I'm glad I'm not the only one...
Something about "organic" batter blaster in a can seems odd......
quote:Originally posted by Tx-Husker:
Something about "organic" batter blaster in a can seems odd......
I didn't see that until you mentioned it...it seems kinda gross when you dwell on it
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We've been hearing how great this stuff is so a buddy and I set out Halloween night to get some. We went right to the source. They didn't want to hand any over so we tried to coax some from 'em!
And about those two holes in the ceiling? I swear there were clay pigeons flying around, but it turns out they were merely cup saucers.
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- "I'm telling ya GW, you gotta get yourself a can of the stuff and sit back and let all happen..."
We've been hearing how great this stuff is so a buddy and I set out Halloween night to get some. We went right to the source. They didn't want to hand any over so we tried to coax some from 'em!
And about those two holes in the ceiling? I swear there were clay pigeons flying around, but it turns out they were merely cup saucers.
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Well I cut my oldest son when he was a Jr in HS. He wasnt good enough to make the varsity. I had to cut some other guys that were better than him. I was told "No one is going to think bad of you if you keep Jake on the team he is your son." I would have. Those other kids were someones son too.
It is your job as the coach to put the best players on the field that give your team the best chance to win that game that day. It is your job to keep the kids that deserve to be on the team. If your afraid to be the coach then find something else to do. You can not preach to your players the importance of earning what they get and at the same time give something to those that have not earned it.
I could careless what the people in the stands think. I could careless if they agree with the line up or not. I know who has earned it and I know who gives us the best chance to win. Frankly I could careless if they agree or not. My players know who the best options are. They want to win. They deserve to be given the best chance to win. Players work for years for the opportunity to play and they earn it. I am not going to give something to someone and watch those that have earned it sit behind them.
By the way my oldest son worked his butt off that off season and made the team his sr year as a dh. He got about 25 abs and was a great team mate. He earned it. Weaker players dont get better by being given anything. They get better by understanding what its going to take to get better and then going out and doing that. Stronger players dont deserve to sit because they have worked their butts off to be better so someone who has not worked to be good enough can play. If a kid busts his butt and is doing everything he can to get better you look for opportunities to reward that hard work. But they will earn it. Not their parents.
And by the way if a Freshman gives our team the best chance to win and a Sr is his competition the Sr sits. If you want to make sure you play then make sure your the best option. And just because your the best option today dont assume you will be tomorrow.
I have not had a problem with a single parent in several years. The players know the deal because I tell them and the veteran players tell them. The parents know the deal and if they dont like it they know I dont care. I have a great relationship with my parents. They want to win too. And they want their kids to earn what they get. The ones that feel otherwise choose to play somewhere else. And thats a good thing.
It is your job as the coach to put the best players on the field that give your team the best chance to win that game that day. It is your job to keep the kids that deserve to be on the team. If your afraid to be the coach then find something else to do. You can not preach to your players the importance of earning what they get and at the same time give something to those that have not earned it.
I could careless what the people in the stands think. I could careless if they agree with the line up or not. I know who has earned it and I know who gives us the best chance to win. Frankly I could careless if they agree or not. My players know who the best options are. They want to win. They deserve to be given the best chance to win. Players work for years for the opportunity to play and they earn it. I am not going to give something to someone and watch those that have earned it sit behind them.
By the way my oldest son worked his butt off that off season and made the team his sr year as a dh. He got about 25 abs and was a great team mate. He earned it. Weaker players dont get better by being given anything. They get better by understanding what its going to take to get better and then going out and doing that. Stronger players dont deserve to sit because they have worked their butts off to be better so someone who has not worked to be good enough can play. If a kid busts his butt and is doing everything he can to get better you look for opportunities to reward that hard work. But they will earn it. Not their parents.
And by the way if a Freshman gives our team the best chance to win and a Sr is his competition the Sr sits. If you want to make sure you play then make sure your the best option. And just because your the best option today dont assume you will be tomorrow.
