• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Would you walk a star player in order to face the cancer kid?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
NJ-Buckeye said:
Obvious a number of you never coached at that level... Obviously you can't empathize with the kids or the parents... being a cancer survivor is not the point... and if I have to spell out the life lessons here vs the importance of winning a Pony League game... I'll pass
Click to expand...

But which parents and which kids?

The Coach of the losing team has every opportunity to sit his kids down and explain why he didn't pinch hit for the cancer kid and why its important to let him play because he's part of that team... instead of bitching and moaning that they walked their other kid..... my point is... which team is putting the wrong emhasis on the game? I gaurantee you that if young Romney had gotten a hit to drive in the winning run... his coaches first move would have been an "You got what you deserved" to the other bench... not a "way to go Romney"

Meanwhile.... Romney is gonna get some cage time in... good for him...
 
Upvote 0
NJ-Buckeye said:
Obvious a number of you never coached at that level... Obviously you can't empathize with the kids or the parents... being a cancer survivor is not the point... and if I have to spell out the life lessons here vs the importance of winning a Pony League game... I'll pass
Click to expand...

:slappy:
How stupid. These kids won't even be thinking about this game in a month. that's the great thing about being a kid. You take the good with the bad and keep on playing. It's adults who have trouble letting go.
 
Upvote 0
NJ-Buckeye said:
Obvious a number of you never coached at that level... Obviously you can't empathize with the kids or the parents... being a cancer survivor is not the point... and if I have to spell out the life lessons here vs the importance of winning a Pony League game... I'll pass
Click to expand...
Actually, I do coach. Every year. And as a father and a coach, I can empathize with the parents on this.

But their outrage is misguided and misdirected. No one cheated to win. Every kid there learned a bit of baseball strategy.

The kid who struck out has already recovered and has vowed to get better. The team that won deserved to. The team that lost will be even hungrier next season.
 
Upvote 0
There are different baseball leagues... If winning is that important.. go play travel ball...

But when you join and coach a league that everyone must bat and everyone must play... you are also agreeing to play by a different set of criteria... written and unwritten...

This isn't a batting order of 9 kids.. this is a batting order of every kid that is on your team... you can't pinch hit... and you can't keep a kid from playing in the field...

Would you see this strategy in travel ball -- absolutely... would you expect it in travel ball -- absolutely...

But if you agree to coach in a 'sportsmanship' league... then do so with that same level of integrity...
 
Upvote 0
I have coached at that level exactly, I have had my pitchers walk batters intentionally, i dont think any of them were cancer survivors but you said that wasnt the point... so am i wrong because i am not only teaching them life lessons but also teaching them how to play the game, and they are still my team and my team does want to win, so we do what we can within the rules to do so.
 
Upvote 0
when I coach that level... I am not there to embarass anyone... I understand what that level is about... and it's not "win at all costs".. it's for sportsmanship and fun... My focus will be on improving their fundamental skills...

I would have pitched to the stud.. and let the chips fall where they may...

Not a whole lot different then when I coach fall ball... and let kids play wherever they want... might use traditional strategies when possible... but I'm not going to pull a kid mid inning that just made two errors.. knowing he normally is an outfielder but wanted to play short because he never has...

In other words, I do things under the concept of the league I'm coaching...
 
Upvote 0
NJ-Buckeye said:
when I coach that level... I am not there to embarass anyone... I understand what that level is about... and it's not "win at all costs".. it's for sportsmanship and fun... My focus will be on improving their fundamental skills...

I would have pitched to the stud.. and let the chips fall where they may...

Not a whole lot different then when I coach fall ball... and let kids play wherever they want... might use traditional strategies when possible... but I'm not going to pull a kid mid inning that just made two errors.. knowing he normally is an outfielder but wanted to play short because he never has...

In other words, I do things under the concept of the league I'm coaching...
Click to expand...
And this league has a championship game, so winning matters. And it was not "win at all costs". No one took roids or beaned the batter or committed a hard slide. The rules were followed
 
Upvote 0
scooter1369 said:
The rules were followed
Click to expand...
True.. I suspect the spirit of the league was not... I suspect sportsmanship is in the key objectives of the league and most probably is in the initial criteria...

I was part of a similar league that if you walked a batter.. the next batter was automatically walked as well... I got $25 vcash says the rules committee will either ban intentional walks or incorporate this rule into their league.. to keep within the objective of this league...
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
NJ-Buckeye said:
True.. I suspect the spirit of the league was not... I suspect sportsmanship is in the key objectives of the league and most probably is in the initial criteria...

I was part of a similar league that if you walked a batter.. the next batter was automatically walked as well... I got $25 vcash says the rules committee will either ban intentional walks or incorporate this rule into their league.. to keep within the objective of this league...
Click to expand...

