Random thoughts of disconnected things. We'll see how I do tying it together.
First, I don't like the Dodgers, nor the Mets. I have no stake in that series either way. But, Chase Utley was not being a dirty player. I am not a professional athlete. But, I am a baseball player. I played middle infield and third base. I was not a gifted athlete, but I was a gifted learner.
Let's just cover a couple of things real quick, for all the commentary floating out there by people that have experienced, at most, watching baseball. First, it is Tejeda's fault. I am sorry his leg is broke, I certainly wish it was not. But, even at 9 I knew not to plant my foot with my back to the runner on the basepath. You better know he is coming down that line and going for your legs. You better know not to plant, that late in the play, with Utley's speed. Tejeda has no protection, has the runner too close, and was not going to make that double. He just was not.
Second, Utley did what every base runner is taught from tee ball on. You get your body in the center of gravity of the fielder. He/she will not be able to throw if you disrupt their center of gravity. Get them to dive, jump, or just knock their butt down. That is hard, fundamental baseball. Of course Utley was not sliding to prevent being out. He did not slide late, he slid exactly on time to get his hand on the bag, his mass directly under Tejeda's center of gravity, and not spike him. I would have probably given him the spikes in the legs.
I had enough of them in my legs playing short. I learned about not turning your back to the runner, playing second, the hard way. I learned about not planting your foot in the midst of a double play, when a squirrelly little fart cartwheeled me like a pinwheel. The only reason I did not break my leg was because I was still young enough that I was mostly made of rubber bands.
We have forgotten a lot of things about what made sports great. Like winning being important, but not more important than integrity. Next topic, some high school in Utah, the football coach suspended the entire team because there were players bullying other students, skipping class, and just acting the fool. Again, this is old man rant material, but what I could not believe was the response. I literally grieve for our nation.
There were men claiming that it is unfair to the kids that were not acting the fool. Who honestly thinks that there were any of those kids, "not being bad", that did not know exactly what was going on with the rest of those kids? It has been a while, but I remember high school. Everyone knew who was doing what. That cannot have changed, and good on a coach for having had enough. Judging from the crying and snivelling, this coach is obviously laboring with some poor candidates for athletes.
Parents, sadly, claim this is no way to treat the part of the team that wasn't being bad. I swear, there is going to be a movement that declares that every team wins, regardless of the score, because some of the kids are just hurt to lose. It ought to hurt to lose, it ought to hurt you like a deadly disease. That is how you know you don't want to do it anymore. That is how you know you want to work harder, want to try harder, want to want it more and more. That is the whole point. Losing sucks, it just sucks, that is the whole point.
Losing hurt me, every time it ever has happened to me. I despise it. But, it did not damage me. It built character, perseverance, determination, dedication. I still hate it, still cannot stand to do it. But, it happens, and I respect those that beat me, because I surely did not give it to them. But, if you can't do it with character and can't get the kids to understand that character is more important than the game, then turn it all off. That is what the coach, the adult, the mentor, the teacher, is supposed to do.
This coach took a stand that the quality of the character of his players was much more important than their performance on the field, their record, or their short term feelings. God bless that man, and I wish they made him talk to every professional football team. Every fool that jumps up after making an 11 yard catch and does some stupid celebration dance ought to have to go apologize to this Utah coach and give him 25. Have some class, some character, do your work, work your team and be an athlete, not just an athletic thug.
Oh, and most discouraging, there were the arguments about how this was supposed to be the highlight of some of these kids lives. What kind of retarded and worthless town is this in Utah. Sports are fun, good for the mind and body, but they are not highlights. Holding my newborns, highlight. Kissing my wife when she said I do, highlight. Watching my grandmother pass with peace and dignity, sad but highlight. None of those had anything to do with sports, but were influenced by lessons I learned there.
So, connection time, Chase Utley, playing hard, doing what he is expected to do, is unlucky in that a player with way more skill and experience than should be needed, did not play the ball right. Tejeda got the unlucky break, but because of where he was. The response is ridiculous. We suspend a guy that was playing hard, heads up ball, because we are afraid to admit the guy that got hurt should have known better. That is our response all around.
However, if you set the whole team down for being buttholes, and not outing their butthole brothers, you are the villain. So, when they are actually jacking it up six ways to Sunday, the apologist, ribbon for 6th place crowd has a fit. Hard charging guy on the dirt that belongs to the runner gets suspended for playing like it has been played for 100 years, same crowd cries from the other direction.
Ask my kids, they have never won any contest against me, that they did not earn. Scrabble, checkers, Trivial Pursuit, baseball, whatever, I played to win. When they did finally beat me, which they have, it meant something to them. They got to talk a little smack. There was value in the contest. Not because the contest was consequential, but because they played it the way it was intended and earned it. Chase Utley wasn't dirty, he was earning it. The Utah coach, wasn't mean, he was teaching it.
What broke my heart is how few people see the world that way anymore. Since the American Revolution, we have won, and won, and won, and won. Now, we just want to participate. Why are the jobs going to China...ever watched the Chinese at the Olympics? Athleticism is important, wanting it is more important. There are no small lessons in life, only people that try to make them small, because they don't have the fortitude to stand up to big lessons. I love Jesus, and all the rest of my fellow man on this Earth, but that don't stop me from wanting to play hard, play like I was taught, give it my all, and come home with the win.
That is what is changing. GLYASDI.
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