Thursday, May 10, 2012
The two differing accounts:
...when Delnegro called a pitch that bounced in front of the catcher a strike, Bellamy went on the field to discuss it. “Joe said to him (Delnegro), ‘You’re cheating the kids. Before he knew it, the umpire punched him four times. His face was full of blood and I asked what happened? He said, ‘The umpire punched me.
“Mr. Delnegro’s position is that on the date of the alleged incident, while he was umpiring, one of the coaches (the alleged victim, Joseph M. Bellamy), became verbally abusive to the point of belligerence over a call that he had made. In an attempt to maintain order, Mr. Delnegro ejected the irate man from the game. “But rather than exit the field, Mr. Bellamy advanced upon Mr. Delnegro in a loud, aggressive and threatening manner, and actually made physical contact with Mr. Delnegro, such that Mr. Delnegro feared for his safety. “Accordingly, Mr. Delnegro intends to assert self-defense should the meritless charge against him be maintained.”
Kids 0, Adults -1
Monday, June 20, 2011
Great player, great dad:
The former Edmonton Oiler and father of five has a lot of kids in his neighbourhood wishing their own dads would be as patient and supportive and fun as he is. “He’s making us look bad,” joked local businessman James Williams, whose son plays in the same Pony baseball league, but on a different team, as Gretzky’s fourth child, the plucky 10-year-old Tristan Wayne.
“Gretzky is always there on the sidelines, smiling and in a good mood. He’s this superstar athlete, but he never second-guesses the coaches and he doesn’t get in the kids’ faces like we can. He’s this really nice guy. And all the kids are crazy about him.”
There’s really nowhere that fathers can get uglier than watching their offspring make mistakes during a Little League baseball—or pee-wee hockey—game.
During the league playoffs two weeks ago, Williams said the baseball fathers screamed at their kids for any errors they made on the field. “There was one kid who struck out and the father screams, ‘I didn’t come here to watch you lose!’” Williams said. “It’s not the nicest thing in the world, but it’s typical. Most of us breathe down our kids’ necks at one time or another.”
Except, yes ... well ... the Great One. During the same league playoffs last week, Tristan—usually a top switch-hitting player—gave up a reported four runs in a row while on the pitching mound. But Gretzky kept his cool—and so did his son.
“I think it’s because he didn’t get this crazy pressure thing from his father, the kid recovered,” Williams said. The next inning, Tristan smashed a line drive and drove in two runs and the team ended up winning the game. Tristan’s team ended up placing third in the league playoffs.
Friday, February 11, 2011
By , 03:40 AM
Wow, there are so many things wrong with this story, my head is spinning!
In case you don’t read it, here is a synopsis:
High school pitcher throws 80 with a wicked curve. He gets cut from his high school team on the second day of tryouts. Why?
He has two prosthetic legs and the coach says that he can’t field bunts and the other teams could win by constantly bunting. Wow!
From the article:
Anthony, a sophomore, was cut on the second day tryouts. Coach Mike Bradley’s main concern was that Anthony can’t field bunts, and that teams would take advantage of his inability to jump off the mound quickly.
What a wonderful inspiration to the school, community, and the world to have this kid pitch on his high school team. And it is not like he can’t pitch. A high school kid throwing 80 with a “wicked curve”, while not MLB material, is at least average for most high schools. Who the f**ck cares if their team wins with him pitching? How is that relevant in high school sports?
Perhaps most importantly, and this was pointed out (because it is obvious) in the SB blog entry (hat tip to them) by Andy Hutchins that referenced this story, what kind of effing coach from another high school is going to order his team to bunt against this pitcher? Again, who cares if THEY win the game. They should be honored to play against someone like this kid. And if they bunt, the kid simply drills the next kid in the ribs with his 80 mph heater. End of story.
BTW, what about the adage that, “Pitching is all about the legs?” Seriously. Is that another baseball truism down the drain?
Thursday, June 24, 2010
In my town, the second graders all play in one league, and the skill level is extremely wide, from a kid who can hit it 150 feet, to one who can’t even get the bat on the ball. My kid is somewhere in the bottom half, probably at the 20th percentile in terms of overall baseball skills.
Next season, they have the third and fourth graders playing together. And the percentage of kids from the second grade teams who will register for the third+fourth grade teams will probably be around 75%. That is, about one-fourth of the second graders will not register for the next season. And, you can see that if my kid does play, he will be the worst player on the team.
I’m fully supportive of the idea to merge the third+fourth graders. But the merge should have been done into two leagues, with say two-thirds of the players going to the premier league, and one-third into the second-division.
As it stands, that’s not how they are proceeding. And, based on my limited interaction with the guys running the league, they don’t seem like they’d be interested in changing things. And that means that my kid won’t play. But, there are at least two teams worth of kids who are in the same boat, and so, I’m bothered that something can’t be done. Even if I make waves, look like the malcontent father, those parents who had already decided not to register their kids might not appreciate that the second division is just for them.
Anyway, I’d like to open it up to the floor to see the most effective way to proceed, in terms of getting a second division approved, and getting the word out that all the kids are welcome, regardless of their talent level.
from Amazon
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