2022 Catch All

[Texsox]

Oh sweet Jesus. I just opened the front door at my parent's house. It's too f***ing cold here. 

[Balta1701]

A 322 foot tall rocket is rolling out to the launchpad in Florida today.

[Kyyle23]

Some absolutely insane pictures and videos of a huge tornado ripping through the lower 9th district of NOLA

 

[Texsox]

Damn I'm lucky to work at such a cool high school. Our orchestra won a prestigious contest in NYC (a first for a San Antonio school), our visual artists took about 3/4ths of the regional awards and are moving on to state, our girls bowling team won the regional tournament, and our volleyball team is getting their state championship rings next week. 

I'm surrounded by amazing kids and teachers. 

[Jake]

Been a while since I strolled down the page on Soxtalk. Looks like The Buster was put out to pasture, eh?

[knightni]

1 hour ago, Jake said:

Been a while since I strolled down the page on Soxtalk. Looks like The Buster was put out to pasture, eh?

Taken behind the shed like Ol' Yeller.

[Texsox]

"how much marijuana is in the car?"

"This much" and handed the police officer a lit joint.

Lol 

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/whataburger-biscuit-calorie-check-leads-to-texas-teens-arrest/amp/

 

 

[Iwritecode]

This guy really, really wanted a Blizzard.

 

 

[Texsox]

6 hours ago, Iwritecode said:

This guy really, really wanted a Blizzard.

 

 

We were looking at that on one of the RV forums and several of the posters called b.s. because too many cameras are all filming. Seemed staged. 

[Iwritecode]

 

21 hours ago, Texsox said:

We were looking at that on one of the RV forums and several of the posters called b.s. because too many cameras are all filming. Seemed staged. 

Hard to believe the restaurant would agree to something like that.

https://kyma.com/news/local-news/2021/09/16/eyewitness-to-viral-drive-thru-incident-in-foothills-speaks-out/

 

Here's the trailer afterwards:

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Iwritecode

[CentralChamps21]

Anybody else following what's going on in Brooklyn?

What the fuck is wrong with people?

[Texsox]

There is a lot of anger in the world. Plus easy access to weapons that can hurt a lot of people quickly and without much practice. 

[Jack Parkman]

There are a lot of old posters used to be regulars that I wonder what happened to. 

Some of the names I remember: 

Witesoxfan, DBAHO, Flash Tizzle, WHarris1 to start. 

I don't think any of these folks got banned. 

Then there were some others with memorable handles like AssHatSoxFan

Edited April 15, 2022 by Jack Parkman

[The Beast]

A friend of mine who grew up umpiring with me is a freshman baseball coach in Plainfield. He was looking for umpires after having to cancel a game without having one. When I researched why there is a shortage of umpires, it started to make sense - the treatment of umpires, the low pay, the inconsistent training over time and the lack of respect for officials, who often get blamed for the outcome of games. Then another friend of mine came across this article, which has some recommendations that make sense to try and solve the issue of the treatment of umpires and the shortage of them.

https://globalsportmatters.com/business/2022/04/15/abusive-behavior-driving-youth-sports-officials-away/

Has anyone noticed that the treatment of officials has gotten worse? Is this a problem in your area?

[ShandyMan]

11 hours ago, The Beast said:

A friend of mine who grew up umpiring with me is a freshman baseball coach in Plainfield. He was looking for umpires after having to cancel a game without having one. When I researched why there is a shortage of umpires, it started to make sense - the treatment of umpires, the low pay, the inconsistent training over time and the lack of respect for officials, who often get blamed for the outcome of games. Then another friend of mine came across this article, which has some recommendations that make sense to try and solve the issue of the treatment of umpires and the shortage of them.

https://globalsportmatters.com/business/2022/04/15/abusive-behavior-driving-youth-sports-officials-away/

Has anyone noticed that the treatment of officials has gotten worse? Is this a problem in your area?

Growing up in Frankfort, I umped all the time. It's miserable, and that was even back then. I can't even imagine now

[The Beast]

1 hour ago, staxxington said:

Growing up in Frankfort, I umped all the time. It's miserable, and that was even back then. I can't even imagine now

It’s too bad. I umpired 11U for both travel and in house games. I can understand the intensity of the travel games, but parents should know the games are about development at that level. Winning is fun, but nobody really gives a shit about all of those Downers Grove Longshots trophies and plaques in storage. Even if the goal is to get kids to play at the highest level and advance quickly, it doesn’t really matter what the outcomes are. Some parents just don’t get it.

