Times are A-Changing

For the first time in 8 years our Spring will not be spent at the baseball fields.

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

A good part of me is happy. I love my kids & love watching them play sports, but as with any group, there were crappy cliques and political crap that I could not deal with.

Because TheJerseyShoreDad & I were no good at playing political games, nor knew who the "right people" were to be friends with, our kids suffered.

Mostly our older son.  The year he moved from the Minor League to the Major League, the whole leadership at the fields changed. (can't find the link, but there were shennanigans going on with the old regime) and a new group took over our league.

Anyway, my older son, who was a good player, went from winning games with his pitching skills to riding the  bench  and playing the minimum required 2 innings.  It psychologically destroyed him.  TJSD approached the coach who said that he would play our older son more if he listened to him more. He tried to tell TJSD that our older son just didn't listen to what he told him to do.

Umm, yeah, bullshit.  Our older son is a teachers pet type child. Not the annoying one that is always up the teachers ass.. I mean he is able to converse with adults like an adult.  He's always been that way.  I'm convinced he was born with an old soul.  When we asked our son about not listening to the coach, we could tell that the coach was lying.  My children are no angels, I'd be honest if I thought he was lying... this was not one of those times.

What made it worse was when he (and at least 2 other good players) would show up for every practice, always on time for games, etc, they'd ride the bench while the favorited kids who would rarely show up for practices, played every inning.  I watched an entire season of a kid playing 2nd base who missed basically every single ball that came his way.

But because he was one of the coaches sons, he played.

Now before you think I'm biased... well I am, he's my son.  But understand that had our younger son already decided to not play anymore, I would have approached him about not playing in the majors because he just doesn't have the drive needed to play up there.

After 2 years with this same coach (against my wishes) he moved up to the 13 yo league where the favoritism was even worse.  The coaches own son would blow off practice and yet he played every inning. And by now he was labeled as a kid who rode the bench and there went his deadly accurate fast ball and his desire to play.

Why give your team your all when you get shit back?

But besides all that crap, being a part of baseball was fun too. I did make friends. The kids got to meet other kids outside of the ones they went to school with and it was fun.  Especially the younger years.  I didn't even mind doing our snack stand duty either, we always managed to have fun doing that.

The kids learned sportsmanship, both good and bad.

But it has all ended and I won't be freezing at early spring games & sweating at the end of the season.

Now the older son wants to play hockey and the younger son wants to bowl.

I guess I can take the beach chair out of my car...  (used it at games because the bleachers were uncomfortable).

Take me out to the ball game......