Wednesday, May 11, 2005
God Grant Us T-Ball
Last night I went with my son(see May, 9, cute isn't he)to his T-ball game. Now this is T-ball, the players are four, five and six. Not grown men (and one woman) not even High School boys they are four, five and six years old. So the idea is to have fun; get a little exercise; learn some basics but, most of all have fun, right? Not as far as some of the parents are concerned.
I learned in the rooms many years ago that you can only give away what you have. I have a lot of things to pass on to my son but when it comes to sports, especially baseball; I am nothing short of illiterate. I am much more interested in the human drama that the technicalities anyway. I watched the Ken Burns series on baseball, I remember that TA Cobb was a bastard and Josh Gibson ended up in an asylum but, that is it. How to hold the bat, where the shortstop stands or even what is the shortstop? I have no idea.
So I got into this conversation with this mother of one of the other boys. She claimed that her boy has since toddlerhood insisted on having athletics as the focal point of his life. Acording to her, his first word was ball, and he spent is preschool years prefecting his pitching arm. My boy's first word was mine and he spent his preschool years pretending to be Junterman a superhero he created whoses special power is throwing flames from is eyes. The mother went on to say this year Buford "insisted" that he have all the proper major league endorsed baseball equipment which she bought him. This year my boy "insisted" that we buy him a moterized kindergarten-sized motercycle but, we declined.
On one hand I thought that she was ridiculous but, on the other hand feeling sort of bad that I did not have more to give away to him when it comes to sports. Just then, I looked out on the field and what did I see. Buford and my boy are both sitting down eating the grass while they are supposed "on" second and third base respectively. You have to love kids for keeping it honest.
God grant me to serenity to accept the things I cannot change...like T-ball parents. ¶ 5/11/2005 03:53:00 AM
I learned in the rooms many years ago that you can only give away what you have. I have a lot of things to pass on to my son but when it comes to sports, especially baseball; I am nothing short of illiterate. I am much more interested in the human drama that the technicalities anyway. I watched the Ken Burns series on baseball, I remember that TA Cobb was a bastard and Josh Gibson ended up in an asylum but, that is it. How to hold the bat, where the shortstop stands or even what is the shortstop? I have no idea.
So I got into this conversation with this mother of one of the other boys. She claimed that her boy has since toddlerhood insisted on having athletics as the focal point of his life. Acording to her, his first word was ball, and he spent is preschool years prefecting his pitching arm. My boy's first word was mine and he spent his preschool years pretending to be Junterman a superhero he created whoses special power is throwing flames from is eyes. The mother went on to say this year Buford "insisted" that he have all the proper major league endorsed baseball equipment which she bought him. This year my boy "insisted" that we buy him a moterized kindergarten-sized motercycle but, we declined.
On one hand I thought that she was ridiculous but, on the other hand feeling sort of bad that I did not have more to give away to him when it comes to sports. Just then, I looked out on the field and what did I see. Buford and my boy are both sitting down eating the grass while they are supposed "on" second and third base respectively. You have to love kids for keeping it honest.
God grant me to serenity to accept the things I cannot change...like T-ball parents. ¶ 5/11/2005 03:53:00 AM