[Harry Chappas]

On 4/23/2022 at 10:32 AM, The Beast said:

It’s too bad. I umpired 11U for both travel and in house games. I can understand the intensity of the travel games, but parents should know the games are about development at that level. Winning is fun, but nobody really gives a shit about all of those Downers Grove Longshots trophies and plaques in storage. Even if the goal is to get kids to play at the highest level and advance quickly, it doesn’t really matter what the outcomes are. Some parents just don’t get it.

High School umpiring is running low for the reason you state and also because the travel games are paying good money.  A 12U travel game for $120 or high school game for $85? 

Parents are killing all officiating. 

[Texsox]

On 4/22/2022 at 9:24 PM, The Beast said:

A friend of mine who grew up umpiring with me is a freshman baseball coach in Plainfield. He was looking for umpires after having to cancel a game without having one. When I researched why there is a shortage of umpires, it started to make sense - the treatment of umpires, the low pay, the inconsistent training over time and the lack of respect for officials, who often get blamed for the outcome of games. Then another friend of mine came across this article, which has some recommendations that make sense to try and solve the issue of the treatment of umpires and the shortage of them.

https://globalsportmatters.com/business/2022/04/15/abusive-behavior-driving-youth-sports-officials-away/

Has anyone noticed that the treatment of officials has gotten worse? Is this a problem in your area?

People willing to be involved in all areas of youth sports is declining. The turnover in high school coaches is at an all time high. It's almost impossible to have enough coaches at the middle school level. 

Parent's expectations of college scholarships for their marginally talented kid manifests into complaints about coaching. 

Ten years ago I was forced into coaching soccer. When the parents saw me and found out I knew next to nothing about soccer, they formed a mob and headed into the principal's office. They simmered down when they were told no one else was willing to coach the team, that I was being forced to coach because I didn't have anything that season, and if I quit the season was over. That was on the Texas - Mexico border in a soccer crazy city. We won a district title but it wasn't my brilliant strategies.

Now I have parents who hear that female college golf scholarships are basically guaranteed. They think their kid is going to learn the game and earn a scholarship in a year. 

 

[Texsox]

On 4/23/2022 at 10:32 AM, The Beast said:

It’s too bad. I umpired 11U for both travel and in house games. I can understand the intensity of the travel games, but parents should know the games are about development at that level. Winning is fun, but nobody really gives a shit about all of those Downers Grove Longshots trophies and plaques in storage. Even if the goal is to get kids to play at the highest level and advance quickly, it doesn’t really matter what the outcomes are. Some parents just don’t get it.

My last season of organized ball was in the house league when a manager was looking for a couple more kids to fill a roster and contacted five of us that dropped from the travel team. 

First off everything about the house league was worse. The players were worse, the manager and coaches were worse, and the umpiring was incredibly worse. We easily won the league, my BA doubled, no one ran on me. That's when I realized what a quality experience I had fighting for playing time. 

I love baseball to this day because of Ron Schmidt my travel coach. He was an old school Cubs fan, but I loved the guy and he tolerated having one Sox fan on the team. 

[The Beast]

1 hour ago, Texsox said:

My last season of organized ball was in the house league when a manager was looking for a couple more kids to fill a roster and contacted five of us that dropped from the travel team. 

First off everything about the house league was worse. The players were worse, the manager and coaches were worse, and the umpiring was incredibly worse. We easily won the league, my BA doubled, no one ran on me. That's when I realized what a quality experience I had fighting for playing time. 

I love baseball to this day because of Ron Schmidt my travel coach. He was an old school Cubs fan, but I loved the guy and he tolerated having one Sox fan on the team. 

Great stories!

[Texsox]

48 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Great stories!

Towards the end of the in house season I was up with a runner on third. The manager told me to switch hit to the left side something I only did while goofing off at practice. I couldn't figure out why but I was raised to not question the manager and gave it a try.

