IT IS WHAT IT IS

"I grew up in the city, for the most part. Sports went like this: You go to tryouts, they made cuts, if you made the cut, you made the team, if not better luck next year. Small town sports seem to go like this: Anyone who shows up is on the team. So regardless of whether or not you only need maybe 10 total players if 20 show up then 20 kids are on the team. Now, while I marvel at the fact that my son gets a lot of play time I also sit heartbroken for the boys on the bench who barely get to play if they even play at all, especially when the majority of the boys on the bench have skills.  It is sad to see the parents come to games to see their kid play and they don't ever play! It seems as though we leave the games seeing pissed off parents and pissed off kids.  I mean it is what it is, I guess, but my question to you is this, is it better to be cut or better to be part of the team and not get to play much?"

This is a great question because I find myself wondering this exact same thing ALL the time. It really didn't hit me until this last year when my son was in the 3rd grade and he was playing minors in baseball. Not t-ball, not coach pitch...minors. I guess I am pointing that out because when they are little I get it. Ya know, they don't really know the sport yet and they are still cute running from 1st to 3rd straight across because they have no fucking idea what they are doing. But, by the time they have reached minors and they are 8-9 years old, and then proceed to turn into full fledged teenage assholes, they are old enough to get the concept and rules of the game. All in all, we are not doing the children of this generation any favors by acting this way regarding sports.


And, while we are on this subject, ya know what absolutely kills me??!! That not only does EVERYBODY make the team but they ALL get a damn trophy at the end.  What the F is that all about? Back in my day, only the greats got acknowledgement...it was part of what made it special for the talented ones. Ya know, the ones that practice their little hearts out in order to be the best. The ones that live, eat, and breath that particular sport and actually work at being the best. We shouldn't just hand out honors and trophies to EVERYONE because it gives them a false sense of entitlement that will in the long run set them up for disappointment on so many levels...not just in sports, but in life. For example, when they go to apply for that job and they don't get it, they will blame the company, not the fact that they just didn't have the goods for the job. Or, when they grow up and try out for a college team and they don't make the cut, they will blame the coach or the college, not their disillusioned selves. But, like you said, "It is what it is" and the only way to make a change in your small town is to maybe try out coaching yourself and tell the unfortunate souls whose best talents are eating Twinkies and playing X-Box that there is a Halo-hotdog eating contest in the next town over. 


I don't even know if I answered this question but it sure was fun venting about it. THANKS!!!


And that is...WHAT I THINK. HA!