Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Dana.

As a youth baseball coach for the past 16 years, this crime really bothers me.  Good umpires for youth baseball are hard to find, and nearly all of them take more crap from parents eager to relieve their glory years through their boys.  You never hear a parent yell to their son, “be a good sport and accept the call that was made”.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Payson-couple-accused-of-pocketing-money-paid-for-Little-League-umpires-86294562.html

So you have these underpaid umpires that range from high school kids to out of work parents to retirees, and they agree to be heckled and harassed for $25-$30 per game… to later be cheated out of their money by a couple of greedy scumbags.  Based on the mug shots showing the extra chins, they must have been using the money to dine out at the waffle house way too much.

What are your thoughts?

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Sunday, February 28, 2010 by Dana.

The General Manager where I work gave me these nice Clubhouse tickets for Championship Sunday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a Valet Parking pass.  Sweet, right?  I don’t golf and never really attended a golf event to watch.  I have usually gone to take advantage of some vendor’s free stuff.  Mostly, we (my wife and I) really didn’t know what to expect about attending and being in the Clubhouse. I’d thought it would be cool. I was excited about attending and getting to watch from the Clubhouse hanging out with people with large disposable incomes.

The Clubhouse did have a great brunch buffet (free), all the drinks were complimentary (with well liquor), and the view of the 18^th green was nice (if we stood up to watch over everyone else standing up).  Other than that…  Nothing!  It turns out that only non-Golf fans can have fun by drinking too much or by being with the nutty crowd on the famous 16^th hole.  You could hear some loud cheers and boos from the 16^th hole in the distance, and when Team USA tied the hockey game against Canada with time running out, there was a loud roar from the all the sky boxes with TV’s.  So if everyone is watching TV in the sky boxes, it can’t rank high on the excitement meter to watch golf live.

We did walk down to the 16^th hole to check on the fun, but we didn’t feel like walking through mud to get to the bleachers, so we walked back to the Clubhouse for a final drink before leaving for the day. Basically, we spent the afternoon on a chilly patio drinking weak Bloody Mary’s, trying to avoid the urge to eat out of boredom.  It goes without saying that I would never waste money on paying to attend such an event, and if I get offered free tickets again, I’ll see sell them or try to trade them for a something more enjoyable, which could be almost anything including a back hair waxing.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by Dana.

During a business dinner tonight, a co-worker asked how my coaching activities were going.  I was telling him that my middle child was now on 2 teams, having made his 7^th grade team.  I coach his club team, and I was talking about how so many of the boys on our club team had made their school teams.  This was rewarding for me because the club team had been put together specifically to help get the boys ready for their school team tryouts.  My wife then chimed in with “You’ve coached all the boys that  made the school team, right?”.

I paused to think, and then I realized… yes, almost.  In fact, I have coached 12 of the 14 boys, and the other 2 I have coached against.  I also have coached for or against nearly all the 8^th grade boys and the 7^th and 8^th grade teams at neighboring schools.  It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to have been able to see these boys grow and develop in baseball and in life.  Youth baseball coaches don’t get paid, volunteer large amounts of time, and spend money out of their own pockets for gear… and we don’t ask for anything in return. We do it because we want to, and we do it because we like seeing the boys grow and improve because of our contribution.

If you are a youth sports coach, I tip my hat and extend my thanks to you for all that you do.

If you are a parent, let your coach know that he/she is appreciated. It means a lot to us.

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