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Here I am, many many years beyond high school yet I still remember the encouraging words a teacher told me. "You can do much more than type letters for someone else." I will never forget those words. They are what first inspired me to apply to college, then send an application letter to a company, and years later apply for a business license.

Be very careful with your words to our youth. You never know which ones they will remember for the rest of their lives. Always look at how *they* would take them, not how you mean them.
quote:
Originally posted by sandlotmom:

Be very careful with your words to our youth. You never know which ones they will remember for the rest of their lives. Always look at how *they* would take them, not how you mean them.


I don't need a lecture from you mom, I taught our youth for many many years, so I know how to talk to them. I also taught my kids, that how you present yourself is most important, that includes in person, on the phone, in an email especially when addressing adults.
As far as I am concerned when you come into someone else's space, you treat them the way you would want to be treated, no excuses for that post, that's something you can do with your friends. Stop making excuses.
Funniest thing, every so often we get someone who comes asking same questions (in the same manner), and they never returned.
Coach you are a teacher and a coach right, wouldn't you expect more from your student/players when asking such an important question, of course you would.
Actually if Mikey is on teh up and up, perhpas he will learn that next time he has to contact a coach for an opportunity, he will think twice about correct grammer and spelling.
Last edited by TPM
You better believe it I am a teacher and coach and I happen to think I'm a pretty darn good one. But I would NEVER expect my students to walk into my class on the FIRST day and expect perfection or even 90% work.

That's great that you taught your children how to address others but maybe Mikey hasn't. Maybe he doesn't have the best parents in the world or maybe he had teachers who weren't very good. Maybe this kid has never had the same opportunities that your kids got with you. We have no idea what Mikey has going on in his life.

Since you're a teacher I just find it hard to believe that you would rip into a kid on a first time offense like this without knowing them or their background. I'm all about ripping a kid IF they DESERVE it.

Please let me ask a couple of questions if you don't care to answer. How long did you teach? Was it private or public? What grade level / subject did you teach? I'm just curious and if you don't want to answer that is fine - no harm no foul.

I do have to say I have a huge problem with this statement you made

quote:
As far as I am concerned when you come into someone else's space, you treat them the way you would want to be treated, no excuses for that post


So whose space is this? Is it yours, mine, Sandlot Mom's, TR or possibly Julie's? I'm pretty sure it's not mine and I have my doubts it's yours. So why do you get to determine that this is a rule that perfect grammar has to be followed? I just scanned the board rules and it doens't mention grammar. So why is it appropriate for you to rip this kid on his first post because you say so?

I've just reread all three of his posts and he only misspelled one word, didn't capitalize and only one text word (any1 instead of anyone). While I do agree he should stay away from these types of posts it's not the end of the world. It was a teachable moment rather than a moment to be ripped on.
mikeyy,
What grade are you in? If you're a 17yo senior then you're probably not going to be ready for D1 in time without a fair amount of improvement. If you're a 17yo junior you may have a chance but it will depend on how much you can improve and if you're willing to start with a lesser role at a lower ranked D1.

Oops, didn't see that you're a 2010, scratch that question.

If you are fixed on D1 then a JUCO or even a postgraduate year could eventually lead to a D1 slot. If D1 is your dream keeping working toward your dream, but give yourself some backup options. You don't want to end up out of baseball I'm pretty sure.
Last edited by CADad
Coach,
I seriously doubt he came here for serious advice. If I thought he did, my answer would have been different and I am not the only one who picked up on it.

In case you missed my point, if Mikey is for real, JMO he needs some work and it may just not be in baseball. That work would be being a bit more mature. I know he can read and write. Coach in case you haven't been through today's recruiting, it's about more than just being a good baseball player.

Not sure why you are asking what grades I taught. How many kids have you had? What has that got to do with it?

We all interpret posts differently, until Mikey shows back up (though he most likely has under another name), he's yanking your chain coach.

