Today was an early game, 9 am, which was good, since it was supposed to be a really hot day. Dave and Brandon left at 815 am to get there for warm-ups, while Peyton and I took our time getting ready, then set out on foot. The game was at the t-ball field, so Dave brought our chairs to set up. I wanted Peyton to sit still so I could watch the last Saturday game, so I packed up a bag for her. I brought her activity books, a regular book to read, and some pencils and pens. I also told her if she sat still, she’d get a snack shack ticket (we still had 5 for all the ones we’d taken away from Brandon during the season). I told him he’d get one back for the purples this week, and then he could see if he could earn another from the game. Turns out the game started at 930 am, so we were really early. The team was in the field, with the batters practicing, but Peyton sat right next to me and started reading. Finally, the other team showed up, and the Yankee’s were the home team. Right before the teams got up, coaches Tom and Dave were throwing the ball to each other and practicing pop-ups. Dave knew he was being watched, but he and Tom just wanted to have fun. I was smiling because the two of them looked like a couple of kids. All of the parents were around by this time, and Dave later told me maybe they were throwing, not because it was fun, but to give them some “street cred”.
Then the game started. Brandon started at first base, and the first batter hit a pop fly right to him. He stuck his glove up in the air, right under it, and caught it! He had this goofy grin on his face, as I don’t think he could believe it. He threw it back to the other team’s pitcher, and then tried his best to field the rest of the balls that were thrown his way from his teammates. Then, the rest of the game was fairly uneventful, with the exception of some heated parents who had something to say about the kids’ coaching. The parent, of one of OUR team, went to sideline coach, which is discouraged. It was very disappointing to see and hear, as I was overhearing other parents talking about how the kids should be learning this or that. These include counseling and sex therapy for men buy viagra cheap with erectile dysfunction to solve this problem. Some men have no erectile dysfunction condition. cialis generic online No PDE inhibitor is to be employed more than one time a day. get viagra prescription cialis order levitra Although all forms are good to treat the condition and normalize the health. Interestingly, these parents are NOT present during practice, when Head Coach Tom, Dave and Eric are doing their best, with a sound coaching philosophy, and most importantly, with Dave and Tom, experience playing the game. The game ended after stretching it to four innings, and the kids got their snack shack tickets, oblivious to their parents’ tension. We went to pick up some nachos, and a sleeve of corn-nuts for Peyton. She was only able to eat half, since she started wandering away and not listening during the fourth inning. Had the game ended when it should have, she would have gotten the whole thing. The snack shack is in front of the majors field, and there was a battle in extra innings between the two teams. Dave and I wanted to stay and watch, but the kids were a little restless. We had Peyton watch the game through the slats of the backstop. Brandon wanted to watch, but he was hot. We watched the final two innings, but as much as our parents were too intense, this was even worse. Dave heard some of the moms swearing, and trying to argue umpire calls, without fully understanding the game (you don’t need to tag the player in a force out!). After Dave got home, he got an email from Coach Tom, who was just venting. I had been texting Dave during the game the annoying things I was hearing from the sidelines, too, so he had those as responses to Tom. The parents’ attitudes will only get worse as the kids get older, if it is already starting at this age, when no score is kept. Good thing Dave is on the right side of things in this case and isn’t feeding into it. The last game is next Thursday, and it is against the team that Brandon missed playing, when we were on vacation. Supposedly they are also a competitive team, with the coach pleading with the players to get three outs and extra snack shack tickets would be rewarded. Unbelievable. Incidentally, they were not able to do that against the Yankee’s, so this upcoming game will be very interesting 🙂
Of note, one dad did come up to Dave and thanked him for his coaching. He said something like, “Now that we’ve seen some of the other coaches, I thank you for what you do.” Not sure what that means, but I think it was a compliment.