I have not had a problem with a single parent in several years. The players know the deal because I tell them and the veteran players tell them. The parents know the deal and if they dont like it they know I dont care. I have a great relationship with my parents. They want to win too. And they want their kids to earn what they get. The ones that feel otherwise choose to play somewhere else. And thats a good thing.
Coach May
You have a PM !!!
You have a PM !!!
quote:Originally posted by Coach_May:
I know who has earned it and I know who gives us the best chance to win.
What if these are two different players; one does the 'work', the other is more talented. Would you punish the whole team, as far as 'giving them the best chance to to win'? Play the hard worker and sit the kid who doesn't buy in to the whole program, but is obviously the better player?
I'm asking, because you're a coach. Son's football team had this situation with two RBs. Of course, a dad got involved...
We've obviously got some great coaches on this site. The very fact that you are posting on a site that helps parents and kids make the most of their high school years makes it pretty clear where you stand wrt fairness. Not every team has coaches with such integrity. Politics do happen unfortunately and the kids are the ones that suffer the most. For anyone caught in this situation, find avenues for your son to get the experience and confidence outside of his HS team and before long your HS coach will have no choice but to put him in. Because you can't argue with winning. If son doesn't improve with this extra experience, then you'll have a better idea what the HS coach was working with. Just don't put all your eggs in the HS basket - that can be fatal to son's baseball career.
Reading Coach May's post made me think. I've posted this before, maybe more than once...
I was talked into coaching the Legion team many years ago. We had tryouts and had to get to an 18 man roster.
My youngest son was one of those trying out. He was a sophomore in High School at that time. I cut him! He understood! He was 16 years old at the time and not one of the top 18 players trying out.IMO
There's more.... At age 22 he was playing in front of 50,000 fans in the Major Leagues.
Bad coaching? Good coaching? Politics?
Wonder if it hadn't been my own son if someone would have thought politics were involved?
Anyway, politics exist in most everything. Coaches sometimes like one kid more than another for many different reasons. I think it is best to be one of those they like a lot. Coaches tend to like all kids who work hard and have a good attitude. They also tend to favor (when coming to playing time) those who are the most talented.
Then there are a few who just don't do the right thing. Coaches are just like players and umpires... some are good, some are bad, they are not all the same. The sooner one realizes that, the better prepared one will be.
I was talked into coaching the Legion team many years ago. We had tryouts and had to get to an 18 man roster.
My youngest son was one of those trying out. He was a sophomore in High School at that time. I cut him! He understood! He was 16 years old at the time and not one of the top 18 players trying out.IMO
There's more.... At age 22 he was playing in front of 50,000 fans in the Major Leagues.
Bad coaching? Good coaching? Politics?
Wonder if it hadn't been my own son if someone would have thought politics were involved?
Anyway, politics exist in most everything. Coaches sometimes like one kid more than another for many different reasons. I think it is best to be one of those they like a lot. Coaches tend to like all kids who work hard and have a good attitude. They also tend to favor (when coming to playing time) those who are the most talented.
Then there are a few who just don't do the right thing. Coaches are just like players and umpires... some are good, some are bad, they are not all the same. The sooner one realizes that, the better prepared one will be.
Unless I missed it over three pages, there's one other thing that happens. Coaches sometimes make mistakes. Sometimes they misperceive a player's potential to the detriment of another player. It's not politics. It's a mistake. If it's the player's one year to start it stinks. If it's early in his high school career he'll probably overcome it. The key for the player is get to work instead of sulking.
Coach May’s post made me think about something our HS coach just told all of the parents this week at the “all parents meeting”. He said that he had the pleasure to teach and develop kids as baseball players, and for that he was grateful. He also had the pain of telling kids they would no longer be able to play HS baseball. He pointed out that of the current senior class there were 4 players still on the team. That class started with 20 freshmen. They had about the same number of Sr’s last year. So for the last two senior classes he has had to tell 32 kids "thanks for coming out, but you are done." Politics? No. Some very unpleasant discussions? Yes.