TR,
As far as your comments, be careful about calling the kettle black, we all know you come here seeking business, and you pick and chose players and parents who to contact and who not to. I doubt you contacted Mikey.
Last edited by TPM
TPM

LOL

"kettle blavk"

"yo come"


How little you know Your Highness---I no longer do showcases and you never saw me advertise my events on here anymore than anyone else--and don't be so sure I have not or will not offer assistance to Mikey--the quickest way to discover if the kid is for real is to contact them

I must tell you that you make me wonder sometimes---perhaps if you got off your throne you might realize more things and not always assume or have to say "I heard"

DON't Ever Make accustaions you cannot back up
I'm letting this one go because I think that mikeyy (and any lurkers or newcomers looking for recruiting advice and reading this thread) can now see that there are many of us here that feel a kid should not be told he is not college material for one poorly written post. That's really all that matters to me. If they continue to feel this is a welcoming forum they can come to for help in reaching their dreams, then mission accomplished.
So who else picked up on it? I haven't seen another post saying he was fake - yours is the only one. Let me ask you this though - if I make another 11,000 posts will I be able to determine who is serious and not after two or three posts?

I didn't miss your point and in fact I basically agreed with your point but obviously you're not getting my point - there was no justification for you to rip that kid based on three posts. You said you're not the only one to pick up on it but I can't find another post that backs you up.

I'm just curious about your teaching experience - no big deal if you don't want to answer. But I will say in your posts you tend to say how you taught your children this and that but you never mention how you have taught any other kids. So I was just curious as to whether you were in the profession for long or not. As for your question I don't have any kids and never been married. I don't see what that has to do with anything either.

Yes I've been through today's recruiting process. I tend to think it's pretty common sense that you want to present yourself in a mature manner. But not everyone has the experience you or I have had.

I truly don't understand how you find this kid to be a troll based on the limited information he posted. I just want to understand how you came to that conclusion.
Last edited by coach2709
quote:
Originally posted by infielddad:
I am not sure this thread needs to be one that involves such a polarization of positions.
Mikeyy provided his email address. I have emailed the address provided and will await the response.


I agree with you, there seems to be more focus on what I said in my original post than his.
mikeyy,
Aside from the you grammar in the posting....you are D1 material as are many kids.

All it takes is one D1 coach to like what he sees in you; don't get hung up on what you are not but focus on what you are. You may not be a Koufax or Nolan Ryan but there are alot of guys that played many years with less.

Learn and understand what makes you successful and use that to pitch your game, not everybody else's.
As long as you catch a D1 coaches eye or if he see's you have great potential he will take you. You may not get that many opportunitys to pitch until your a upper classman or until he thinks you are ready. I suggest you just go to a good juco, d3, or d2 and transfer d1 after your sophmore year. Also to go D1 they always want you to have good grades always keep that in mind!!! Trust me I screwed around my freshmen year in high school and it effected my overall GPA terribly but sophmore year I started working hard in school and now in my junior year still doing great in school.
quote:
Originally posted by coach2709:
So who else picked up on it? I haven't seen another post saying he was fake - yours is the only one.


I did coach and alerted the moderators right away. When he wouldn't answer my question about what kind of offers he received from D3's and forgot to mention his arm injury I elected not to participate in the discussion because of my belief that he was disingenuous.
Last edited by CPLZ
I'm going to post my response and I would really like for it to be taken as a polite response and not a flaming response.

Obviously I don't think this kid is a troll. I may be wrong and I'm ok with that because I've been wrong about many things before in my life and I have a pretty good feeling I'm going to be wrong again.

I like this place and enjoy coming here and reading everything that's put on here. I want to be someone who contributes information and opinions that help others. But there are times when people on this site irritate me. Now before I get going and have people think I'm singling out CPLZ and TPM let me say that in all honesty I'm not. My comments are going to be an overall assessment of what I see / feel that goes on here.

