FREEEEEEEE

That's right, baseball season for us (Thunder) is over!!! And I'm VERY happy about it! Now, excuse me while I get on my horse for a moment. If you are one of those parents that yells during the game and criticizes the ump, your kid, or your coach - please go somewhere else - or no, better yet - read and LEARN!!!!



Baseball is a GAME!!!! GAME!!!! GAME!!! Same as Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, Kickball - are you getting this - there is NOTHING that you gain for winning your season, or a particular game. My family happens to be VERY close to a gentleman who pitched the winning World Series Game for the Giants (don't ask me the year). I don't believe ANYONE knows him for that. What I'm trying to say is that he still pays the same as we do for a cup of coffee. His Mom still gets ticked when he forgets Mother's Day and she doesn't remember all his baseball stuff but remembers that he was a good speller or that he could feed the hogs faster than the others. He was one of 8 children - he doesn't stand out any more than the others because he played professional ball. And most people you talk to wouldn't even know his name.



Now, lets talk stats. Statistics say that your kid probably won't even make their High School team - let alone play professionally. AND there's a LOT of ugliness getting to professional ball. I dated a young man when he was in the minors and it was a LOT of EXTRA work - like watering the field and stuff like that - it wasn't all glamorous batting practice and interviews.



So, I ask you - why do you take this very fun game and make it something that is no longer fun? Why do you bicker at the umpire. When you sign your kid up to play you are basically saying that you will accept the umpire's decision - kind of like when you play Sorry and choose your piece - you don't get to decide in the middle that you'd rather be green or yellow because red isn't working out for you.

I can already see that I may not be allowed to go to games anymore. I hear from everyone around me that it gets worse as they get older. ughhhh. So, I broke one of my rules this weekend. I have always tried to live by the rule of "Good Mother's teach their children HOW to think - not WHAT to think" - but this weekend I def. told Jack HOW to think about how the adults were acting at the game.

There's another question that I have for some of you mothers - when your kid brings home a good essay or report card or something from school - do you cheer and give the same positive attention that you do when he/she does something good on the playing field? And if you don't' - what kind of message do you think you're sending? Hmmmmmmm - you can't blame society for putting SO much into sports when you, yourself have started it from a VERY young age.

So that is my little soapbox/high horse speech. My father has always said, since I was WAY young that LL games should be played with no parents/fans. I always thought he was an idiot - I have to say his words are starting to ring true.