I saw this in another forum and it made an interesting discussion.
Taken from a SI column:
Quote:
This actually happened. Your job is to decide whether it should have.
In a nine- and 10-year-old PONY league championship game in Bountiful, Utah, the Yankees lead the Red Sox by one run. The Sox are up in the bottom of the last inning, two outs, a runner on third. At the plate is the Sox' best hitter, a kid named Jordan. On deck is the Sox' worst hitter, a kid named Romney. He's a scrawny cancer survivor who has to take human growth hormone and has a shunt in his brain.
So, you're the coach: Do you intentionally walk the star hitter so you can face the kid who can barely swing?
Wait! Before you answer.... This is a league where everybody gets to bat, there's a four-runs-per-inning max, and no stealing until the ball crosses the plate. On the other hand, the stands are packed and it is the title game.
So ... do you pitch to the star or do you lay it all on the kid who's been through hell already?
Yanks coach Bob Farley decided to walk the star.
Parents booed. The umpire, Mike Wright, thought to himself, Low-ball move. In the stands, Romney's eight-year-old sister cried. "They're picking on Romney!" she said. Romney struck out. The Yanks celebrated. The Sox moaned. The two coaching staffs nearly brawled.
And Romney? He sobbed himself to sleep that night.
So if you were the coach of the pitcher, what would you do? Would you make him pitch to the strongest pitcher to spare the feelings of the cancer kid since he's already been through Hell,
or do you walk the big hitter so you and your team can win the game and not treat the cancer victim any differently?
There's good news though:
Quote:
By the way, the next morning, Romney woke up and decided to do something about what happened to him.
"I'm going to work on my batting," he told his dad. "Then maybe someday I'll be the one they walk."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/rick_reilly/08/07/reilly0814/index.html
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
To me, whether the kid had cancer or not only makes this point worse...
Why are you intentionally walking kids in Little League? Why is winning so important? Isn't Little League supposed to be solely for player development, learning to be part of a team and sportsmanship?
It's just like all those kids you hear about who've been pitchers in Little League and their arms are already worn out before they're even 18. Kids who won't have a chance at careers because their coaches and parents want to have winners.
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AGuSTiN wrote:To me, whether the kid had cancer or not only makes this point worse...
Why are you intentionally walking kids in Little League? Why is winning so important? Isn't Little League supposed to be solely for player development, learning to be part of a team and sportsmanship?
It's just like all those kids you hear about who've been pitchers in Little League and their arms are already worn out before they're even 18. Kids who won't have a chance at careers because their coaches and parents want to have winners.
I'm right on the fence for this one, but an argument for winning is because some people see today's kids as "pussies". Kids these days are sheltered by parents, teachers, whatever and team sports teaches kids that sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can still fail. It shows that life isn't a Disney movie.
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
Any word on exactly how old these kids are?
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Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooold Blooooooooooooooooooooooooooded.
Damn.
"Turbochargers were for people who can't build engines"
- Keith Duckworth, Father of the Cosworth V8. Winningest motor in F1 history
9-10
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
You could argue the fact that the cancer kid was given a golden opprotunity. Let's say he hit the ball and got a single. Clears the bases and they win. I would be the best experiance in that kid's life. I say I root for the cancer kid. A coaches job is to put their team in the best position possible to win. Why throw away all the hard work that the kids did on your team cause you feel sorry for the one other kid that isn't on your team. Sorry, life doesn't always have a happy ending. The kid learned from the experiance and used it as motivation. Everyone wins.
Team GREEN
Suspension Division - "Handling Before Horsepower"
Making the turns since 1999
1998 EK Civic Hatch - Yes, it's a Honda.
Glace wrote:9-10
Kids that young don't need to know exactly how cold blooded life is (perfect term, BTW, Jinxed). 9-10 is still an age where lay the foundation for later struggles.
RaiLS wrote:You could argue the fact that the cancer kid was given a golden opprotunity. Let's say he hit the ball and got a single. Clears the bases and they win. I would be the best experiance in that kid's life. I say I root for the cancer kid. A coaches job is to put their team in the best position possible to win. Why throw away all the hard work that the kids did on your team cause you feel sorry for the one other kid that isn't on your team. Sorry, life doesn't always have a happy ending. The kid learned from the experiance and used it as motivation. Everyone wins.
