Let The Coaches Decide

It’s amazing to us the way news travels when there are issues like parental interference with coaches. The hits on our web site have quadrupled the past few days and that’s been an ominous sign that this issue is a bit more pervasive than we thought.

For the most part, coaches are thick skinned enough to handle all of the pressure. We were told a humorous story that kind of sums up the whole issue…

A college coach was being e-mailed to death by a raging father on the playing time of his son. The coach, after about 6 lengthy e-mails from the dad called him into his office. The dad arrived and the coach started off the conversation” Now let me get this straight. So what you want me to do is play my BEST 8 players...and then Your Son…Is that the message I’m getting from your e-mails?”

Well that’s the message we are hearing is going on in schools from coast to coast. The college coach’s response is what many wacky parents need to hear. I was told the meeting with the college coach was very short and the father quickly got the message. But will everyone get the message or are there some parents out there that really think that their opinion of their son is more accurate than the coaches?

Have you ever watched the first half dozen episodes of American Idol when they are auditioning the talent and the reactions of the contestants and their parents when they are told they are absolutely, no good? There must be a traveling gene that goes awry like that with baseball parents as well. Some of these parents are just living in a world of their own and oblivious to the realities of their sons talent. I mean, he is probably not a bad player, or he would not have made the team, but there are those that think that their son is the next A-Rod. Believe me, if he was, then he WOULD NOT be sitting the bench. No coach is that clueless.

There’s one player on a team we know whose son sits the bench, but he insists is better than the 3rd baseman that was first team all-league, all- section and verballed to a major D-I as a junior. Let’s try that college coach approach on this guy, shall we…”So, let me get this straight Mr. Father of the Son Who Is Sitting The Bench, you are telling me that everyone in the league, section and state has it all wrong…Do you mean the D-I University made an offer to the wrong guy???”

Yep, that’s how crazy it is out there folks. Cats and Dogs living together pandemonium. When will it all stop? Well, if one these genetic modification and altering companies can speed up the timetable on Flying Pigs, then maybe we can do something about it soon. In the meantime, it just takes a lot of education and we will be here to help anyway we can. It looks as if we have a good start. We know of at least three principals, 12 coaches and 85 parents from 37 states that are sending out copies of our first two articles. That’s us...Rounding Third...Changing the world one article at a time.