Figure we may get a kick out of this

Fryowa said:
Yep I agree. I’m totally fine with talking to parents. I just don’t want to do it alone because I don’t always trust people not to twist it around.

One thing I’ll never understand though is parents who get upset about playing time at the HS level. Maybe it’s because I (think) I have a decent idea of what makes a good athlete at that level, and maybe the average Joe parent who never played doesn’t? Not sure. I get the frustration, but I’d never approach a coach.

My kid and yours must be somewhat similar when it comes to basketball. My kid is downright terrible. But, because our numbers suck ass, he’s always gotten playing time. I actually took the opposing viewpoint and found myself thinking a bunch of times, “Get his ass off that floor, coach…”

But, (and I don’t know if this is good or not) my kid has some heart and he plays hard. Doesn’t score a lick but he gets a little bit of the Rudy factor going and I think basketball/football coaches appreciate that and give him some time because of it. I know for a fact he’ll never even see JV time in basketball and the jury is out on FB. He loves baseball and I’m guessing that’s where he’s gonna gravitate to.

And BTW when I said our kids might be similar, I wasn’t insinuating that yours was terrible at any sport. That’s mine. Lol.
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It does sound like our kids are similar. Mine can hit the crap out of the ball. He's not good at basketball, but is a decent passer, good rebounder, and does fine with help defense. Could just as well stay on the defensive end, because they're better off playing with 4 on offense than having him on that end of the floor. He doesn't even go out for FB because he's really soft. We don't encourage it because I had 2 diagnosed concussions plus some undiagnosed. I've had headache issues since and have recently started having seizures, which my neurologist says is from brain trauma.

Anyway, yes, my kid is not good at anything but baseball. My problem comes when he's ready to make the move from JV to varsity. JV's leading hitter this year, but only lose 2 seniors. Parents aren't going to like it if he's one of the 2. And I can give you the names of the parents...
 
99topdawg said:
It does sound like our kids are similar. Mine can hit the crap out of the ball. He's not good at basketball, but is a decent passer, good rebounder, and does fine with help defense. Could just as well stay on the defensive end, because they're better off playing with 4 on offense than having him on that end of the floor. He doesn't even go out for FB because he's really soft. We don't encourage it because I had 2 diagnosed concussions plus some undiagnosed. I've had headache issues since and have recently started having seizures, which my neurologist says is from brain trauma.

Anyway, yes, my kid is not good at anything but baseball. My problem comes when he's ready to make the move from JV to varsity. JV's leading hitter this year, but only lose 2 seniors. Parents aren't going to like it if he's one of the 2. And I can give you the names of the parents...
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Ouch man, holy shit. Sorry to hear about the seizure issues. That’s terrible.

And I hear you on the JV/V transition.

I wish I only lost 2 seniors. I started 4 seniors (only one of them made honorable mention all conference and that’s because every team gets one), 2 juniors (only one coming back), 2 sophomores (only one coming back), and 2 freshman. Both the freshman are coming back but one of ‘em can barely hit a ball off a tee. He’s a state track kid that can cover 80% of the outfield and hauls in every ball hit his way, total laser of an arm, but can’t hit for shit. Only played a couple years of rec ball and I don’t believe he played in middle school.
 
Fryowa said:
The mom of these two kids is beyond anything you’ve ever seen. She literally brought someone to a practice as well as a game to watch. Told our superintendent it was someone who “knows a lot about baseball” (I saw the email) and he doesn’t see why “Johnny” isn’t playing left field but “Jimmy" is. That’s how she justified it. “Someone who knows a lot about baseball.”

Tell you what, when I’m watching the Hawks I sure feel like a man who knows a hell of a lot about football. I’m a legend in my own mind.

What amazes me is that whoever this guy was actually agreed to it when she asked, “Hey, would you be open to the idea of going to one of Johnny’s practices and a game to watch the kid who’s playing in front of him and see if his coach doesn’t know what he’s doing?”
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Ironic that she actually invited someone to come watch because I actually invited a parent to observe one of ours from a distance. Same kind of scenario. Parent was pissed about playing time because the kid had size, athleticism, and was a one of the best kids on the field on game days. It took her about half an hour of watching his lazy ass going through the motions (half assing it would be an understatement) at practice for her to storm off. I received an apology letter from the mom later that night indicating that she had no idea he had absolutely no work ethic and went on to say she was amazed he played at all with that attitude.
99topdawg said:
It does sound like our kids are similar. Mine can hit the crap out of the ball. He's not good at basketball, but is a decent passer, good rebounder, and does fine with help defense. Could just as well stay on the defensive end, because they're better off playing with 4 on offense than having him on that end of the floor. He doesn't even go out for FB because he's really soft. We don't encourage it because I had 2 diagnosed concussions plus some undiagnosed. I've had headache issues since and have recently started having seizures, which my neurologist says is from brain trauma.

