BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....

Subject: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Pseudolus
Date: 03 May 01 - 11:02 PM

I'm not sure why this deserves to be it's own thread but I have had an interesting night... All I wanted to do was watch my daughter play a softball game. she's very talented but this is the first team that she has been on a team with a chance to win it all. I get there and I am asked to be the umpire. No problem but in the bottom of the first inning my daughter comes up to bat. I'm more nervous than she is. First pitch....way outside, ball one. Next pitch...right down the middle (imho) Steeeerike one! Evil eye from the batter to the ump. Next two pitches, both way outside, it's now three and one......I'm almost off the hook. Next pitch, at the knees.....(DAMN!!) steeeerike two.....more evil eyes! It's all I have in me to hold back and not tell her to just SWING!!! After all I'm the impartial ump! Next pitch (which by the way came in slow motion....), it's right down the middle, the bat still resting on her shoulder....it's only a few feet away and she's not gonna swing.....I can't believe it, I'm gonna have to "ring her up"...and then just as I was about to do it, the ball lands on the plate...it's short!!!! Ball Four!!! Take your base honey....Daddy was able to be fair AND give you the base......life is good.....

There's not much I enjoy more than watching my girls play softball/basketball/soccer/whatever. Tonight was most special......just wanted to share it....

Frank

P.S. btw, they won the game... :)

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 May 01 - 11:27 PM

Tough call, Frank. All I can say is, try to treat her like it was any other kid up there.......and explain that to her. All kids have somebody for a parent...ours have a Cop. Sometimes even tougher than an Umpire.

What we do is call some other cop.....could you say, "Sorry, my daughter is playing and that's not fair"? (to either of you, actually)

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 May 01 - 11:50 PM

Great story Frank......got a few myself. "Dad" is still a pretty great word though.........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 03 May 01 - 11:53 PM

Been there. I taught my daughter in 8th grade algebra. She hasn't forgotten that I gave her the only B she got in 5 years! Thank God I never had my sons in class!

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: JedMarum
Date: 04 May 01 - 12:16 AM

Great story, Frank. Thanks, and may you both enjoy many more ball games (hopefully where you don't have to ump)!

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 May 01 - 12:30 AM

I only have one thing to say, and I bet you know what it's gonna be--PK!

Bring her along when you come visit... Read the report on our MudGather-- kids! We like kids!

And PARENTS.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 04 May 01 - 12:38 AM

Boy, Frank, I can see you going nose to nose with her, showering each other with saliva, kicking dirt on each other's shoes, and then tossing her when she says the unforgivable! Of course, the shake in the Dairy Queen on the way home would fix it, wouldn't it? Great story.

Seamus

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Clifton53
Date: 04 May 01 - 12:58 AM

Little League umpires are famous for banging batters out on pitches that we coaches taught them to lay off of. I coached my son for years, and my main complaint, not parents, not umpires and not the kids themselves, it was always the ruthlessness of the other coaches. Oh the dirt and shrewd maneuvering I've seen. Turned me off to the whole deal , and I've been a baseball guy all my life.

But Frank, you were indeed saved by the ball, for had you punched her out, and a strike is a strike is a strike etc, your home life that evening would have been pure hell.

I yelled a bit harshly at my own son one time, turns out he made the right play and I was wrong, and I apologized to him, but when the wife found out, and take it from me, all the other mothers will rat you out in a nano-second, there was hell to pay that night.

I think this thread could lead to a fine discussion on the pros and cons of youth sports. It's a good topic.

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: paddymac
Date: 04 May 01 - 01:14 AM

Been there. Done that. And it aint easy. The message you hope they learn is that Dad has to be fair to everyone. I remember playing judo with my boys when they were 14 & 16. I let the older one throw me in practice one night, to help him learn the move. It went to his head, so I wiped the floor with him on the next contact. That helped return him to reality and humility. Some lessons are learned in different ways.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Pseudolus
Date: 04 May 01 - 10:55 AM

Thanks for the comments folks, it is a special time in my life to be sharing this with my girls. I've always loved sports but I've never been a fanatic. When each of my girls was born, I was just happy to have healthy kids, I didn't think I would miss out on the stereotypical father/son activities. Although I think it's ironic that I find myself enjoying the sports world with my daughters because I remember thinking at one point early on in their lives, "Well I guess no little league for me!" Now, when a parent jokingly comments about a bad call, and I did make a few, I just smile at how right AND wrong that statement was.....

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 04 May 01 - 01:17 PM

Great story. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling your own kid out on strikes.....
From: Gary T
Date: 04 May 01 - 08:49 PM

When I was in Cub Scouts the various local dens played each other in an informal league. Parents (fathers) took turns umpiring. Our den was the second worst in the league, and we lost a bunch of games. Finally we were playing the worst team in the league, and looking forward to winning one. That was my dad's turn to umpire. We noticed that he was giving the other team more leeway at the plate with a tighter strike zone--you can bet I heard plenty of griping from my teammates. We lost that game, too.

I asked (complained to) my dad about it. He said he was trying to give the other team, whose members were somewhat younger and smaller than ours, an even chance. I saw the point, but didn't like it. None of the other umpires had given us a similar break.

With the passing of years, I realized I got a lot more out of the incident than I would have if we had won on the merit of being bigger and older than the other guys. Those fellows got the chance to win a game, which had to be a lot more pleasant than consistently getting beaten by bigger kids. I wish the other umps had shared my dad's sense of fair play. I think he did the right thing. It was a good lesson in sportsmanship and consideration for others.