Thanks for the heads up on politics

Donutman, it sounds like you're well-prepared for the insanity of high school ball.

My son is now in college, but here's a couple of my favorite high school stories......

For 4 years, the parents of a player repeatedly verbalized their son's desire to get drafted out of high school. When the player got injured, his dad told another player's dad, "It's too bad that the best player on the team can't help out tonight." The player just graduated and to my knowledge has gotten no college offers at all.

The mother of a pitcher was constantly bragging about her son's abilities and publicized the fact that pro scouts were watching her son and talking to them. (He had velocity, but no control.) In the pitcher's junior year, during a parent get-together, the pitcher's mom suddenly announced, "We've decided where (John) is going to play college ball. He's going to Oregon State." We asked her if Oregon State was recruiting her son and she replied, "Yes, he's gotten a questionnaire from them." During the pitcher's junior year, the mom repeatedly complained about her son being the #3 pitcher and said she couldn't wait 'til the #1 and #2 graduated so her son could be the ace. That summer, a talented pitcher transferred in and bumped her son to #2 for senior year. She was livid and by the end of the senior season she had cussed out the coach, the asst. principal and the athletic director, saying they had "blackballed" her son. Her son ended up at a low-level D2 and was not drafted.

As I've stated before on here a few times, I learned to park myself out in right field on the hill overlooking the game. Little did I know that the aroma of my cigar filled the facility and numerous parents would tell me how much they enjoyed my cigar! lol.

My poor wife would come home in just a tizzy after games. She would overhear other parents talking about players and even our son with little or no regard. I invited her to visit me in RF but I think the "social" time with the other moms was something she enjoyed. I simply told her that she would have to take the good with the bad.

What's funny is how over the course of the season many other dad's began migrating up to where I was!

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My family now sits away from the crowd during most games.

I certainly understand why people would want to sit down the lines and I have done it myself on occasion. After a time however, I realized I was only cheating myself. The view of the game is not as good in the outfield for starters imho!

I decided I was just going to ignore the mean-spirited comments. If someone were whispering or mumbling about my kid or someone elses, I made sure that I rooted for their kid twice as hard just to spite them. I simply was not going to be defeated by the negativity. All that said, it still bugged the cr-ap out of me how vicious and mean some people could be. There is an ugly side to sports imho and I don't think it will ever go away.

I always socialized with team parents before the game but sat in the middle of the opponents families during the game.
A couple times I was asked why I did that. It was simple. I enjoyed talking to different people from different areas. I already know all I need to know about you guys.
Next thing I

As I read these posts I look at where the poster is from and think he/she must be from our area! In other words this is so common in much of baseball, from LL on up. I loved sitting with the other moms. Sometimes often found they talked more than they watched the game. So, taking lots of pictures of all the players gave me a great excuse to wander around.

Looking back at our early travel ball days I was one of those "parents". I never criticized a player but would wonder (out loud) why the coach was doing what he was doing. One of the more experienced moms basically told me if I knew more than the coach I should be out on the field! She knew what she was talking about and taught me a valuable lesson. Now I only ask husband quietly why coach is doing what he's doing. Live and learn.

What really sticks out in my mind looking back is the boasting parents that just couldn't stop bragging about their son. Seems like the best players proved it on the field and had the most humble parents.

Again this website proves invaluable for preparation for this great game.

I never liked sitting away from the action. I wanted a good view and watch my son play. I saw no good reason to sit a hundred yards away. I wanted to hear what parents had to say. I didn't care. Sometimes it was interesting and entertaining. Someties I'd sit around the opposing teams side and catch what they'd say or just strike up a conversation with an opposing team parent.

I will admit that I like the other parents and have always liked being in the middle of the action. But I hope it will get better next spring when the kids are on the HS team and the positions are set. Maybe then I will hang out as an ignorant freshman parent who knows nothing and doesn't have an opinion.

As one who coached and kept parents at distance the more i read the more i realized I had the right idea. by distance i mean I was polite but they knew there was a line and I did not cross it and either did they. too often i read about the stories posted on this site. today I read where coaches have meetings with parents in High school to tell them what is expected. How about "your kid is on the team I am his coach I make the decisions. To some that sounds too harsh but sooner or later in the real world that is the way it is. If coaches have to worry about what parents think and make their decisions trying to please everybody then they are in for a bumpy ride.

I know to some I am old school and that is not the way it is today well maybe that is the reason why some coaches just get out as to not deal with what is going on in some instances.

I haven't really had this experience. Some grumbling about the coach bunting kids too much, but by and large, the parents are fun and very supportive -- if my son walks a few kids, they say he's not getting the calls from the ump... if their kid makes an error, I say it was a hard-hit ball no one could have caught. We compliment kids who hit and make good plays. Of course this is still JV and maybe people get angry and competitive at varsity...

LHPMom

Good post Will. The game is much more enjoyable inside the fence.

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Of course this is still JV and maybe people get angry and competitive at varsity...

It's a lot more amped up at the varsity level because wins, losses, county and state rankings, individual statistics etc count..The games count. Standings and statistics aren't counted in JV ball except maybe by the JV coaches JV and JV ball is a lot different in that everybody typically gets playing time to see who will make the move up the varsity level so placing the emphasis less on winning and finding out more what JV players can do and to get an idea who can play at the varsity level is the difference. At the varsity, typically the best 9 to give the team a shot to win plays with some players seeing little to almost no time on the field.

At the varsity level, there's probably more frustrated parents because of the playing time where some kids rarely ever get in games compared to JV and freshman ball. However I thought for the most part, parents are supportive at all levels of high school ball. Sure you get the grumblings but it happens from T-ball on up. I'm sure most parents at one time or another had some issue on how their kids were used on the field. I've seen a few with my son during the years where I scratched my head and wondered what are those knuckleheads thinking. If most didn't, I'd say they weren't honest with themselves.

Comments were made to me about a player had better adapt to varsity pitching. My response: It sure is nice to have a defense so we can win 3-0 instead of losing 3-5. The player made a beautiful diving stop of a hard shot at the hot corner and easily threw out the batter. If runners would have been on 2nd and 3rd both runs score if he doesn't make that stop. A month ago those consistently went through the senior's legs. We have had 2 runs scored against us in 3 games. I can deal with a weak bat if our pitchers get to throw fewer pitches per inning.

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Comments were made to me about a player had better adapt to varsity pitching.

I wouldn't understand what this individual is trying to say. There's an adjustment to varsity pitching but good hitters who get moved up to that level will handle most typical HS varsity pitching with maybe a the difference being some dominating pitchers that are playing at the next level.

While the pitching is much better at the varsity level, my son said it wasn't any harder to hit at the varsity level than the JV. He had very good success against the top pitchers in the conference and got beat by others.

The biggest difference is the fielding at the varsity level. As MTS pointed out, varsity players make plays that they don't make on JV. That lowers the batting average.

Buy a camera. One of those pricey telephoto jobs.
No one will question why you are avoiding the seats or standing on the right field line.

LOL...Good one!

I had a really good experience this past season. The parents were all very supportive, even though my freshman son was taking innings away from some seniors.

Our team was so stacked with seniors that every position had a senior and a senior back-up. Lots of good kids didn't get to play very much, even in their senior year.

Now with the big graduation happening and some very questionable 2011's and 2010's, the 2012's are getting lots of playing time this summer. As a result of these developments and the resulting cross-talk, I've been spending more time walking around for my bad back...