So many great posts addressing this age old question could make for golden thread potential. Dog, I hope you have read these folks thoughts. They "get it". there might be politics afoot, but it usually only surfaces around the bottom of the roster, if at all. It is mostly a figment of those parents imagination, anyway.
As others have said, the kids know who needs to be on the field, and they usually are.
No worries. Enjoy the experience and stay posi+ive.
As others have said, the kids know who needs to be on the field, and they usually are.
No worries. Enjoy the experience and stay posi+ive.
Vicarious Dad thats a fair and good question. And the answer for me is very simple. If you want to build a program you have to get the players to understand there is a certain standard that must be lived up to. In the classroom , on the field and off the field. The type of kids you have in your program is just as important if not more important than the type of talent you have in your program. I have always believed that helping to mold young boys into young men is part of building a good hs baseball program. And I also believe that when you hold these youngsters to a high standard they will step up. I also believe that when you dont they wont. You are doing the kid wrong when you dont challenge them to be the very best they can be. And in the end you hurt your program.
There are programs that are only competitive when a good crop of talent cycles through their program. And even then they many times underachieve. The players rarely get better over their four years in hs. And then there are programs that are always competitive and many times overachieve even when their talent level has dropped off. Their players always seem to get better year after year.
Building a program and setting standards for your team , program and players is all part of the process. You may have a better chance to win that game if you play that kid but what message are you sending to the younger players coming into the program or the ones already there?
Every player in our program will work hard , will be a good team mate , will hold themselves accountable or they will not play regardless of their talent level. They will not play because they will not be on the team. Hustle is something I never tell a player to do. If I have to tell them to hustle I have made a huge mistake in not cutting them. Effort , desire , attitude - takes absolutely no talent to accomplish.
Jerry is spot on with his post. Coaches like the players that work hard and have a great attitude. And they tend to favor those that are the most talented. So when you hold all of your players to the same standard it all shakes out. Do coaches have favorites? Of course they do. Every kid should strive to be one of those kids.
I have never played a kid that didnt work hard. Because if they dont work hard they are not on the team.
There are programs that are only competitive when a good crop of talent cycles through their program. And even then they many times underachieve. The players rarely get better over their four years in hs. And then there are programs that are always competitive and many times overachieve even when their talent level has dropped off. Their players always seem to get better year after year.
Building a program and setting standards for your team , program and players is all part of the process. You may have a better chance to win that game if you play that kid but what message are you sending to the younger players coming into the program or the ones already there?
Every player in our program will work hard , will be a good team mate , will hold themselves accountable or they will not play regardless of their talent level. They will not play because they will not be on the team. Hustle is something I never tell a player to do. If I have to tell them to hustle I have made a huge mistake in not cutting them. Effort , desire , attitude - takes absolutely no talent to accomplish.
Jerry is spot on with his post. Coaches like the players that work hard and have a great attitude. And they tend to favor those that are the most talented. So when you hold all of your players to the same standard it all shakes out. Do coaches have favorites? Of course they do. Every kid should strive to be one of those kids.
I have never played a kid that didnt work hard. Because if they dont work hard they are not on the team.
In dealing with politics I believe that 95% of the time it comes down to perspective. It really isn't there but some people believe it happens because they lack the realism and character to truly understand the situation. I'm not naieve enough to say that there aren't coaches out there who will give the booster club president's a favored spot on the team / lineup. It happens and will continue to happen. But I truly think politics is generally coming from one skewed POV.
Building a team is a VERY difficult task and then to build a program is even tougher. Some people may not realize that there is a difference in a team and program but there is. A program is the standards and expectations you have for your players year in and year out. A program is an attitude and work ethic. A team is a collection of individuals that a coach has to mold into a cohesive unit where you improve their skills. A team is more about athletic achievement that can change year to year. As Coach May has said you have to establish high standards and expectations on and off the field. It doesn't take the best player to be a part of the program and in fact the programs is usually built on the attitudes of the lower end kids but the team really takes off when the best players buy into the program. But sometimes you have to cast off the best players on the team for the sake of the long term health of the program.