The next pitch he sent the runner to steal home. He was out by twenty feet. So the manager told me to go back to righty. I snapped and started yelling at him. You want a righty to shield the runner. I can bunt. That play was stupid. You don't know anything about baseball etc. 

I looked up and my old manager was behind our dugout. When I got to the bench I said to him did you see what that idiot manager did??!

He said he saw me disrespect the game and the manager and was embarrassed. I was crushed. I had tears in my eyes but realized he was 100% right in calling me out. 

When I'm working with my players I realize I may have that kind of influence with one of them. It honestly scares me at times.

[greg775]

22 hours ago, Texsox said:

People willing to be involved in all areas of youth sports is declining. The turnover in high school coaches is at an all time high. It's almost impossible to have enough coaches at the middle school level. 

Parent's expectations of college scholarships for their marginally talented kid manifests into complaints about coaching. 

Ten years ago I was forced into coaching soccer. When the parents saw me and found out I knew next to nothing about soccer, they formed a mob and headed into the principal's office. They simmered down when they were told no one else was willing to coach the team, that I was being forced to coach because I didn't have anything that season, and if I quit the season was over. That was on the Texas - Mexico border in a soccer crazy city. We won a district title but it wasn't my brilliant strategies.

Now I have parents who hear that female college golf scholarships are basically guaranteed. They think their kid is going to learn the game and earn a scholarship in a year. 

 

Parents were certainly flawed "in my day" on the south side. They took little to no interest in their kids, never went to our Little League games in Mt. Greenwood, in fact didn't even drive us to the games. We rode our bikes. However, and this is a big however .... no parents at the games and at the practices was GREAT! Our two 60-something coaches NEVER had to deal with bossy parents. We were left to learn and enjoy baseball from 10 to 12 years old without parents doing stupid things.

For some reason, every generation since ... parents have felt the need to get overly involved, intimidate coaches and managers and never let their kids be kids. I'm so lucky our parents didn't give a bleep. In the summer we played ball during the day without parental supervision and to cap it off we had organized Little League sans parents. What a life! And nobody got kidnapped ,nobody got murdered. We just did fine without our parents ruining everything. Shame on future generations of parents who felt the need to monitor EVERYTHING involving their kids.

p.s. our Little League made coaches of all the teams serve as umpires. That's how they covered the games. I guess if you refused to ump you couldn't coach. Case closed. I remember seeing our coaches ump some games and laughing about it bak in the day. None of the kids dare argued a call; nor did the "fans" at the games, one or two onlookers.

I would think you'd have to be missing a brain to coach or ump nowadays.

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by greg775

[Chisoxfn]

7 hours ago, greg775 said:

Parents were certainly flawed "in my day" on the south side. They took little to no interest in their kids, never went to our Little League games in Mt. Greenwood, in fact didn't even drive us to the games. We rode our bikes. However, and this is a big however .... no parents at the games and at the practices was GREAT! Our two 60-something coaches NEVER had to deal with bossy parents. We were left to learn and enjoy baseball from 10 to 12 years old without parents doing stupid things.

For some reason, every generation since ... parents have felt the need to get overly involved, intimidate coaches and managers and never let their kids be kids. I'm so lucky our parents didn't give a bleep. In the summer we played ball during the day without parental supervision and to cap it off we had organized Little League sans parents. What a life! And nobody got kidnapped ,nobody got murdered. We just did fine without our parents ruining everything. Shame on future generations of parents who felt the need to monitor EVERYTHING involving their kids.

p.s. our Little League made coaches of all the teams serve as umpires. That's how they covered the games. I guess if you refused to ump you couldn't coach. Case closed. I remember seeing our coaches ump some games and laughing about it bak in the day. None of the kids dare argued a call; nor did the "fans" at the games, one or two onlookers.

I would think you'd have to be missing a brain to coach or ump nowadays.

 

If you think about it though (and this is coming from someone who coaches my son's pony team, my daughter's softball team, and have coached each of their soccer teams - asking me to ref on top of already making the committment to coach is a ton.  Youth sports (at least rec youth sports) is a volunteer organization and everything can't just get stacked onto the coaches who are already committing their time (its a lot of work and in my case - I do it and enjoy it, but than I get back hom and work another few hours after my family goes to sleep to make up for the work hours I lost to get to the weekday game early to get the field set-up, get a good warm-up in with the kids, to attend practices (and getting early to make sure all the stuff is set-up, etc).  

