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Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Centerfield Feb 27 2018 01:40 AM

What are your kids playing this year? ShortCenter's been playing some rec league basketball. Really relaxed low-key league on the West Side. He's been having a blast. It's a real nice change of pace from the competitive baseball he had been playing. I really worried about him going in. Basketball was never his best sport to begin with, and with the time off he's fallen behind the other kids. He's 12 years old now, and 12 year olds can be pretty mean. Not these kids. They never ride him for a bad play. They cheer whenever he does something good. Hell, they pass him the ball and set screens for him. That's crazy. When I was a kid, the worst kid on the team never saw the ball during the game. It helps that he has friends in the league from baseball. The ones that know him make fun of him, but not in a mean way. They come over, tease him about how bad he is, then they laugh about it together. And SC's fine with it too. He plays hard, doesn't hesitate when he gets an open shot, and lets his struggles affect his self-confidence not one ounce. Some people poo-poo this zero tolerance for bullying crap. Saying that these kids are soft. It won't prepare them for real life. You should see these kids. They are so happy. So nice. I wish my childhood could have been like this. These kids are amazing. All of these parents should be proud. You start thinking, what if this is their real life. Maybe the world being full of assholes is our generation. And maybe these guys can figure out life can be fun when you're not trying to be a dick to others.

Ceetar Feb 27 2018 04:33 AM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

we're just qualified for little league by a month. But there is no little league in our town and the neighboring town has no obvious info about whether we can join or how. there is a local baseball team but it's unclear if at 3.5 she's old enough to really play. meant for 4-6 it seems like. next year I guess. she does some soccer at daycare though, and enjoys it.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 27 2018 12:40 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

It looks like the Cheetos are breaking up. They are moving to a new division this year, a few players and our head coach -- the TAG HIS ASS! guy -- isn't coming back so the league will disperse us. There is a meeting tonight where we'll find out our fate. I may also not be picked up as a free agent coach, which might beat the alternative of becoming the new head coach.

Fman99 Feb 27 2018 12:50 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

FBoy is just finishing his first season of modified (7th & 8th grade) wrestling. It's been a learning experience and he's enjoyed it, and won a couple of matches. We can tell that he's appreciated the camaraderie of being part of a team. Pics available on my Instagram page (send me a PM for details if you need to know how to find me on there).

Lefty Specialist Feb 27 2018 01:17 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

I miss this. Lefty Jr was a soccer player for 12 years, from first grade where they all chased the ball, to senior year in high school playing Inter-County at a pretty high level. It defined our weekends for years. I was the videographer and recorded hundreds of goals, putting them on YouTube for Grandma or Aunt Gladys to see. And sometimes I take a peek at those videos and sigh. Little League was less fun. Being a coach was a traumatic experience that I'm still recovering from. Parents are a lot meaner than 10-year olds. The kids are oblivious, but Dad wants to know why you're batting his kid 6th and playing him at second when he really should be playing shortstop.

HahnSolo Feb 27 2018 01:26 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Little Solo is no longer so little; 5'10" and growing (and eating, but that's another story for a "grocery bill" thread). JV baseball tryouts are next week and he's already been working out with his 14u travel team. Varsity coach at his HS has the kids do workouts and brings some in for hitting and pitching some nights when the gym is empty--and we've been attending all of them. So the tryout is pretty much a formality. I may have convinced him to go out for JV basketball next year...he only get to do high school once after all.

metsmarathon Feb 27 2018 01:50 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

minimm is currently doing basketball, and watching him play is like watching a littler version of myself play basketball. it's awesome, and reminds me very much that i need to work on his fundamentals. heh. i'm getting set to head coach his rec soccer team again for the 4th season, 1st & 2nd grade boys. he absolutely loves soccer, and loves that i head coach. i think i'm actually learning the game too! i think he might be ready to think about travel soccer next season, though that'll be a bit of a rude awakening, i think, in terms of level of competition, and seriousness in practice. also in terms of level of commitment, on his part and ours. and i'm not entirely sure how ready _we_ are for that... next season, also, might be time for little lefty and righty to start playing soccer, and if that happens, i'd almost certainly use their big brother to help me coach. just need to figure out the juggling and scheduling there. interestingly, while minimm loves to play soccer, he also says that when he grows up, he wants to be a professional mlb player.... but would rather play soccer than baseball.