Politics is a POV because parents or players don't want to become part of the team regardless of their abilities to perform for the team. Little Johnny might be a good player but Little Bobby is just as good but has great grades, works his butt off, respected by peers / teachers. Little Johnny could be a better student, could work harder in practice, gets into a small amount of trouble at school. Johnny's parents don't see / accept the intangibles are what separates Bobby from Johnny. In fact most people don't have a clue what the intangibles are that coaches see everyday. Mom and dad are now ticked off so they tell everyone they can find how terrible the coach is. The sad part is others will sometimes listen to what's going on.
You can't build a program in one or two seasons. It takes time to build a program because a program is built on consistency by the head coach. The asst coaches will change and the players obviously change but if the message is the same year after year after year then one group passes it down to the next group. New people coming in know beforehand what is expected and that gets the players realizing that politics doesn't exist. It also helps head off the vast majority of parent problems because they know the deal beforehand as well. But there are times when stupidity will prevail and you have to deal with a problem.
As for RJM said - he's 100% right. Coaches do make mistakes in evaluating talent. I know I have. I didn't have ulterior motives for playing one kid over another - I just thought the other kid was better and it turns out I was wrong. It happens.
Coaches do have favorite players and they tend to be the examples I used above with Little Bobby. Those types of kids will get a few more chances than a Little Johnny type kid. I'm not going to give myself headaches over a kid who has been given several chances (on the field and off) who continues to let himself and the team down. Quick story - this season in football we had a kid who was a problem and since I was defensive coordinator I had to deal with him as a defensive back. He messed up a couple of times and my advice to the head coach was to get rid of him because at some point he was going to quit because I was going to let up my standards and neither was the head coach. But the head coach kept giving him a few more chances because he wanted to help this kid make a turn for the better. I admired that in the HC but I didn't feel we could do it and he was starting to distract the team. Well the kid messed up and the HC made him come apologize to me for what he did. I told him I would accept his apology but he better realize that you can't apologize everything away. When you mess up there are repercussions and if you do it enough you lose credibility. I told him he was at that point with me in that I really didn't want to hear apologies when my main impression of him was he was going to be a problem. We caught him lying about two weeks later in why he didn't come to practice (in fact we made several phone calls to catch him in the lie - we worked for it). Once again I wanted to cut him loose but the HC said he had to do a lot of running in order to come back. He did part of the running and walked away and never returned. That showed the type of character he had and that is the type of kid you got to eliminate from your program. The worst part is in this case some parents will say this is an example of politics because we ran this kid off. It happens.
I guess what I'm saying (in a very long winded, rambling and sometimes off topic way) is that politics is a bad word people who lack a work ethic use to justify failure. They will use this to justify their failure for probably the rest of their lives. It does exist but overall it's just a POV some people take when they can't handle failure.
Sorry rambling is over now - but bless you if you made it this far.
Building a team is a VERY difficult task and then to build a program is even tougher. Some people may not realize that there is a difference in a team and program but there is. A program is the standards and expectations you have for your players year in and year out. A program is an attitude and work ethic. A team is a collection of individuals that a coach has to mold into a cohesive unit where you improve their skills. A team is more about athletic achievement that can change year to year. As Coach May has said you have to establish high standards and expectations on and off the field. It doesn't take the best player to be a part of the program and in fact the programs is usually built on the attitudes of the lower end kids but the team really takes off when the best players buy into the program. But sometimes you have to cast off the best players on the team for the sake of the long term health of the program.
Politics is a POV because parents or players don't want to become part of the team regardless of their abilities to perform for the team. Little Johnny might be a good player but Little Bobby is just as good but has great grades, works his butt off, respected by peers / teachers. Little Johnny could be a better student, could work harder in practice, gets into a small amount of trouble at school. Johnny's parents don't see / accept the intangibles are what separates Bobby from Johnny. In fact most people don't have a clue what the intangibles are that coaches see everyday. Mom and dad are now ticked off so they tell everyone they can find how terrible the coach is. The sad part is others will sometimes listen to what's going on.
