I am coaching an 8 year old All Star team which my youngest son plays on. We were able to get one practice in before the first Tournament starts tomorrow. It is a big deal for these guys because they are playing with rules from the next age group (so, for example, stealing is permitted). I bring this up because I get a tremendous satisfaction from coaching. More specifically, when a kid who has struggled with something all of the sudden "gets it," it is a great feeling. I am sure that teachers get this feeling, but as an amateur coach, it is very special to me.
In our last game of the regular season, we were down 9-5 going into the last inning to the first place team. This team was the "ringer" team - every league has one and these guys were it.
We then proceed to score 5 runs (the inning limit) to go ahead 10-9. I bring in my best pitcher (in two years, he has yet to let in a run) who promptly strikes out the first batter on three pitches, but yields a triple to the second batter. The next batter his a fly ball that my left fielder makes a GREAT running grab and promptly doubles up the runner on third.
A sunny evening coaching a great bunch of kids. Life does not get much better than that.
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I am ready to write Steinbrenner and offer him my 8 and 9 year olds. Unfortunately, they are 30 years too young and millions too cheap.
But they could not play much worse.
Danica Patrick is a domestic appliance? F1 president Bernie Ecclestone puts his foot in his mouth TWICE. Of course, I could be too harsh. After all, I have not seen Bernie's kitchen...
U.S. Open. Amazing. Three of the Top 4 golfers shoot 80 or above on Sunday to blow it. Even Tiger goes bogey-bogey on 1 and 2, which accounted for his deficit. But think about that: Retief Goosen 81; Olin Browne 80; and Jason Gore 84. Not to take anything away from Michael Campbell, but DAMN.
Connecticut is taking a closer look at coaches' deals outside of the university. The state has said that Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma are "no different" then other state employees. Are you friggin' kidding me? No different except that they put UConn on the map. Except that they and their teams bring in countless dollars in ticket sales, TV deals and booster/alumni cash. The fact is that allowing Calhoun to get a Nike deal allows UConn to pay him less then they would otherwise. So, I am all for this, but Jim and Geno deserve a considerable raise if you cut out their endorsement deals.
The Revolution and FC Dallas are the class of the MLS this year. (I love the trend in the MLS to use "international" names like CD Chivas USA and DC United, though Real Salt Lake does not quite do it for me.) The Revolution has lost only one game and FC has lost only two. At this point, it looks like these teams are a lock for the title game.
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One final kids baseball note. My team ended up 9-3 this year after starting the year off 2-3. While I would love to take some credit, the thing that was amazing was our pitching. As a team, we had a solid 7 or 8 kids who could pitch. Most of the other teams had 4 or 5 if they were lucky. As a result, we out scored our opponents a whopping 25-6 when kids pitched. (In our league, coaches pitch for the first three inning and kids for innings 4 through 6.) My boys were money on the mound.
Just goes to show, at any age, pitching wins games.
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