aren't how you play here. just frustrating is all.
"pss- i wish i could blame this on pms, but i can't. this craziness is just me."
hahahah, I love that line.
lessa- i totally understand that. i think that the bottom line here is that it's not "competetive" at this age, and that is exactly what blake is used too. the season starts on saturday- is it too late for me to ask if he could be upped to the next level? i just think this is going to be so boring for him and so not challenging and he'll have to play "down" to play with these kids. he can't even throw normal at them because they can't catch the ball. which is fine- but it's not fine for blake. that sucks. anyways- i'd love to email you....
Jenn-How did Little League turn out? Was Blake bored?
Seriously, if it is baseball then they should play by the baseball rules. That's the way I was raised. Their was none of this t-ball, "everybody wins" nonsense. There are winners and losers in games. If you never lose, why try to improve? I came across this blog because I'm doing background on an article. I sympathize with you. Too many parents are trying change things to protect their kids from life itself. It's not just baseball. But baseball is a pretty good analogy for life in my opinion. Parents that want their kids to play sports where there's no score keeping and nobody ever gets a boo-boo should just send them to theater camp and prepare to support them for the rest of their lives.
http://www.hover-it.comThe quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your wallet."Roger"hover ads
Post a Comment