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Reply to "Where Are The Baseball Players Going?"

57special posted:

Hockey is HUGE here, and grabs a lot of athletes who play even during the summer, but soccer has grown a lot, also. I think kids get frustrated learning the skills that baseball demands, whereas chasing around after a ball or puck is simpler(not necessarily easier). Just 5 years ago we had enough for two large Freshman teams(16-18). this year we might only have one. There will be half the amount trying out. 

  I also worry that MLB is mismanaged, and are totally losing the young demographic due to the slow play, and a couple of other issues. Both my sons are ballplayers, and pretty good ones, yet neither will do more than watch some highlight videos of a game. Almost no one copies the batting styles of the MLB players like we used to do ("look at me, I'm Dave Parker/Tony C/ Yaz/Morgan"). 

While hockey is EXPENSIVE, there's another element to it, at least by me.  They don't slot by age.  My son had a classmate who "played" hockey for a few years.  He was not really an athletic kid and this surprised me.  When I shared this with my son, he told me (at that time):  "He's in the 7th grade and playing with and against 4th graders.  They won't move him up until he's passed their skills test."  Something like that makes it easier for a kid to play who might otherwise be pushed out because he can't keep up with his grade.

Your sons are not alone.  My son is a full blown baseball rat.  He's at it 7 days a week, in some fashion, and 12 months a year.  He lives for the sport and can't get enough reps, etc.  That said, he can't watch more than 3 innings of a baseball broadcast without moving on to something else.  Go to a game?  Yes, he's fine watching a game live, in person.  But, he's watching it for strategy and things like that.  He's not watching it because he has a favorite player or something.  In fact, he doesn't even "root" for a team like I did as a kid.  When I was his age, and the Yankees lost a game, I couldn't sleep that night because I was pissed off.  Him?  The Yankees could lose 20 in a row and he would think it's funny.  He's got no vested interest in a team other than the one he's playing for...

But, in general, kids are different today.  I have 3 TVs in my house.  Both of my kids never watch them, not since they were like 10 years old.  They watch stuff on their phones or pads or laptops.  The days of a family sitting in front of a TV and watching something together are over.  Me?  Some of the best memories that I have of my youth are sitting in the living room and watching Yankees games on TV with my dad from (around) 1975 to 1990.  We had A LOT of fun watching those games.  Today, I have to find other ways to have quality time with my kids.  It's just a different time.

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