Anyway, yes, my kid is not good at anything but baseball. My problem comes when he's ready to make the move from JV to varsity. JV's leading hitter this year, but only lose 2 seniors. Parents aren't going to like it if he's one of the 2. And I can give you the names of the parents...
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Would the mom's name be Karen?
 
kicker22 said:
Ironic that she actually invited someone to come watch because I actually invited a parent to observe one of ours from a distance. Same kind of scenario. Parent was pissed about playing time because the kid had size, athleticism, and was a one of the best kids on the field on game days. It took her about half an hour of watching his lazy ass going through the motions (half assing it would be an understatement) at practice for her to storm off. I received an apology letter from the mom later that night indicating that she had no idea he had absolutely no work ethic and went on to say she was amazed he played at all with that attitude.

Would the mom's name be Karen?
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Karen McBitchface and I guarantee you the kid’s name is either Kaden, Kayden, Kaedon, or Preston.
 
Fryowa said:
Karen McBitchface and I guarantee you the kid’s name is either Kaden, Kayden, Kaedon, or Preston.
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It's definitely an "aden" name of some variety. But because the mom is clearly clever, quirky and thinks totally outside the box, it definitely ends in "-yn" so that her son is different. Kadyn.
 
99topdawg said:
Reminds me of this.

www.youtube.com

George Carlin - Guys Named Todd

George Carlin: Guys Named Todd - Goofy boy names
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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That is fucking hilarious and it's only gotten worse. The names today, holy balls. I named my boy Lew. It's a versatile name. Translates perfectly phonetically into Japanese. If he wants to go into some upper crust white collar job he can go by Lewis. If he wants to fix brakes or HVACs he can be called Lew or Louie. He had a daycare class with 14 kids in it, like 9 or 10 boys. No bullshit, 5 of them were "aden" derivatives. It's fucking ridiculous.
 
okeefe4prez said:
It's definitely an "aden" name of some variety. But because the mom is clearly clever, quirky and thinks totally outside the box, it definitely ends in "-yn" so that her son is different. Kadyn.
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I'm pretty sure I brought this up a couple years ago here, but when I was umpiring I at one point had a lineup card given to me that had 3 "Kadens" on it all spelled different and a Kade with no "en" on it. Maybe it was Cade...don't rememeber. Same team btw.

And kudos to you for not pressuring your kid into white collar.

I LOVE the cringe I get from people who ask me what my kid is thinking for colleges when I tell them I hope it ends in "CC" and involves a two year tech program and a job that out of the gate starts at $80K/year with only $20K in tuition bills. You know, jobs that are actually fun, add value to the everyday world, have lots of paid time off, and pay really well.

Half the cringe is shock, and half the cringe is that their own kids are getting some lib arts degree for $160K and will be living in the basement for the next 25 years since they can't buy a house.
 
okeefe4prez said:
It's definitely an "aden" name of some variety. But because the mom is clearly clever, quirky and thinks totally outside the box, it definitely ends in "-yn" so that her son is different. Kadyn.
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Our middle school here is 5/6/7/8th grade, and there are three Nevaehs that I know of for sure, and possibly more.

It's...ya know, Heaven spelled backwards.

My kid was sweet on one of 'em for a while and even though I knew it would never materialize in the future, I couldn't help myself from thinking, "there's no fuckin way, kiddo." I ain't helping pay for that weird ass wedding with parents who make those naming choices. That'd be one of those deals where there's tons of Nickelback requested at the reception and the cops show up because one of the bride's cousins got all sweaty drunk and whipped her ta tas out while there were kids around.

Nope.
 
Fryowa said:
I'm pretty sure I brought this up a couple years ago here, but when I was umpiring I at one point had a lineup card given to me that had 3 "Kadens" on it all spelled different and a Kade with no "en" on it. Maybe it was Cade...don't rememeber. Same team btw.

And kudos to you for not pressuring your kid into white collar.

I LOVE the cringe I get from people who ask me what my kid is thinking for colleges when I tell them I hope it ends in "CC" and involves a two year tech program and a job that out of the gate starts at $80K/year with only $20K in tuition bills. You know, jobs that are actually fun, add value to the everyday world, have lots of paid time off, and pay really well.