I would argue against you. The kid has cancer, needs hormones to even stand and has a shunt in his head. Do you think he DOESN'T know that life is tough? Why continue to further piss on his existance?
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I'm on the fence...
On one side, i think they are taking the competition too seriously.
On the other side, even though 9 and 10 is considered "young", life's brutality knows no age bounds, and it's a lesson that sometimes some people will be devious as hell to get ahead in life.
But regardless, the kid at least has a good attitude about not letting the setback get to him,
Although next year i'd make sure i accidentally released the bat to fly on a clooision course with the other coach's groin, but i'm a bastard like that.
Goodbye Callisto & Skađi, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.
I want everyone who has commented and who is going to comment to qualify their comments with this simple question... that I must know.
Do you have kids?
Me first. I do.
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the kid and the parents should have been fully aware that something like this was going to come up. yes, the kid has been through hell. however, showing him special treatment in an instance like this is not going to work towards his overall development, but against it. showing a disabled kid special treatment in cases like these only fosters selfishness and self-centeredness revolving around their handicap.
for the record, I have no kids. my girlfriend has 3, one of which has seizures on an almost daily basis. does she treat the one child with seizures special because she has them? no. and I completely understand why.
Desert Tuners
“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”
Don't have kids, and I'm leaning towards not walking the big hitter.
There's no "I" in team, you either hang together or you fall apart. There's lots of cliche's that come to mind, but really, you win as a team, you lose as a team.
I wouldn't have walked the big hitter... why? because simply put, these are kids, they're not fools, and they know that everything doesn't always work out. If they want to compete and win, great. The cancer survivor would have known this, and I don't think he would have welcomed the pressure.
I think it was a bad move on the part of the coach...
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.
I don't have kids, and don't plan on it
if i was the coach, id have walked the star hitter to hope for the chance of striking out the next kid. not trying to pick on the cancer survivor, but because it increases the chance of winning without cheating. so some kids feelings get hurt..who cares, its life, deal with it
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
Agustin's answer: I have 3 kids, 14, 12 and 7.
I've also supervised manufacturing at a company that almost 100% of the work force had some form of mental or physical disability. Having that experience, I'd have walked the "star" and directed the pitcher not to throw any wimpy pitches to the kid with cancer, just like I'd have done for any other kid.
The last thing a kid who's clearly different wants to happen is to be publicly reminded exactly how different they are. Treat him like a 9 year old and nothing more. If he strikes out, he does it like a normal kid would. If he gets a hit, it wasn't "soft-soaped" and he'll really feel great because he earned it. I've seen it happen to adults with disabilities in the factory, even "moderately" retarded people know when they've done it right and when allowances have been made.
If his condition is too great for him to play at all, keep him on the team and make him bat boy, assistant coach, equipment manager, whatever. If he can play, he's just another kid.
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John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
screw walking the guy
the best feeling i had in little league was striking out the other teams best hitter to win the game
id feel like an ass if i struck out that kid
i would have pitched to the good hitter regardless of what my coach said
then again i am the ultimate competitor lol
I know my dad would not have had me walk the star hitter
damn man, i still remember that last pitch
high heat FTW!
Yes, I have a son. 1yr. 2 mo. old. Pride of my life!!!
John Wilken wrote:Agustin's answer: I have 3 kids, 14, 12 and 7.
I've also supervised manufacturing at a company that almost 100% of the work force had some form of mental or physical disability. Having that experience, I'd have walked the "star" and directed the pitcher not to throw any wimpy pitches to the kid with cancer, just like I'd have done for any other kid.
The last thing a kid who's clearly different wants to happen is to be publicly reminded exactly how different they are. Treat him like a 9 year old and nothing more. If he strikes out, he does it like a normal kid would. If he gets a hit, it wasn't "soft-soaped" and he'll really feel great because he earned it. I've seen it happen to adults with disabilities in the factory, even "moderately" retarded people know when they've done it right and when allowances have been made.