[greg775]

43 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

If you think about it though (and this is coming from someone who coaches my son's pony team, my daughter's softball team, and have coached each of their soccer teams - asking me to ref on top of already making the committment to coach is a ton.  Youth sports (at least rec youth sports) is a volunteer organization and everything can't just get stacked onto the coaches who are already committing their time (its a lot of work and in my case - I do it and enjoy it, but than I get back hom and work another few hours after my family goes to sleep to make up for the work hours I lost to get to the weekday game early to get the field set-up, get a good warm-up in with the kids, to attend practices (and getting early to make sure all the stuff is set-up, etc).  

I hear you about umping. Your plate is already full. I wonder if our LL just made sure the coaches who had to ump games made sure if they couldn't do it, they'd get some other adult to fill in for them. Not sure.  ... I was thinking about this even before reading your post. Bak in the day, I can think of only one of our LL and Babe Ruth teams that had a dad of a kid coach his kid's team. I realize the past many years parents almost exclusively coach teams with their own kid or kids on it. That's fine. I'm not blasting you. You obviously from your posts are a stellar individual. It's just curious back in the day at least on the south side coaches rarely if ever had a kid on their own team. I can remmeber one team, the Larks, had a dad/son combo of coach/player and u know how kids are, that poor kid got teased a lot. Times have changed.

I do think in your instance it'd be too much if you had to ump two nights a week in addition to all your coaching duties. But perhaps you could make sure a representative of your team umped. Hassle, for sure.

I think parents who have a clue such as yourself should be welcome to coach their own kids' teams, but I can also see the value of way back when having parents involved NOT AT ALL. I tell u, it made for a stellar childhood. I remember my team, the Bears, made the Mt.Greenwood world series and my dad got wind of it, maybe I told him (dads didn't talk to kids much back then) and wanted to go to our "World Series" Game One. We lost a low scoring well played game and I remember driving home my dad the grump said, 'You played a good game (at 3B). That was a good game." Of course it wasn't good nuff for him to come to Game Two of the three game set the next night, LOL. I don't even know if he asked me if we tied up the series at 1-1. We didn't. Lost 2-0 in best of 3.

Edited April 27, 2022 by greg775

[Iwritecode]

14 hours ago, greg775 said:

I hear you about umping. Your plate is already full. I wonder if our LL just made sure the coaches who had to ump games made sure if they couldn't do it, they'd get some other adult to fill in for them. Not sure.  ... I was thinking about this even before reading your post. Bak in the day, I can think of only one of our LL and Babe Ruth teams that had a dad of a kid coach his kid's team. I realize the past many years parents almost exclusively coach teams with their own kid or kids on it. That's fine. I'm not blasting you. You obviously from your posts are a stellar individual. It's just curious back in the day at least on the south side coaches rarely if ever had a kid on their own team. I can remmeber one team, the Larks, had a dad/son combo of coach/player and u know how kids are, that poor kid got teased a lot. Times have changed.

I do think in your instance it'd be too much if you had to ump two nights a week in addition to all your coaching duties. But perhaps you could make sure a representative of your team umped. Hassle, for sure.

I think parents who have a clue such as yourself should be welcome to coach their own kids' teams, but I can also see the value of way back when having parents involved NOT AT ALL. I tell u, it made for a stellar childhood. I remember my team, the Bears, made the Mt.Greenwood world series and my dad got wind of it, maybe I told him (dads didn't talk to kids much back then) and wanted to go to our "World Series" Game One. We lost a low scoring well played game and I remember driving home my dad the grump said, 'You played a good game (at 3B). That was a good game." Of course it wasn't good nuff for him to come to Game Two of the three game set the next night, LOL. I don't even know if he asked me if we tied up the series at 1-1. We didn't. Lost 2-0 in best of 3.

 

You must be older than me. When I played, every single team I was on or played against had a dad (or in at least one instance a mom) coaching and their son was on their team.  I went through 3 coaches myself. When the son decided he didn't want to play anymore, another dad would step up and take the duties. My final 3 or 4 years I had my own dad coaching. This was in the 80's thru the early 90's. 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Iwritecode