Ohio town cancels all-star game

[HammerOfTheDogs]

What think you?

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68147</p>

On one hand, kids this young should be playing baseball for the sheer fun of it. Some advocates even think they shouldn't keep score. However, 11 and 12 y.o. kids are around the age that they can start really making plays in the field, and are beyond the "look at how cute they are in their uniform" age.</p>

 

[DawgNsuds]

my guess is those that cancelled it, had kids that didn't make the all star team. No doubt 11-12 year olds are old enough. I know when my kid was 8, we played at the YMCA where we supposedly didn't keep score, well at least the adults didn't keep score. Every kid on the field knew exactly what the score was.

 

[dogfan96]

from the time I was playing T-ball at age 5, we always kept score. Yeah we can got our brains beat in a lot of the time but that just made the feeling better when we got older (and better) and started winning.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Agree. I've never played in a league that didn't keep score. I was on some teams that were good and some that were very bad. You learn a lot of lessons by playing for teams that suck.

I will say that I did play in a basketball scrimmage one time when I was 10 or 11 where no one was keeping score, which is not that odd. We were beating the snot out of the other team we were playing, but at the end of the scrimmage, our coach, being a nice guy, told the other team that it was a 1 point game, and that if they scored they would win. Of course they scored, and most of those kids thought they had actually beat us, even though we probably outscored them by 30 or 40 points for the entire scrimmage.

Of course, while I was playing for that same team, we also played another team one time that had a couple future SEC basketball players on it, and we lost the game by a score of about 60 sometime to 5. No, that's not a typo. We were lucky to get the ball across half court in that game and ended up with only 5 points. Even if we hadn't been keeping score, we knew we were getting our brains beat in. I learned a valuable lesson that day that told me I was not a good enough basketball player to even consider playing basketball at the highly competitive levels. Meanwhile, you've got 10 year old kids today trying to convince themselves that they're going to play in the NBA someday even though they can't hit a layup, and that's because they've never had that kind of humbling experience to figure out exactly where they stand.

 

[DerHntr]

i think it is communist horseshit. not rewarding those who do well...great idea.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I'll also add that I was on a baseball team one time where the team voted for who would be the All-Stars. I think we sent 4 kids to the All-Star games. Well, this one kid had always been one of the best players on his team in previous leagues. On this particular team however, he was very average and sometimes even not very good. So, naturally, he got one of the lowest vote totals on the team. My dad was the coach, so I knew the exact vote totals. I think he may have actually been 9th or 10th out of 12 players in the voting.

Anyway, the kid's parents called my dad the night he informed the team who the All-Stars were, and this kid was so upset that his parents were calling my dad telling him how awful of a person he was for keeping their son off the All-Star team. It didn't matter how many times he told them that the player vote was the sole factor in determining the All-Stars, these parents were going to blame it on my dad that their kid wasn't good enough.

Either way, I think a kid like that needs to learn at some point that he may not be the superstar that he thinks he is.

 

[OMlawdog]

If you don't care about winning, go play at the Y where everyone gets a blue ribbon.

Between that and my mother telling me to bean the first batter in a 9 year old all star game in order to "Send a message", it is fair to say my experience in little league was a little different than what these kids are doing.</p>

 

[DerHntr]

that same kid should also learn that just because you are typically better than the others around you doesn't mean that those around you are not eventually going to catch you. take Tiger Woods for example. people bitched and moaned every time that he decided to make a swing change "because he was the best so why change anything up." the reason was that he knew at some point the others on the tour would catch him and he needed to strive to be better.

i sure as hell hope that those jackass parents of that kid got an earful from your old man.

 

[Mjoelner]

purposefully quick-pitch one time before the ump got set and hit him in the face mask.

 

[DawgNsuds]

The sooner you learn that in life, the better off you will be. That and the fact that in life, just showing up ain't good enough. Other than the Government, your employer isn't going to issue you a check for just coming to work. You better add value. In business, it's the "Allstars" that make the "jack". That's what competitive athletics teaches you.

 

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

Pathetic.