There are people on here who think they have all the answers and know everything there is to know about everything. There is no way in the world that could ever be true and I wish people would just take certain things at face value instead of "knowing what's going on because they've been doing it a long time". You don't know for certain what's goning on when someone posts something. The biggest "evidence" in Mikey's post that he's a troll is he said he "had a couple of offers from d3". As most of us know D3 schools do not offer athletic scholarship money but where did he post he was offered money?

quote:
Originally posted by mikeyy:
im 17 yrs old 5'11 170 i thorw 80-85 with a nasty 12-6 hook am i d1 material i have had a couple offers from d3


Maybe Mikey went to a showcase or something and he heard this from a coach "Hello, I'm Coach So and So from the College of Such and Such. I'm really impressed with your talent level and think you would be an assest to out program. We are a D3 school so we're not able to offer athletic money but we can work things out that if your grades are good that we can OFFER you academic money. Maybe we can sit down with your parents and talk a little bit more about what the College of Such and Such has to OFFER student athletes. But I would like to OFFER you a chance to be in our program if that is something you would like." Now is that conversation all that far fetched? I don't think so because I've heard it several times over the years with my players. An offer doesn't have to be money and in this case I interpreted what Mikey put as he was offered a chance to play for a school - not get money.

Why as a collective group do we have to automatically jump onto something as insignificant as this and proclaim this person is a troll? Are we trying to prove how much we know about recruiting to nitpick something about an "offer from a D3" because it's so obvious that D3's don't offer money? If that's the case then please come down off your ivory tower because as a public educator for 12 years I can tell you without hesitation that there are some kids who just don't have a clue. Maybe Mikey doesn't have a clue or maybe he does - I don't know and nobody else on here does either.

There are typically three ways to react to criticisim (which is what happened to Mikey - he was criticized) - you don't let it affect you, you rebel against it or you cringe away from. If Mikey's not a troll then it seems like he is cringing away from it. If he really is a troll then why didn't he stick around to cause more trouble? Seriously if a troll came on here to stir up trouble and gets thrashed like Mikey did why would they leave? Getting thrashed opens the door for a troll to make more posts "defending" themself to cause more trouble. Mikey asked a question, got a few responses with good advice, got ripped a new one and then disappeared. Maybe he learned what he wanted to know or maybe he got his feelings hurt but if he was truly a troll why didn't he jump all over TPM's post to stir the pot more? Or maybe (and I truly hope this didn't happen) those of you who can pick out when a troll posts that contacted the mods got his account banned so he can't post anymore. If that is what happened then he had no chance to post more to let us get to know him or possibly stir the pot to confirm he is a troll.

When I first joined this place I made a post in the hitting forum before I realized how opinionated those people are. It was a thread about "linear vs rotational hitting" and I meant it as a joke but I was crucified in there. I remember one person said if that's what I truly thought then I should give up coaching. I'll be honest and tell you that it shocked me. I thought about leaving the site and never coming back but I gave this place another chance and I'm glad that I did. Maybe I've contributed a little bit to making this a better place but I was ready to leave. I wonder how many new people came on here and posted "obvious" questions or made a joke that was taken wrong or whatever else that never came back because they were treated poorly. The vast majority of resonses to first time posters is usually met with a "glad you're here" or "you will enjoy this place" type responses but what about the other times when they get a less than friendly response?

Maybe I'm naieve or just clueless and not pick up on these things like the rest of you. If that's the case then I apologize because I'm ok with myself enough to admit when I'm wrong but for the life of me I cannot see how in three posts you can determine if Mikey was a troll or not. I just don't see the evidence but maybe I'm just a big old sap who people take advantage of.

I'm on this site to learn from others, to get to know others who love this game as much as I do but I'm also here to help others. I don't have all the answers and there are others who know a lot more than I do but if I can make a post that helps someone then I'm all for it. Maybe they will learn from me or maybe they won't - it's all good either way. The image I want to portray of myself is someone who wants to help others and is humble. I have the upmost respect for PGStaff for MANY reasons but one thing that truly stands out to me with him is how humble he is with his posts. To me he is the one person on this site that when he says something about baseball I take it as gospel but I never get the impression he is above or better than others. I've read posts by him answering questions that are "obvious answers" and he helps the person. He comes across as the guy you can sit down with and shoot the breeze with because he's your buddy from way back. The point I'm trying to make here is why can't we all approach every new poster with his attitude until that poster proves they are a troll?