Half the cringe is shock, and half the cringe is that their own kids are getting some lib arts degree for $160K and will be living in the basement for the next 25 years since they can't buy a house.
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Tuition for two years of juco is essentially free here. It was part of the bargain to get the lottery approved. There are still some admission and tech fees, room and board ain't included, and you gotta buy books, but the state government made a strong commitment to ensure that everyone can get a 4 year degree for under $30k of tuition. My cousin did juco and 2.5 years of ag science at Clemson and is now running one of the largest egg farms in the world, which is in deep rural Thailand. He got it done for under $20k. He lives in a condo that is attached to a super nice country club and has under $20 a day of living expenses and lives like a king. That's the sort of job none of these lib arts set would ever send their kids on, but my cousin is probably way happier than 99% of these morons posting pictures of their new handbag or laptop or whatever on Insta.

I don't care what my boy wants to do as long as he does something. He's the only grandkid on both sides of the family and barring a cataclysmic meltdown of the global economy or Zimbabwe levels of hyperinflation, he should be pretty well off no matter what he does. Of course we'll never inform him of that fact because the best way to ruin a bright young man is to tell him he is taken care of no matter what.
 
Fryowa said:
I LOVE the cringe I get from people who ask me what my kid is thinking for colleges when I tell them I hope it ends in "CC" and involves a two year tech program and a job that out of the gate starts at $80K/year with only $20K in tuition bills. You know, jobs that are actually fun, add value to the everyday world, have lots of paid time off, and pay really well.

Half the cringe is shock, and half the cringe is that their own kids are getting some lib arts degree for $160K and will be living in the basement for the next 25 years since they can't buy a house.
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We do agree on this. My two engineers did this, got better teaching and went to the number one ranked Mech Eng program and one graduated with honors. One graduated with no debt. One played college soccer. Two of my kids aren't/weren't college material and got to prove that at community college, one with no debt.

Several local valedictorians flunked out of aggressive 4 year programs as they weren't mature enough.

Iowa and ISU both have fantastically low tuition compared to surrounding states. Great opportunities.
 
Fry, how big is the HS you coach at? I can imagine though you enjoy the "mental aspects" of coaching.

I never shirk from talking with parents. I will talk to the AD or the program director is I think it didn't go real well. I'm pretty direct on ability and give them suggestions on improving playing time. At the non-HS level, I invite any parent to participate in practice and give them things to do.

I will add thought that at the HS level, donations and status do make a difference and when your kid is really good and not getting dues it's hard to take, but in the end it does seem talent comes to the top in order to win (except for Iowa punting I guess).

In HS Baseball I had an all state football player in front of me at center field. His best friend (who got a scholarship offer from HF) into the season went to the HC and asked that I start over his buddy when he was pitching and after that the position was mine and also was leadoff. That doesn't happen very often.
 
Fryowa said:
I'm pretty sure I brought this up a couple years ago here, but when I was umpiring I at one point had a lineup card given to me that had 3 "Kadens" on it all spelled different and a Kade with no "en" on it. Maybe it was Cade...don't rememeber. Same team btw.

And kudos to you for not pressuring your kid into white collar.

I LOVE the cringe I get from people who ask me what my kid is thinking for colleges when I tell them I hope it ends in "CC" and involves a two year tech program and a job that out of the gate starts at $80K/year with only $20K in tuition bills. You know, jobs that are actually fun, add value to the everyday world, have lots of paid time off, and pay really well.

Half the cringe is shock, and half the cringe is that their own kids are getting some lib arts degree for $160K and will be living in the basement for the next 25 years since they can't buy a house.
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Your assessment makes sense but wouldn't have worked for me at that age. I needed four years (actually five and change) because I needed to grow up socially and mentally and college helped me do that. And it took me a long ass time to grow up spiritually but thats another story.

Anyway had I set out into the real world at 20 I would have been a dead duck. The flipside is that in state tuition was a big time bargain in those days, I was able to cover a decent amount of the expenses by working summers, and I had my student loan debts paid off within six years of graduation. And I had no need or desire to spend some of the best years of my young adult life living in my "parents basement". Those cheap shoe box apartments may have been a little cramped, but you were rewarded with total independence.

When I did live at home post college it came with stiff monetary donations courtesy of mom. I guarantee you if mom and pops charged their freeloading thirty somethings a couple hundred dollars a month they would be out the door in a hurry. But some aging and widowed parents actually would rather have a freeloader in the house than live alone.
 
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