I had to listen to parents once complain about the ref that called the last basketball game their son played in. They talked about how horrible he was and how his poor calling allowed the other team to stay in the game. They then bragged how their son hit the game winning shot as time expired. They were so proud. Somewhere in the conversation they mentioned they played in a "no score" Upward league. Something just didn't add up...

I'm sure they raise hell when their son is on the losing side and somebody mentions the score to them...

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

If the kids want to play a cut-throat, hardcore game, then let them. If they just want to play around, goof off and let girls play, or whatever, let them.

If darling "Junior" is as great as mommy and daddy think they are, they need to let them develop a love for the game first. Teenagers are the folks you need to work and develop their game.</p>

 

[lanceharbor7]

nm

 

[4suredog]

The pussification of America. No, it is not just limited to Polk Baseball, it is the entire generation. The "participation ribbon" is ruining America. More and more kids and parents honestly believe for simply showing up you should get a reward. Some people don't see keeping score, all star games, and winning as achievements but just the opposite, they see it as downgrading the kids who lost. Well, guess what America, you are being pussified! You win, you succeed, you get better at your task than anybody else or you lose. Its that simple. I do think academics should be 50% of the criteria for the Dandy dozen and such awards, because it gets you top exposure for schools recruiting you. If you can't pass, you shouldn't get the free exposure. But with kids sports, an all star game, field day, hell a game of 4 square, winners get the glory and losers lose. I don't know why I see the two differently, just do.

 

[Todd4State]

the "All-Star" team was basically all the kids whose Dads coached the team. I always thought that they should have had a Coach/son game and then a "All-Star" game with players whose Dad's didn't coach- at least where I'm from.

I also need to mention that the coaches were the ones who picked the players.

It was pretty much a farce. There were guys that made the HS team that didn't make the Little League All-Star team.

 

[Stansfield]

the "All-Star" team was basically all the kids whose Dads coached the team. I always thought that they should have had a Coach/son game and then a "All-Star" game with players whose Dad's didn't coach- at least where I'm from.

I also need to mention that the coaches were the ones who picked the players.

It was pretty much a farce. There were guys that made the HS team that didn't make the Little League All-Star team.

</p>It is still the way it is done.

 

[Eureka Dog]

the whole concept of All-Stars @ the local podunk community park is ridiculous.

Oh, and another thing. the Little League World Series would be a lot more entertaining if the teams were actual, season-long teams, instead of All-Star teams thrown together. Then again, stacking teams with the best players is a common practice in our local parks.

</p>

 

[Todd4State]

are probably partially why you have seen the rise of these "select teams".

I've heard parents say things like, "Oh, my son isn't going to play rec league this year, because we're doing the Madison Water Moccasins team this year."

Who would have ever thought that select teams would undermine Little League and turn it into something akin to a beer league softball league?

In my little perfect world, and I know this isn't at all feasible, you would have two leagues:

One where the schools would have a league in elementary school, and if you went to a small school like Weir, they could play other schools teams that are nearby. Score would be kept, and the teams would be coached by PE teachers and coaches. Otherwise, the teams would play the other teams within the school. In the elementary school leagues, which would optional and open to any student that wanted to play, the emphasis would be on fundamentals of the game. Gloves would be provided by the schools only if a student came from a disadvantaged family. Bats and helmets would be provided by the school, in conjunction with a grant from MLB and the federal government. These leagues should play a max of 10 games with a two game playoff for the Championship

The other league would be called Upward Baseball and would be provided through local churches. The coaches would be volunteers from the community. Again, the emphasis would be on the fundamentals of the game, but also with an emphasis on the Bible. Again, this should be a maximum of 10 games.

This should go on through 8th grade, and at the beginning of the 8th grade year, tryouts could be administered and at that point with cuts, and the 8th grade teams could play other schools.
</p>

 

[williecunningham]

the "All-Star" team was basically all the kids whose Dads coached the team. I always thought that they should have had a Coach/son game and then a "All-Star" game with players whose Dad's didn't coach- at least where I'm from.

I also need to mention that the coaches were the ones who picked the players.

It was pretty much a farce. There were guys that made the HS team that didn't make the Little League All-Star team.

</p>Didn't make it, huh?

 

[Todd4State]

nm</p>