Farmer Ted Feb 27 2018 03:37 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Oldest Little Ted is still giving it a go with tennis. Competed in a few local girls-12 singles tournaments in the area. Picked up some wins, had a few Ls hung on her, too. She can beat me. Pretty upset about the whole Cheetos breakup thing, to be honest.

Mets Willets Point Feb 27 2018 04:04 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Still a month until our local youth baseball league holds its registration, but my son will be in his second year of Juniors (9-10 y.o.) and my daughter will be in second year of teeball. I expect all our free time from late April to early July to be consumed with youth baseball and we'll love it.

DocTee Feb 27 2018 04:13 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Softball for my 12-year old. Not nearly as competitive in CT as it was in CA. But she and her sister (16) are full-time dance athletes now-- several hours a day, four days a week. unfortunately, what CF says about camaraderie hasn't quite made its way to the studio-- teenage girls can be brutal.

Frayed Knot Feb 27 2018 04:46 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Ceetar wrote: we're just qualified for little league by a month. But there is no little league in our town and the neighboring town has no obvious info about whether we can join or how. there is a local baseball team but it's unclear if at 3.5 she's old enough to really play. meant for 4-6 it seems like. next year I guess. I can't believe how young LL starts these days. I remember it as being more like 8 or 9 to start and you played through age 12. At 13 was when you moved up to the full-sized field and got a bit more serious. 3.5 seems absurdly young to me and even 5 or 6 is iffy.

Ceetar Feb 27 2018 04:50 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Frayed Knot wrote: Ceetar wrote: we're just qualified for little league by a month. But there is no little league in our town and the neighboring town has no obvious info about whether we can join or how. there is a local baseball team but it's unclear if at 3.5 she's old enough to really play. meant for 4-6 it seems like. next year I guess. I can't believe how young LL starts these days. I remember it as being more like 8 or 9 to start and you played through age 12. At 13 was when you moved up to the full-sized field and got a bit more serious. 3.5 seems absurdly young to me and even 5 or 6 is iffy. I definitely played in kindergartenish for t-ball. you have to turn 4 by September and she'll be 4 in August. She'd probably just be in that level for two years.

Lefty Specialist Feb 27 2018 06:39 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Frayed Knot wrote: I can't believe how young LL starts these days. I remember it as being more like 8 or 9 to start and you played through age 12. At 13 was when you moved up to the full-sized field and got a bit more serious. 3.5 seems absurdly young to me and even 5 or 6 is iffy. Under the age of 6 kids have no idea what they're doing, and even then it's shaky. We used to station a kid's parent at first base so they'd know which way to run. And 13 was the age when my son said the pitches were getting a little too fast and the kids a little too big for his scrawny self. So ended his big league dreams.

seawolf17 Feb 27 2018 07:12 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

I'd make a joke like "but if I don't start my kid in a sport at age three, how will they make the pros?" -- except it's all too pathetically real for so many people. MiniWolf has fallen completely out of competitive sport, but he's shown some interest in swimming, so we're trying to encourage that, even if just as a life skill and not a competition. Wolfette wants to play Little League again, so I'm looking into it.

Frayed Knot Feb 28 2018 12:05 AM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Lefty Specialist wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: I can't believe how young LL starts these days. I remember it as being more like 8 or 9 to start and you played through age 12. At 13 was when you moved up to the full-sized field and got a bit more serious. 3.5 seems absurdly young to me and even 5 or 6 is iffy. Under the age of 6 kids have no idea what they're doing, and even then it's shaky. We used to station a kid's parent at first base so they'd know which way to run. And 13 was the age when my son said the pitches were getting a little too fast and the kids a little too big for his scrawny self. So ended his big league dreams. And part of this -- at the risk of sounding like my father -- is just a concern that we're over-organizing and over-scheduling our kids game. Young kids would be much better off inventing their own games by making shit up as they go along. There's plenty of time for parents and rules and leagues and uniforms and sponsors later on. But then again I'm just an old guy yelling at clouds to get off my lawn (or something like that).

