Seen on a College Sports Message Board

OMG.... the whole thread is that way     

I am happy to say that I never had to sit in the stands with fans like that at the University of Tampa!

Wow - He doesnt really understand the game too much. 

Prepster- Ya know, I'm going to buck the trend here and agree with the person who made this post.

I don't see the benefit or importance of a baseball coach. They really don't do that much in game, in practice or off the field.

It isn't their responsibility to determine each player's role on the team, through thorough analysis and experiential reasoning. 

It isn't their responsibility to determine the optimal point in which to execute certain decisions that occur during a game. After all, nothing really occurs during a game that is the decision of a coach. Things like bunting, stealing a base, taking an extra base, pitching changes, defensive substitutions, pinch running, defensive positioning, pitch selection, etc. aren't important. And when they occur, all the decisions come from the players anyway.

It isn't their responsibility to instill the fundamentals of the game in the players on their team during practice. Everyone knows baseball players are born with the inherent knowledge of how to hit a cutoff man, how to hit a slider to the opposite field, how to slide step. Every baseball player knows how to execute bunting for a hit, double play position, double relays, wheel plays, delayed steals, rundowns, changeups.

It isn't their responsibility to act as a mentor, a teacher or a counselor. A player's off-field life has nothing whatsoever to do with a coach. It isn't like a relationship is developed between a coaching staff and a team of players during a season. Family deaths, drugs, alcohol, relationship issues, financial issues, religion, grades, nutrition and general personality are irrelevant. They have no bearing on the success of a team.

Why do professional teams pay coaches so much? Why do colleges seek out the best and most qualified applicants to fill such positions that shouldn't be so coveted? Coaches don't really do much in baseball.

I have formulated this opinion over years of experience with many different coaches. Its not as though coaches have brought me to tears before. Its not as though coaches have written me letters of recommendations for jobs or for applications to institutions of higher learning. Its not as though I've babysat for my coaches kids in the past or like my coaches have visited me in the hospital when I was sick. 

Its not as though coaches have instilled values and morals within me and many of my peers that will help us for a lifetime. Its not as though coaches have become my best friends, my mentors, someone to look up to. 

Coaches don't really do anything. None of my coaches have had any influence on my life.

All i can say is.... wow

By that reasoning, no coach does much of anything in any sport.

What that poster doesn't seem to comprehend is that all he has actually accomplished is to let everyone know that he doesn't understand baseball much.

So whose side is the batter on in the battle between pitcher and catcher?

He needs to have a few more beers.

JH:

I see your points.

Great coaching is like great art, you know it when you see it.

Baseball is very easy to manage. I do it all the time. I watch and when I see the manager's or base coach's decision backfire, I call him "stupid".

After a few beers, I start using other adjectives. After a few more, I don't really know what I say.

My question is, "Why are people with so little baseball knowledge actually posting about baseball?" 

JH, the irony of your irony is now you are the one who has no value.  It's not like you have to identify projectible players, find flaws in their delivery, investigate their use of PED's, or report to the big club on issues of maturity, development or attitude.  Nor do you project their signability, persuade their parents, or dig far and wide for a diamond in the rough.  Nope, players run it all.  We should do away with coaches, management, scouts, field attendants, concessionaires and everything else.  Then we're left with just one thing..

..ugh.. sOCCer.

I'd write more on this subject but it's beer-thirty. 

LINK

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE GAME OF BASEBALL?

/

Anyone who sees the game as "simple" has no idea about how the game of baseball is played or is supposed to be played, or the role of a manager. Thanks to people like that, we have more and more players who lack the fundamental skills and knowledge to play the game well. Players do it all on the field, but the manager plays a huge part in how it is all done...at least the good ones who aren't sucking back beer. Do that from the stands and stay away from the field. Leave the ins and outs of the game to those who know how to play and coach. If you knew about the game and what really goes on, your post would be unnecessary.

Yes, I do understand the game.  Do you understand the internet? He was being sarcastic.  I was being funny.  I was acknowleging the hook that the angler was dangling out there for some fish to come along and bite.

My little picture there is commonly used to acknowlege the sarcasm that was being put forth in the post.  Believe it or not it is a complement on how witty the person was.

As for the responses and the original post on that college message board it is very common for people that don't understand things to trivialize it.  Sports especially.  I firmly believe in the world there is a belief that many of these sports are easy and that people 'luck' into it.  I mean watch baseball, or golf, or even bowling and it is easy to think, 'Man, that looks easy, I can do that!'

I used to be a scratch golfer, got to be quite good at it in HS (Golf was a fall sport in my High School-It's a spring sport here so my son is out of luck) and I would have my buddies come up and tell me that all of my practice was a waste of time, anyone can play the game.  Then I would take them out and let them try.  They would find out how hard it was in real life.  Baseball is the same way, it requires a skillset that is learned and practiced but isn't always readily apparent to the average person watching the game.  It seems very slow if you aren't on the field.

Likewise coaching seems easy.  I grew up watching the antics of Billy Martin and seeing Don Zimmer stretch a uniform in ways it was never designed to.  Looking at these guys you could easily think that any idiot could do it.  But there is an intelligence behind these guys that doesn't translate well to the TV.  Coaching is more than just deciding when to bunt or steal.  It is putting your talent in the best position to win on a daily basis, deciding who to push and who to lay off of when they are tired or stressed or having a bad stretch at the plate or on the rubber.  Coaches have to be administrators, counselors, ass kickers and cheerleaders as well as leaders and they have change from one to the other often in the manner of seconds.  In many respects they are like the NCOs that I worked with in the Army.  It is not an easy job.

tpm   for once I  agree with you

wklink---did u ever see leo durocher run a ball club or casey stengal?

No, I grew up following baseball in the 70s and 80s. 

I'm only 45

Speaking from a high school teacher's perspective, what many of us adults think is common knowledge is not so common in young adults.  I am speaking about life as well as baseball.  They don't always know how, why and when to bunt.  They rarely know what pitch to look for in a count, what is a hitters count, what the other 7 batters did or saw before they stepped up to the plate, if the center fielder can run or the right fielder can throw.  If they do know these things then they often go against their training. Why do they do these you may ask, because they are young.  Young people do impulsive things. Confidence or the lack there of is always an issue.  Team concept, work ethic, grades, playing within themselves, girls, girls, and yes sometimes even boys are all issues that coaches have to manage.  Very few coaches coaches are gifted at this.  That is why they are paid $$$$$$$$$

This post is a great post.  This is a question I answer often as my son pursues the game he loves.......