And if they do pass that rule, they might as well eliminate scoring and just hand out equal size trophies to every kid with their uniform in March.
 
Upvote 0
NJ-Buckeye said:
True.. I suspect the spirit of the league was not... I suspect sportsmanship is in the key objectives of the league and most probably is in the initial criteria...

I was part of a similar league that if you walked a batter.. the next batter was automatically walked as well... I got $25 vcash says the rules committee will either ban intentional walks or incorporate this rule into their league.. to keep within the objective of this league...
Click to expand...

Walking a batter to get to a weaker batter isn't poor sportsmanship.
Your league's idea sounds pretty stupid. If I'm playing, I would hate it if the player ahead of me got on base by a walk and I was automatically walked as well. yeah, that's a great rule. A player could play a whole game and not even get an at bat. That's a great lesson for kids to learn. How stupid.
 
Upvote 0
NJ-Buckeye said:
True.. I suspect the spirit of the league was not... I suspect sportsmanship is in the key objectives of the league and most probably is in the initial criteria...
Click to expand...

Apparetnly sportsmanship was so important that they lifted the 4 run per inning rule for this game....

Honestly... I personally would have pitched to the good hitter in the same situation....

But...

I also wouldn't have cried like a little fucking girl like the coaches of the losing team and Romney Oaks' dad if the other coach had done the same thing to me...

If Romney didn't have Cancer... and had just sucked... no one would have ever heard about this...

Seriously.... at best... its not a big deal...a kid who isn't very good at baseball... cancer survivor or not struck out.. happens all the time.... at worst... all the adults are assholes...

Used to Coach 9-10 year old soccer in an instructional... (Read... not travelling) league in the hood... most of the kids in the league were... lets say... not very economically priveledged... and... I had kids not show up for games because the parents didn't have gas money that day, for example...

So... one day... I only had 7 or 8 kids show up for a game... less than whatever the number I needed to start... went to the opposing coach and said.. you know.. its a forefeit... you mind if either you give me some of your kids or only put out 8 at a time and we'll have a scrimmage... blah blah blah....

Now.... see.... apparenty the other team hadn't won a game yet that year( I had no idea... didn't care... didn't look at the standings)... and... they had already won this one (by forfeit).... but.. the dude said, "No, this is the first time I've had all my kids... I want to scrimmage... but use all 11 so my kids can all play and play together."

See... that's an asshole move.... because he wanted to put it to us... but what the hell a I supposed to do? Tell him I'm not gonna scrimmage... tell my kids they have to go home and not play because the grown-ups can't get along?

Hell no...

And... it never crossed my mind either.... because... hey... they have 11...we have 8... that's what we've got... and we're gonna go out there and try hard and apply what we've learned in practice... and my kids didn't care for a minute that they had lost in the standings before they went on the field... because I didn't make it a priority... and neither did the few parents of my kids team who showed up.

Afterwards... we walked down and got some Ice cream... and that was that.

But.. they are kids... and none of the adults made an issue because the other guy wasn't being "fair" in the scrimmage, so they didn't either... because... it wasn't any different to the kids than a real game would have been.

I'm sure it helped that my 8 beat his 11 plus subs 7 - 0... but.. that's beside the point...

Anyway... this whole thing never should have made the news... and no one cheated... no big deal.
 
Upvote 0
Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree...

but there is no doubt in my mind... that instructional league will never permit an intentional walk ever again... it'll be explicitly banned by rule or it will have the follow-up batter walk rule implemented...

and I suspect every such instructional league that doesn't have one of those rules will add one of them...

"Walking a batter to get to a weaker batter isn't poor sportsmanship" is indeed poor sportsmanship in that type of league... it is absolutely against what the league is there for...
 
Upvote 0
personally, i think we are in trouble when this generation grows up. all the adults are so obsessed with self esteem and making their kids feel like winners that they are turning this generation into a bunch of pussies. win the game and then you can feel like a winner. we live in a competitive world. competition is at the heart of our country. if we take that away from the kids we are in trouble. the coach played the game the right way. end of story. Jerz, you speak of fundamentals and teaching the kids to play the game. Isn't intentional walks a pretty vital part of the game? I know it's not a "fundamental" but it is basic strategy and that's part of what makes baseball so great. Great reference to Cobra Kai Tibs

Cobra_Cai-t-shirt_link.jpg
 
Upvote 0
i totally understand what you are saying, but the ultimate goal in sports is to win no matter what level you are at. play the game the way it was meant to be played and exhibit good sportsmanship along the way, but at the end of the day you are there to win.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top