You can't build a program in one or two seasons. It takes time to build a program because a program is built on consistency by the head coach. The asst coaches will change and the players obviously change but if the message is the same year after year after year then one group passes it down to the next group. New people coming in know beforehand what is expected and that gets the players realizing that politics doesn't exist. It also helps head off the vast majority of parent problems because they know the deal beforehand as well. But there are times when stupidity will prevail and you have to deal with a problem.
As for RJM said - he's 100% right. Coaches do make mistakes in evaluating talent. I know I have. I didn't have ulterior motives for playing one kid over another - I just thought the other kid was better and it turns out I was wrong. It happens.
Coaches do have favorite players and they tend to be the examples I used above with Little Bobby. Those types of kids will get a few more chances than a Little Johnny type kid. I'm not going to give myself headaches over a kid who has been given several chances (on the field and off) who continues to let himself and the team down. Quick story - this season in football we had a kid who was a problem and since I was defensive coordinator I had to deal with him as a defensive back. He messed up a couple of times and my advice to the head coach was to get rid of him because at some point he was going to quit because I was going to let up my standards and neither was the head coach. But the head coach kept giving him a few more chances because he wanted to help this kid make a turn for the better. I admired that in the HC but I didn't feel we could do it and he was starting to distract the team. Well the kid messed up and the HC made him come apologize to me for what he did. I told him I would accept his apology but he better realize that you can't apologize everything away. When you mess up there are repercussions and if you do it enough you lose credibility. I told him he was at that point with me in that I really didn't want to hear apologies when my main impression of him was he was going to be a problem. We caught him lying about two weeks later in why he didn't come to practice (in fact we made several phone calls to catch him in the lie - we worked for it). Once again I wanted to cut him loose but the HC said he had to do a lot of running in order to come back. He did part of the running and walked away and never returned. That showed the type of character he had and that is the type of kid you got to eliminate from your program. The worst part is in this case some parents will say this is an example of politics because we ran this kid off. It happens.
I guess what I'm saying (in a very long winded, rambling and sometimes off topic way) is that politics is a bad word people who lack a work ethic use to justify failure. They will use this to justify their failure for probably the rest of their lives. It does exist but overall it's just a POV some people take when they can't handle failure.
Sorry rambling is over now - but bless you if you made it this far.
This thread is nominated for Golden 
PG, Coach May and Coach 2709 - classic posts as are every post I have read in this thread. Outstanding posts by all that have been MOST enjoyable to read!
PG - you were a lousy Coach. Cutting a future major league player - you were obviously playing politics
Coach 2709 - what a post! I loved your description about the difference between building a team and a program. I saw my son's high school team develop into a program several years ago when two players were cut whose parents were prominent members of the booster club including the club President's son. The kids cut had talent but they also had attitudes. Took guts to do what he did but the "program" has been perenniel state title contenders ever since.
Coach May - I'll focus on one sentence of your fine post:
I used to think that baseball was an individual sport which to some extent it is. I thought that if you put 9 great players out on the field that you automatically win by out-talenting the other team. My experiences with high school baseball and beyond have taught me otherwise however. I believe the best "teams" win. Sometimes, the best teams are the most talented but sometimes they are not. You get every guy on the team believing in the "program" as Coach 2709 points out and you have a dynamic that is even more powerful sometimes than having the most talent. I think back to the famous/funny Bum Phillips quote on Don Shula. He said "He can take his and beat yours and take yours and beat his."
PG, Coach May and Coach 2709 - classic posts as are every post I have read in this thread. Outstanding posts by all that have been MOST enjoyable to read!
PG - you were a lousy Coach. Cutting a future major league player - you were obviously playing politics
Coach 2709 - what a post! I loved your description about the difference between building a team and a program. I saw my son's high school team develop into a program several years ago when two players were cut whose parents were prominent members of the booster club including the club President's son. The kids cut had talent but they also had attitudes. Took guts to do what he did but the "program" has been perenniel state title contenders ever since.
