Friday, May 19, 2006

Little League



The peewee team that my cousin is on has 6, 7 and 8 yr olds. The team is the best in the league(6-0). Last wednesday, they played the worst team (zero wins).

That night, the pitching machine could not be adjusted as well as usual and 14 of the first 15 batters struck out. With two on in the bottom of the 6th (the last inning), my second cousin hit a pit that rolled to the fence and the White Sox won again.

The coach called them over for their postgame huddle and told these kids: "If you play like that on saturday, we will lose." He did not mention my cousin's winning hit or the dramatic victory. He did not buy the frozen koolaid pops that are always given to the team when they win. And what's more, he went over to the parents and told them not to buy the frozen pops either.

I think this guy must have cried when Bobbby Knight was finally fired from Indiana University.

Postscript:
The above story was related to me by a parent who was at the game. Three weeks later, during the championship weekend, I heard him tell his players to "have fun, we just want you to try."

Perhaps people learn.

Maybe one of the kids took him aside and clued him in.