Those who think Mikey is a troll may just be right and ran him off. Good because that makes this place better. But what if you were wrong? What if he truly was a kid who didn't have a clue or has a learning disability or has a homelife that does't offer him any support in getting into college period let alone play baseball there? How did we help him? How did we make his life any better? We had a chance to offer some advice to this kid and see how he would react to it. Maybe he would become a contributer to this site or maybe he would come back stirring the pot more - we just don't know. Sad part is we probably never will know. I doubt he will be back and I doubt he will ever answer the email infielddad sent. So if he doesn't come back does that make him a troll.....or a kid who got his feelings hurt.....or what? We'll never know.
Coach

I deal with D-3 programs extensively here in our region and it is possible for them to make "offers" based on the kids academics and financial needs--it has nothing to do with baseball money but it is an offer---in fact I have seen D-3 offers than $$$ wise were better than D-1/D-2 baseball offers

I also have an email into the young man
coach,
I'm not sure why you think Mikeyy would not respond to a private email from the parent of a former DIII player who had experiences, desires and opportunities of exactly the type he asked about. Since I included that background as the reason to email and offer to help, I don't know that anyone will ever know the "why" and there are too many reasons to speculate, in my view.
What I do believe is anyone who wants to play college baseball has to be tenacious. What I know is the question/comment from TPM about the typing would be considered tame, to almost a compliment, compared to the bench jockey stuff in college baseball that will come out of the mouths of the frat guys who had their keg at the field before the teams even arrived.
As itsinthegame posted, and JH just after him, I might have stated the comment differently. But there is a real question, in my opinion, as to whether you tell someone how you feel they are presenting themselves and what they should do differently or just overlook what you feel is far less than what gets the job done.
TPM decided to tell the poster. You disagreed with her view. Many agreed with you.
As I read your thoughtful post, my impression is TPM's approach came across as know it all but I would propose your responses came across exactly the same, but for an opposite viewpoint.
I don't think the lack of Mikeyy responding is support for either view.
In a very recent thread, fanofgame and jemaz took a post about USC quite personally. Some posted, in fact some in this thread who are critical of TPM, that "fan" and jemaz should toughen up and not take things personally. Why would that apply to fan and jemaz and not to Mikeyy, especially with the support that was offered to Mikeyy in this thread?