Coach May - I'll focus on one sentence of your fine post:
quote:I have never played a kid that didnt work hard. Because if they dont work hard they are not on the team.
I used to think that baseball was an individual sport which to some extent it is. I thought that if you put 9 great players out on the field that you automatically win by out-talenting the other team. My experiences with high school baseball and beyond have taught me otherwise however. I believe the best "teams" win. Sometimes, the best teams are the most talented but sometimes they are not. You get every guy on the team believing in the "program" as Coach 2709 points out and you have a dynamic that is even more powerful sometimes than having the most talent. I think back to the famous/funny Bum Phillips quote on Don Shula. He said "He can take his and beat yours and take yours and beat his."
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I also agree 100% with fillsfan so long as the quote is coming from someone who acknowledges that the effects of politics do exist, yet he or she does not implement the power of politics.
I also agree that politics is often used as an excuse to cover for some perceived wrong. It happens. And it happens in all aspects of life.
And it also happens that politics, or more appropriately a superior position of power is used to squelch or punish. It happens. And it happens in all aspects of life.
Whether perceived or real it is frustrating to encounter this. In a much more perfect world it shouldn't happen often, but we don't exist in a perfect world...not even in a Factory Second world.
I have stated it many times before here on the HSBBW...to be a good coach, including everything needed to be a a good coach, requires a tremendous amount of hardwork, dedication, honest focus on success for themselves and their team, and an underlying sense of fairness. They are driven by good.
Not all coaches possess this combination or have the ability to achieve it. These coaches are, in my opinion, not good coaches. They, and their bad influence, are not appreciated.
And conversely, those coaches who substantially do possess these qualities and continue to strive for it, are good coaches. They are playing at or near the top of their game. They are appreciated. And they are especially appreciated by players and their families who have experienced a particularly poor coach.
When given a choice between a good coach or a bad coach the good coach is selected. This isn't any different than other choices we make.
We have choices in almost everything in life. But with coaches sometimes we don't have a choice. It is then that you hope your coach is a good one. And when the coach is good life is sweet!
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I also agree 100% with fillsfan so long as the quote is coming from someone who acknowledges that the effects of politics do exist, yet he or she does not implement the power of politics.
I also agree that politics is often used as an excuse to cover for some perceived wrong. It happens. And it happens in all aspects of life.
And it also happens that politics, or more appropriately a superior position of power is used to squelch or punish. It happens. And it happens in all aspects of life.
Whether perceived or real it is frustrating to encounter this. In a much more perfect world it shouldn't happen often, but we don't exist in a perfect world...not even in a Factory Second world.
I have stated it many times before here on the HSBBW...to be a good coach, including everything needed to be a a good coach, requires a tremendous amount of hardwork, dedication, honest focus on success for themselves and their team, and an underlying sense of fairness. They are driven by good.
Not all coaches possess this combination or have the ability to achieve it. These coaches are, in my opinion, not good coaches. They, and their bad influence, are not appreciated.
And conversely, those coaches who substantially do possess these qualities and continue to strive for it, are good coaches. They are playing at or near the top of their game. They are appreciated. And they are especially appreciated by players and their families who have experienced a particularly poor coach.
When given a choice between a good coach or a bad coach the good coach is selected. This isn't any different than other choices we make.
- Good doctor? Bad doctor? Easy decision.
Good mechanic? Bad mechanic? Easy decision.
Good grocery store chain? Bad grocery store chain? Easy decision.
Good dry cleaner? Bad dry cleaner? Easy decision.
Geico©? Progressive©? Not such an easy decision!
We have choices in almost everything in life. But with coaches sometimes we don't have a choice. It is then that you hope your coach is a good one. And when the coach is good life is sweet!
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I agree - this thread is Golden!
Julie
Julie
quote:Originally posted by gotwood4sale:
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We have choices in almost everything in life. But with coaches sometimes we don't have a choice. It is then that you hope your coach is a good one. And when the coach is good life is sweet!