Lefty Specialist Mar 12 2018 05:56 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

I asked my son that. With the benefit of hindsight, we asked him if we overdid it. He said no, he got out when he wanted to get out of baseball, and kept playing soccer because his friends did and it was fun. So no regrets. Even plays a little pickup soccer with friends in DC these days, so he's good.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 12 2018 07:32 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Everything is overscheduled now for kids. Even if Lunchpail wanted to get enough friends together to play baseball it would be near impossible, given a complete lack of appropriate field space, kids with various regimented afterschool programs to go to and most kids don't even watch baseball. Maybe during recess at school. My half of the Cheetos (and me) have been absorbed onto the team the Cheetos beat in the semifinals of the playoffs last year. We'll be pretty good I think. The coaches aren't parents on this squad but a bunch of former league players just out of college. The best Cheeto (can pitch, hit, do anything) went with the other group but they joined with a worse core group.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 24 2018 03:00 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 24 2018 03:31 PM

So our new group has yet to find the W column in 3 tries but I'm confident they've got the ability to. All they need at this point is work on their pitching, their hitting and their fielding. It's a funny team. The littlest kid on our team's dad is British, absolutely no baseball in his blood, awful habits swinging and throwing that might not be addressable, but he balances it out with a delightfully outsized foul mouth and bad temper, sort of a Tanner who can't play. He's one project. We also have a big kid who obviously had never played baseball in his life until he walked onto the field in the first game, but he's made progress already and I feel like could be a terrifying pitcher by the end of the year. Lunchpail has moved full-time to first base: He's the only LH thrower on the club so makes sense plus the best player on this team is the catcher, which was his other role. We made it official by getting him a first-baseman's mitt, which he started breaking in last night at practice.

Centerfield Apr 24 2018 03:14 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

What's your team's name this year? Nice uniforms!

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 24 2018 03:18 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

They retained the name of last year's sponsor, so they're the Fatty Daddy's.

Mets Willets Point May 01 2018 03:08 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Youth baseball games keep getting rained out and it's the most awful thing in the world, or so goes the running commentary in my house.

Centerfield May 01 2018 07:08 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Same.

Centerfield May 14 2018 02:31 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Two more rainouts this weekend. SC was asked to sub for another team Sunday morning, so he got one game in, but this weather is crap. Looking at the forecast it looks like it's supposed to rain Friday through Monday. Fun.

Ceetar May 14 2018 02:54 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

The soccer coach overslept the Thursday makeup. Kiddie Soccer everyone!

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 14 2018 03:26 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Rough weekend. We played through the rain Saturday and got in a half-inning Sunday before they called it. Fatty's have gone from getting killed in their first two games to being competitive but losing by 1-3 runs a night. Highlight of the year came Saturday where we had a kid smash one something like 250 feet. It was the longest hit I'd ever seen an 11-year-old make. He's a very strong guy, but slow and dumb, and needed a defensive screwup from being tagged out between 2nd and 3rd. An average-speed kid could have circled the bases twice on that hit, probably. Later that inning our coach way too aggressively sent Lunchpail home from second on an infield grounder to make the final out at home. The batter was the tying run!

Fman99 May 14 2018 04:28 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Fboy, being 13, has aged out of LL. This is the first spring in several years that we have not been watching games. I can't say I miss it much. We play wiffle ball in the backyard, and catch, and I get to eat dinner at my own house and not listen to a bunch of shit-ass parents.

seawolf17 May 15 2018 12:52 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Highlight of the year came Saturday where we had a kid smash one something like 250 feet. It was the longest hit I'd ever seen an 11-year-old make. He's a very strong guy, but slow and dumb, and needed a defensive screwup from being tagged out between 2nd and 3rd. I literally did that in baseball camp once - split the outfielders in right-center on a field with no outfield fence - and got thrown out at third. (I wasn't fast, even when I was much smaller and lighter.) My coach said I reminded him of Greg Luzinski.

Edgy MD May 16 2018 03:25 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Marcelo's eight-year-old son in the Real Madrid locker room. [youtube:2w67sd77]tyhcetOmbUs[/youtube:2w67sd77]

cooby May 16 2018 07:12 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Fman99 wrote: Fboy, being 13, has aged out of LL. This is the first spring in several years that we have not been watching games. I can't say I miss it much. We play wiffle ball in the backyard, and catch, and I get to eat dinner at my own house and not listen to a bunch of shit-ass parents. Ate a lot of hot dogs and popcorn during those years. The worse part was trying to get a little food into cooby jr before games.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr May 16 2018 08:18 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Edgy MD wrote: Marcelo's eight-year-old son in the Real Madrid locker room. [youtube]tyhcetOmbUs[/youtube] [Jostles YoungerPooper] EYYY! Why can' YOU do dat? YOU got a head and a soccer ball!

