At the start of the season if you would have told me I would be this invested in 7/8 year old baseball I would have laughed at you. The last two and a half weeks have been fucking nuts. Playoff sports is intense no matter the age.
Today we had an elimination game to play. Winner moves on and the loser goes home. It was our 9th game in 16 days between out in house tournament and the Tournament of Champions games. Going into the top of the last inning we were behind by 3 runs. We scored 5 runs. Home team comes up with the bottom of their line up. Like most teams we are out of pitchers at this point. Coach puts in one of the older kids to pitch. He immediately walks the bases loaded. Coach calls time out and calls my son to pitch.
My son is the youngest kid on his team and in the division. Had he been born 4 days later he would have still been in t-ball. But here we are playing with 7 and 8 year olds. Shit some of these kids have just turned 9. My son hasnt even turned 7 yet and wont for a couple of months. But for some reason he is league age 7. He has had a great season. He is one of the better hitters on his team and played every position on the field. They even had him pitch a few innings here and there. But he hast pitched the entire playoffs. Shit he hasnt pitched in 13 games. But he has wanted to. Every day he tells me he wants to pitch. I just kept telling him to be ready for when his number was called.
Well tonight it was called in a fucking huge moment. When the coach called him to pitch he sprinted to the mound with a big ass grin on his face. The rest of the team was nervous and scared. He was happy as shit to get called. He looked loose in his warm ups and confident. Not a worry in the world. My wife and I were a fucking mess. He is only 6 and this is too much pressure. Why is the coach putting him right now? He's not ready.
Here comes the top of the line up. They have been killing us the whole game. Especially their 3rd batter. Double plays dont happen at this level so we are going to face this kid this inning. The lead off hitter flies out to our 2nd baseman for the first out. E runs out to high five his 2nd baseman for catching that and pumps his fist on his way back to the mound. He was fired up. Me and my wife were pacing and could barely watch. He works the next batter to a full count before striking him out. 2 outs!
Big boy walks up to the plate. 2 years older than my son. A good 5 inches taller and 20 lbs heavier. But it didn't bother E. He is fearless. First pitch swing and a miss, strike one. Second pitch Big Boy connects pulls it to left,foul ball. Any other kid would have been scared because he just hit the shit out of that foul ball. You could hear the collective sigh of relief from the parents. I look at the mound and E pumps his fist because it means strike two. Next pitch big boy gets a hold of it. The ball went over our left fielders head and big boy rounds the bases. His run didnt count because they only needed 3. But he just hit a walk off grand slam off my boy.
Watching him walk off that mound was heartbreaking. He was upset but I was the one crying. I didn't expect him to experience something like this until he was much older. I mean up until this season they never kept track of outs or score. Last week was easily the best moment of his short little league career winning their in house tournament earning 1st place and gaining a spot into this tournament. Today was easily the worst moment.
When they came off the field I was proud of him. He was mad but had no tears in his eye. The coach gathered the team around and gave his speech. Just like after every game he gave out a game ball. It went to Emiliano. As soon as the meeting was over he handed me the ball and said he didnt want it because they lost. We went out for pizza and ice cream after the game to celebrate their great season. When we got home he said he wanted to pitch to me in the backyard. He said we gotta start getting ready for next season. I started crying again.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
>At the start of the season if you would have told me I would >be this invested in 7/8 year old baseball I would have laughed >at you. The last two and a half weeks have been fucking nuts. >Playoff sports is intense no matter the age. > >Today we had an elimination game to play. Winner moves on and >the loser goes home. It was our 9th game in 16 days between >out in house tournament and the Tournament of Champions games. >Going into the top of the last inning we were behind by 3 >runs. We scored 5 runs. Home team comes up with the bottom of >their line up. Like most teams we are out of pitchers at this >point. Coach puts in one of the older kids to pitch. He >immediately walks the bases loaded. Coach calls time out and >calls my son to pitch. > >My son is the youngest kid on his team and in the division. >Had he been born 4 days later he would have still been in >t-ball. But here we are playing with 7 and 8 year olds. Shit >some of these kids have just turned 9. My son hasnt even >turned 7 yet and wont for a couple of months. But for some >reason he is league age 7. He has had a great season. He is >one of the better hitters on his team and played every >position on the field. They even had him pitch a few innings >here and there. But he hast pitched the entire playoffs. Shit >he hasnt pitched in 13 games. But he has wanted to. Every day >he tells me he wants to pitch. I just kept telling him to be >ready for when his number was called. > >Well tonight it was called in a fucking huge moment. When the >coach called him to pitch he sprinted to the mound with a big >ass grin on his face. The rest of the team was nervous and >scared. He was happy as shit to get called. He looked loose in >his warm ups and confident. Not a worry in the world. My wife >and I were a fucking mess. He is only 6 and this is too much >pressure. Why is the coach putting him right now? He's not >ready. > >Here comes the top of the line up. They have been killing us >the whole game. Especially their 3rd batter. Double plays dont >happen at this level so we are going to face this kid this >inning. The lead off hitter flies out to our 2nd baseman for >the first out. E runs out to high five his 2nd baseman for >catching that and pumps his fist on his way back to the mound. >He was fired up. Me and my wife were pacing and could barely >watch. He works the next batter to a full count before >striking him out. 2 outs! > >Big boy walks up to the plate. 2 years older than my son. A >good 5 inches taller and 20 lbs heavier. But it didn't bother >E. He is fearless. First pitch swing and a miss, strike one. >Second pitch Big Boy connects pulls it to left,foul ball. Any >other kid would have been scared because he just hit the shit >out of that foul ball. You could hear the collective sigh of >relief from the parents. I look at the mound and E pumps his >fist because it means strike two. Next pitch big boy gets a >hold of it. The ball went over our left fielders head and big >boy rounds the bases. His run didnt count because they only >needed 3. But he just hit a walk off grand slam off my boy. > >Watching him walk off that mound was heartbreaking. He was >upset but I was the one crying. I didn't expect him to >experience something like this until he was much older. I mean >up until this season they never kept track of outs or score. >Last week was easily the best moment of his short little >league career winning their in house tournament earning 1st >place and gaining a spot into this tournament. Today was >easily the worst moment. > >When they came off the field I was proud of him. He was mad >but had no tears in his eye. The coach gathered the team >around and gave his speech. Just like after every game he gave >out a game ball. It went to Emiliano. As soon as the meeting >was over he handed me the ball and said he didnt want it >because they lost. We went out for pizza and ice cream after >the game to celebrate their great season. When we got home he >said he wanted to pitch to me in the backyard. He said we >gotta start getting ready for next season. I started crying >again.