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Yes it is!!!!
****Note from Moderator - CD ****
Coach Waltrip - loved your picture but it distorts reading of the thread. If you can find a smaller one, please repost - thanks!
Perhaps we could clone the coaches on this site and spread them across to HS programs across the country. What a public service that be.
Yes, there are good coaches and bad coaches, but I can tell you this: I wouldn't want to be one. You have to love the game an awful to put up some some of the pain-in-the-neck parents out there. (I should know. I think I was one once.
)
And let's face it, politics is the buzzword many parents fall back on when their kid isn't good enough to be in the starting lineup. It's a whole lot easier to cry politics than to say Junior is hitting .189 and couldn't catch a cold.
Kids who truly are stuck playing for bad coaches have to learn to deal with it. Just like all of us older folks have to deal with bad bosses. Life isn't always easy and isn't always fair. But how you handle things says a whole lot about what kind of person you are. Overcoming the politics, if they actually exist, is just another bump in life's road to navigate.
Yes, there are good coaches and bad coaches, but I can tell you this: I wouldn't want to be one. You have to love the game an awful to put up some some of the pain-in-the-neck parents out there. (I should know. I think I was one once.
) And let's face it, politics is the buzzword many parents fall back on when their kid isn't good enough to be in the starting lineup. It's a whole lot easier to cry politics than to say Junior is hitting .189 and couldn't catch a cold.
Kids who truly are stuck playing for bad coaches have to learn to deal with it. Just like all of us older folks have to deal with bad bosses. Life isn't always easy and isn't always fair. But how you handle things says a whole lot about what kind of person you are. Overcoming the politics, if they actually exist, is just another bump in life's road to navigate.
quote:I believe the best "teams" win. Sometimes, the best teams are the most talented but sometimes they are not.
CD,
I agree and can't leave that one alone. Maybe a bit off topic, but very worthwhile topic on its own.
We tried to simplify winning so that everyone easily understood. Every win or success can be attributed to 4 main ingredients.
1 - Talent
2 - Effort
3 - Intelligence
4 - Luck
The plan was to be the best team on the field in the first three. When that happens, chances are #4 will also be on your side.
However, we would win many games where we weren't the most talented. Effort and intelligence can help improve talent, but once the game starts the other team may have more talent. Effort and intelligence were the most important areas for us. Our goal was to make **** sure that we were always #1 in those areas every time we took the field. It was something you could control to a certain extent.
In order to win when playing against better talent, you need to be better than them at 2 and 3. If you happen to have #4 on your side that day, all that much better.
Talent is still the most important thing, but the other things can overcome that at times. The days you take the field knowing you have the most talent, and also knowing you're #1 at effort and intelligence, it is a sure win nearly always. However, there is still "luck" which can change everything. If you are best that day at 1, 2 and 3. It takes a lot of luck for the other team to win.
Anyway, that was our simple philosophy. It wasn't that simple to actually accomplish everything.
I know this is off topic.
So I will add in a feeble attempt to get back on topic. Winning or success, be it baseball or anything else, be it team or individual, will always include the four ingredients. There might be even more ingredients, but the four will always play a huge part. Other things, people mention like character, class, etc… actually fall into one of the 4 categories IMO. How truly intelligent is an individual who shows no class?
So which of the 4 areas does “politics” fall under? If anything… maybe Luck? Luck is the only one of the 4 ingredients a person has no control over. Concentrate on the other 3 and everything is very likely to turn out well. Especially concentrate on #2 and #3!
Politics isn’t likely to stop the person who truly excels at 1, 2 and 3. IMO Those that allow politics to stop them in baseball, are likely to experience politics stopping them again in other areas.
Note: I could be all wet about this and should not be held responsible for anyone who fails, following the above ideas. I guess it is possible someone could have lots of talent, give the most effort possible and tries to be the most intelligent… And still fail on account of politics! I would take that chance, though. Effort and intelligence will usually overcome obstacles like bad luck and politics. IMO