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jkates

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Everything posted by jkates

  1. It was not a hand-picked select ball team, although once the Wilchester rumor mill got that gem started it was impossible to stop. It was a team put together by the Board with kids from 6 or 7 different schools from a similar geography, per league guidelines. Do some of those kids on the Royals play select ball? Yes. 4 of them on a 7U team. 4 of them on an 8U team, although 1 of those was added after the coach liked him in SBMSA. Does the Royals coach run the Houston Warriors organization and facility? No. The Royals coach coaches select ball - like other coaches in our league, including me - and does so for the Houston Warriors, but he has a day job outside of baseball like the rest of us. Did the Royals coach hand pick his roster? No, and he didn't try to. He was allowed to name one assistant, just like everyone else. He was given 2 kids who had never played baseball before and his 7/8 age split was even - 6 kids of each age. The Wilchester coaches tried to bond together in groups of 3, instead of 2 per the rules, interestingly enough. Did the Royals kids have matching bat bags? Yes. 3 of them did to start the season. The coach had an extra in his garage. The rest paid $60 and got one. (This rumor was my personal favorite.) Did I rig the team because I want my son to play for the Houston Warriors? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I think what was really at the root of the issue were 2 things - 1) Brown kids from north of I-10 were beating the white kids from south of I-10 and 2) the Royals coach and families, aware of the rumors and opposing fan behavior towards them, had fun with their responses to people in order to add fuel to the fire, or at least made no attempt to stop it. I believe reason 1 was real, though rarely overt and malicious. Reason 2 was simultaneously funny to me and a giant pain in my butt. Anyway, they were hardly invincible. They were behind after the 3rd inning in at least 4 games. Plenty of teams could have beaten them and didn't. In my opinion, they wouldn't have cracked the Top 5 in Midget last season. They were good, but not in proportion to all of the fuss made over them. Gosh, that should have been embarrassing to the complainers, but, sadly, I don't think it was.
  2. Baseball dads get super serious, especially when their little babies get beat. I was coordinator (commissioner) of our league this season. We had a few formal protests. These were not appeals during games about illegal bats - we had those and handled them in-game per our rules. These were formal protests. Our league rules make it pretty tough to protest, but that didn't stop these dudes. First, you have to notify the umpire during the game, then notify the opposing manager of intent to protest, and notify the scorekeeper. Then, within 24 hours, you have to file a written protest to the coordinator/board. We received written out, 4 page, authored by dads who are attorneys protests. Sooooo ridiculous. Each of them because something wasn't "fair" - which is most easily interpreted as "I won't volunteer any of my time to help the league but I will bitch and moan when my son's team loses to the Mexicans from the north side of I-10." The illegal bat issue is legit. I'm surprised your league doesn't have rules to address that during the game. Replaying it seems dumb.
  3. We're eliminated. Championship game tonight between a team that's undefeated and a team with only 1 loss (which was to the undefeated team). Should be some good ball. It's a double elimination bracket, so 1 loss team needs to double dip the undefeated. 50 teams 100 preseason games 500 regular season games 62 playoff games 1 champion
  4. Apparently, my hitters did not get this message. Nice W, Brew Crew!
  5. I'm leaning this way.
  6. Ha! I got so bogged down in the details, I didn't even realize who we were matched up against. Put your best fielders in the outfield, cuz we're going to bang the ball to the wall.
  7. I still literally love Gerrit Cole.
  8. Which Pee Wee team is your son on?
  9. POLL is (in)famous for Styro Row. Our league (SBMSA) does not allow it, but you can be certain that plenty of tumblers contain mixed drinks, especially in the laid-back summer league. We started off the season pretty well, but the sportsmanship issues have started to crop up now that playoffs are near. Coaches and fans are starting to ratchet up the intensity. It's parts hilarious and parts ridiculous. I enjoy it a ton. Our little team is 7-1. We hit really well. We often play defense like Roger Dorn.
  10. I don't know about him, but it's pretty clear that you don't understand the demand side of this equation. The demand is there. The $$$ speaks loudly.
  11. Haha. I had you mixed up. I can't be expected to remember "Hanrahan!"
  12. What team is your son on? We're on the Hooks.
  13. Amen to that. I'll be out there tonight.
  14. Shorten the season back to 154 games. Each team plays 2 Sunday doubleheaders (1 home/away) over the season. This allows more rest days and fits the playoffs to be finished in October. Robot umps for balls and strikes. Make batters stay in the box and enforce the 12-second rule on the pitchers. Use social media like the NBA and make clips readily shareable. Kill the blackout rules. All-Star Game needs to always be on July 4th. Make the DH available to both leagues. Expand rosters to 26. I could probably list more if I cared to think about it more. I'm sure these aren't super original.
  15. Too bad we couldn't find 8 good coaches!
  16. Time to do better than last year's regular season record at home (48-33). It starts tonight. I'll be there tomorrow night.
  17. My son is playing in Spring Branch Memorial Sports Association this spring, in the 7-8 year old division (Midget). I'm the head coach of his team, and the coordinator of the league. 50 teams, 620 kids, it's insane and great. I did OK in the draft. We draft amongst schools, so I had a draft pool of 26 kids. I targeted 6 of them as guys/families I really wanted. I landed 5 of those 6.
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