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 02 2018 11:12 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Our guys finally got into the win column today, and did it in white-knuckle fashion. Down by 3 in our last inning, twice down to the last strike, and we scored 4 times, then shut em down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. all this after giving up a 4-0 lead early! the season is long and hard.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 03 2018 10:47 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

2 in a row! Today was an ugly game... our pitchers dealt too many walks, fell behind 10-5 then scored six in the bottom of the last inning. we had the top of the order up: walk, infield single, 2-run double, walk, walk, pop fly single, RBI single, 2-run walk off double. Lunchpail had the pop fly single and slid home with the wiming run. we used the same batting order as yesterday and the same kid got the winning hit.

cooby Jun 03 2018 11:19 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Cool!

Centerfield Jun 06 2018 01:56 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 2 in a row! Today was an ugly game... our pitchers dealt too many walks, fell behind 10-5 then scored six in the bottom of the last inning. we had the top of the order up: walk, infield single, 2-run double, walk, walk, pop fly single, RBI single, 2-run walk off double. Lunchpail had the pop fly single and slid home with the wiming run. we used the same batting order as yesterday and the same kid got the winning hit. That's terrific! Are the Fatty Daddy's playing extra games because of the rainouts? I think ShortCenter's going to remember this as the time he played an entire season in a week. His schedule from yesterday to Sunday: 2 middle school games. 3 little league games. 2 travel games. 1 batting cage session for travel, 1 outdoor practice for travel. 1 outdoor practice for school, 1 outdoor practice for little league. 6 Days. 7 games, 4 practices. His mom says he's going to have to miss some practices because, you know, school.

seawolf17 Jun 06 2018 01:59 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Centerfield wrote: His mom says he's going to have to miss some practices because, you know, school. His GPA doesn't go on his baseball card, CF. MORE BATTING CAGE TIME.

Centerfield Jun 06 2018 02:26 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

seawolf17 wrote: Centerfield wrote: His mom says he's going to have to miss some practices because, you know, school. His GPA doesn't go on his baseball card, CF. MORE BATTING CAGE TIME. I hope you stick to this line of thinking when you see his application in four years.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 06 2018 03:13 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Our league leaves it to the coaches to reschedule their own rainouts but field space and times are so limited it's barely worth the hassle so we didn't do it. We had our last regular-season game last night (lost 9-6 and earned it) with single-elimination playoffs beginning Saturday morning; win and play Sunday; win Sunday and play Tuesday; win Tuesday and play next Saturday for the Cup. I'd wager the Fatty's lack the pitching depth to win prevail in such a thing but anything can happen in little league.

Centerfield Jun 06 2018 04:46 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Hey Coach Lunchbucket, If the Fatty's are interested in a post-playoff bragging rights scrimmage after the season, I can talk to my parents about bringing our rec league team to Brooklyn. The Ravens are a mix of 11s and 12s and would probably match up well against the Fatty's.

seawolf17 Jun 06 2018 05:36 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

Centerfield wrote: Centerfield wrote: His mom says he's going to have to miss some practices because, you know, school. His GPA doesn't go on his baseball card, CF. MORE BATTING CAGE TIME. I hope you stick to this line of thinking when you see his application in four years. It's a lot easier to get into Brockport than it is to get into Stony Brook. He'll be fine. :)

Centerfield Jun 11 2018 06:02 PM Re: Our Kids in Sports - 2018

So ShortCenter finished up his crazy six days of non-stop baseball. His teams went 4-2-1 over those 7 games. The kid gets a well-deserved day off from baseball today. Tomorrow is the real dilemma. Both his school team and his rec league team start the playoffs, and he (and his good friend) are going to have to pick. He takes the school team a lot more seriously, and he worked his ass off to get a starting job as a seventh grader. But he's been playing on this rec team since he was 6, and without SC and his friend, we have no chance to advance. Plus I coach the rec league team and I know he's thinking about that. I told him there is no right answer, and he should pick whatever he wants. But I can tell he has no idea what to do. His rec league teammates are some of his closest friends. I'm hoping that he goes to the school game. They're pretty good and may be able to advance deep into the playoffs. Plus I don't know if his coach would hold it against him and bench him for the rest of the season if he chose not to play. On the other hand, our rec league team is pretty middle of the road, and though we should win the first game, it would be a huge upset if we advanced after that. Plus the rec league is just for fun and we don't take it seriously at all. But I know he doesn't want to tell his friends/teammates that he chose another game over that one. I thought about just telling him directly to play the school game, but I feel like I should let him make this decision.