Are there places on the site that can be disappointing? Well, you pointed to the hitting. I read that section but I think I have only posted twice. To me, it is broken, to a large extent so I choose not to post. I think some who post there and the way they post are driving out a lot of valuable information that others could share.
There is little doubt this site is in the process of evolution and will continue to do so. A lot of experience is leaving while far more newbie's are coming on board. To me, that is healthy and shows the site works, even with minor hiccups like this thread.
Even though the poster roster is changing, there will continue to be those with strongly held opinions and they will express them. As the site evolves, what is important, in my view, is to appreciate what is behind those opinions.
Some have strongly held views with little knowledge or experience to support those views. Some have strongly held views with lots of experience and knowledge.
Some think the world begins and ends with DI. Some think DIII is a waste of time and you should use your time for other things. Some feel the more you play the better you are in college and some feel it makes no difference when they get to college.
The wonderful aspect of this site is that the views
are expressed and opposing views are presented. That is what happened here. We can choose to align ourselves with one position or another or choose not to post at all.
Having lots of experience and strongly held views does not always meet with popularity, as some have expressed about TPM's approach here. On the other hand, when Fungo used to regularly post about exposure and marketing your son in baseball, his posts were rivoting with insight for all to capture.
In one way or another, we all grow into this site or choose to not participate.
Mikeyy chose not to be involved, even though there were plenty of posters who supported him and viewed TPM's posts as being wrong.
It was Mikeyy's choice to not post into support for his position when TPM was really a sole voice in the wilderness.
In my opinion, the opinions you have expressed in this thread are strongly voiced, just as strongly as TPM's were voiced. I could not make any decision as to where I was aligned, so I decided to email Mikeyy directly.
I fully respect TPM's decision to strongly voice her view. I fully respect your choice to strongly voice your opinion and disagreement. Both come across, to me at least, as expressing views based on what you know.
Where I disagree with you is solely when you then take the additional step and categorize TPM's or CPLZ's, or mine, or anyone else's strongly held opinions as being representative of a type of "know it all" that are objectionable as having "all the answers."
Personally,except for one poster, I think it does a bit of a disservice to other posters to read into and now suggest that through their posts they believe they "know it all" as that again is just another strongly held opinion of yours.
No one should have to be putting disclaimers about the limits of their thoughts, but TPM, for one, does when she posts with JMO.
If anyone wants to see an introduction to this site that was filled with drama, find the initial post from shortstopmom in Kansas. She absolutely was crucified, by some who are now criticizing TPM.
She stayed and became a wonderful contributor because others supported her as others did for Mikeyy.
Finally, most don't know this but two nights ago a post was made on this thread by brand new poster. It attacked TPM in an ugly way, very ugly. It was so offensive, it was actually stunning. What I could not understand was why it would come from a new poster and be so personal to one poster.
I then looked at the name and the location. The combination of the two had an offensive sexual innuendo, but you needed to read them together because the posters name is a somewhat common one you might hear in baseball.
Now, what are the chances that post would randomly come into this thread by another new poster? Coincidental? Maybe. It was removed. I, for one, don't think that post was a coincidence. Could I be wrong? Sure. Nothing can be proven about that post or Mikeyy, just a lot of questions?
Last edited by infielddad
infield08 and Coach2709: Now you've gone and done it. This post is turning into one that could go golden.

I'm pretty happy that it's turned into a thread that a newcomer or lurker can see that if someone rips them, others will come to their rescue. It also makes it pretty obvious who keeps the real intentions of the forum in mind when they post. I just hope they don't close the window before they get to the good stuff.
Last edited by sandlotmom
I stayed out of this one until now but this thread appears to be blowing up and I think all sides have had a chance to speak. Couple of things here...

I was alerted to the obscene "new poster" and the post removed and the poster suspended by Julie. As always, she does a background check on the suspended poster to see if they are related in any way to another member on the site. The obscene poster was not in fact related to any other member past or present.

It is totally legit to say you have an offer from a D3 school imho. In our experience, when a D3 school recruited you, it was the same as a D1. The coach made it clear he was recruting you for a roster spot and he saw you as a contributor to the program. Thus, his "offer" was to be a member of the team. Financially, the D3 coaches offered help with admissions and financial aid. The D1 coaches offered athletic money. If a D3 coach liked a player, I could not tell the difference between that and a D1 coach liking a player. Thus, in my mind the offers were the same - the opportunity to compete for playing time. I know exactly what a player means when he says he has D3 offers. You don't get them unless you are a fine player and the coach has recruited you as such.

Look, I think everyone has had a chance to weigh in on this one. I don't see the benefit of arguing the troll issue anymore and I am going to close the thread.

Mikeyy - if you have any further questions, please start a new thread and as has been pointed out, use regular English/grammar rather than texting lingo or other non-standard forms. That suggestion is for your benefit (impress coaches who may read this) not that you were previously breaking any site rules.

For everyone else, if you feel the thread should be re-opened, please send me a pm with your reasons. No need to beat me up publicly over this decision and the thread can be re-opened if there is a good reason to do so. Other than that, it appears people have had their opportunity to respond.

Thanks for your consideration in advance.
Last edited by ClevelandDad
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