------------------- I wanna go to where the martyrs went the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...
5. "dag man, i was on the edge of my seat. Great read. " In response to Reply # 0
Love your sons attitude.
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
========================================= I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and not having much to show for it. (c) mad
auragin_boi Member since Aug 01st 2003 20939 posts
Wed Jun-08-16 08:59 AM
8. "This is awesome...he's going to do well in life" In response to Reply # 0
already at 6 years old, he has the right mentality: enjoy the game, embrace the big moments, let the failures sting but drive you to be better and look forward to the next opportunity.
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
20. "man that fucking kid" In response to Reply # 15
had his imitation Oakley's sitting on the bill of his hat. Eye black under his eyes. Then he had the fucking wrist bands. Plus he was loud. The whole game you could hear him when he was on the field and on the bases.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
24. "*dead* at the mental image " In response to Reply # 20
>had his imitation Oakley's sitting on the bill of his hat. >Eye black under his eyes. Then he had the fucking wrist bands. >Plus he was loud. The whole game you could hear him when he >was on the field and on the bases.
------------------- I wanna go to where the martyrs went the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...
17. "They make you proud when you least expect them to..." In response to Reply # 0
I was hoping for the strikeout and for your boy to pull them out. Instead, he pulled his big boy pants up after getting rocked and made his dad's eyes water because he wants to work harder on improving his pitching.
23. "If this is too personal, tell me to kick rocks" In response to Reply # 0
But he did he react seeing you cry?
I have to admit, that would be tough for me to stomach if I were his age to see a grown father cry. Hell, I'm sure it would be tough for me now to see my mother shed tears.
Not sports related, but I'm curious how he processed that, given all the events that went down.
Cool to read that he's that competitive. Don't know if other folks mentioned it in other responses, but one or two year age differences at the ages referenced in your story are huge, so props to your Little League coach for exposing your son to that higher difficulty level.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
27. "Rob was teaching all types of lessons" In response to Reply # 23
its ok for boys/men to cry.
>But he did he react seeing you cry?
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
35. "RE: If this is too personal, tell me to kick rocks" In response to Reply # 23
>But he did he react seeing you cry?
nah he didnt. He has seen me cry before. Im an emotional guy. I dont walk around the house crying constantly. But between the couple of funerals we have been to in the last few years. To watching Rudy he has seem his dad get watery eyes. I have always taught him it's okay to express your emotions. But you always need to be in control of them. It's okay to be sad or mad or cry. But dont ever act because of those emotions.
>Not sports related, but I'm curious how he processed that, >given all the events that went down.
he was mad all night. When we went out to eat after the game he had kind of forgotten about. I mean what 6 year old wouldnt be happy eating pizza and ice cream? But when we were driving home my dad called to find out what happened in the game. As soon as I started talking about it he got mad again. We watched the Sandlot when we got home until he fell asleep. This morning I woke up before him. I was downstairs having coffee and watching tv and he comes down the stairs and he was pissed again. I asked what was wrong and he said he woke up and saw his hat on his dresser and it reminded him of that kid hitting a bomb off him. It was funny. Im glad it upset him. Im glad it is motivating him and not making him want to quit. Today I asked him if he was nervous when the coach called him in to pitch. He said nope. I said not even a little bit? He said nope I was ready to strike them all out. The kid has ice running through his veins. I said you werent scared to pitch to the big kids? He said nope.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
29. "ctrl + f participation trophy." In response to Reply # 0
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - sherlock holmes
39. "he was during the regular season" In response to Reply # 37 Wed Jun-08-16 04:42 PM by RobOne4
he did a really good job at working out a bunch of pitchers and not burning any of them out. We played 2 games a week. At this age we usually get 3-4 innings in MAX. So he throws a different pitcher every inning and never threw them on back to back games. During the regular season he pitched in about 5 or 6 games. But once the playoffs started we stuck with our top pitchers. Honestly I think he could have used him in a playoff game or two. But our top 4 kids were awesome. Pitching was one of our strengths. But for this tournament one of our top pitchers went on vacation. The rest of our pitchers struggled. Honestly they seemed burned out. But not just them the rest of the team did too. E and one other kid seemed like the only two that wanted to be at the field. Parents were talking about how it was a chore getting the kids ready to come to the field. Like I said in my original post between the in house tournament and this tournament we played 9 games in 16 days. That is a lot to ask of kids at this age.
November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79493 posts
Wed Jun-08-16 04:42 PM
40. "gotdamn this was a good read" In response to Reply # 0
brought me back to my little league days and how the big ass kid made us all move back.
6 years old tho... smh.
he is battle tested.
was it one tear or snot bubbles?
i already know im going to that dad at my kids games.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
And great for your little man...a RACK of kids aren't learning how to lose, be upset, but work to get better...the fact that he did that on HIS OWN? Heart of a lion
========================================= I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and not having much to show for it. (c) mad
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