If his condition is too great for him to play at all, keep him on the team and make him bat boy, assistant coach, equipment manager, whatever. If he can play, he's just another kid.
.
A reiteration of my own thoughts. I see it exactly the same way. Look, we agree on something!!!
Team GREEN
Suspension Division - "Handling Before Horsepower"
Making the turns since 1999
1998 EK Civic Hatch - Yes, it's a Honda.
oh and the cancer kids attitude was spot on
any normal kid would have cried if they lost the big game too
not every kid would have the same attitude the next day tho
hes a winner even tho he struck out
themarin8r wrote:oh and the cancer kids attitude was spot on
any normal kid would have cried if they lost the big game too
not every kid would have the same attitude the next day tho
hes a winner even tho he struck out
I seem to be agreeing with everyone today! Spot on, Marin8r
Team GREEN
Suspension Division - "Handling Before Horsepower"
Making the turns since 1999
1998 EK Civic Hatch - Yes, it's a Honda.
RaiLS wrote:I see it exactly the same way. Look, we agree on something!!!
OK, who are you and what are you doing sitting at RaiLS's computer?
We agree on something? This is a first!
.
John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
^^^I have to agree, after more consideration.
In anything that is competition, it's going to be cutthroat, and one of the lessons kids are goign to learn is what JimmiZ so eloquently put--you're going to have to accept that somewhere, out there, there's going to be someone better than you.
I can relate to the other extreme from my childhood. My dad was the typ of father that, in the words of Bill Cosby, Didn't believe in justice, and just wanted quiet. As such, any activity i chose to get into, that placed my younger bro in a competition with me, my dad would request (and sometimes demand) that i let him win, to keep things peaceful. It wasn't until i was 17 until we were sparring when we both were in martial arts and my bro requested that I not go easy on him--since i was much higher rank, and proceeded to, well annihiliate him (not in physical beating, but he got no points from the match, where i pretty much scored on him at will because i have a much longer reach and was much suicker than he was). He got upset, my dad found out, and porceeded to berate me for not going easy on him. It took him awhile to get throuhg his thick skull hey, like father like sons) that there are some things that i'm just going to be better at than he is, and he's gotta learn it. I also explained to him that until he puts in the time, effort, and dedication into the martial arts that I had up to that point, i would appreciate it if he didn't question how i chose to teach my students (which my bro was at the time), since accepting defeat in a sportsmanlike fashion is a lesson everyone needs to learn.
Needless to say, my brother shook that off a lot quicker than my dad did, when my bro realized that his artistic and musical talent did (and still does) far eclipse anything i could ever hope of doing.
So, after that trip down the memory lane, I have to agree, It taught the child 2 lessons that most of the parents need to learn:
1) it's only a game
2) to try harder so the next time it happens, he's the one that walks.
In retrospect, the 9 year old acted much more adult-like than most of the parents concerned, IMHO.
Goodbye Callisto & Skađi, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.
If anyone wants to know what I think...
We shouldn't teach kids winning and losing. We should teach them respect for their opponents, and by that I don't mean some pussy pacifist crap. Instead what I mean is to explain to the kid that their opponent wants to win as bad as they do and that their opponent has skill and that you have to show respect towards those skills and not a cocky "I can do anything" egotism. Best way to screw up is to want to win too much. Besides, you can enjoy losing too, especially when the guy's you play against are good. In any case, the best way to win is to get into the zone where winning or losing don't matter, you play your best, you NEVER give anyone a win and you appreciate how well the bastard you're playing against can be and learn from the mistakes you make. There's too much of this lust for victory thing going on. It's not about winning or losing, it's about becoming your best and if you happen to suck maybe you can work around that with a smart playing style? There's always hope and there's always the next game.
But that's just me...
it should be equally shameful for the Sox's coach for putting the cancer survivor behind their cleanup hitter. at four runs per inning and the description of the base and out layout, it could have been intented that the Sox's coach didn't want an early strikeout. (in any game) so put three good players in front of cleanup, then the cancer survivor. in a best case scenario, bases get loaded and cleanup brings in four runs, worst case scenario makes the opposing coach look like a douche...
coincidence? you be the judge.
