Youth Sports: Parents Suck (Part 2)

Crazy Youth Sports Parents and Coaches Series

In the last post, I suggested that parents should limit their role in youth sports to sperm and egg donors, check writers, schedulers and bus drivers. My rant was about the parent-led drama-filled story about my daughter's AAU spring / summer basketball season.

U15 Nations Baseball World Series Champ

Thanks to another group of parents, my son's spring / summer baseball team was a debacle too. Don't get me wrong, the action on the field was great. The boys all liked each other and played hard. They struggled to get wins early in the season, but came on very strong at the end of the season and won the Nations Baseball World Series in Pensacola, Florida.

The parents are the ones who made the season quite miserable. Parent coaches sparked discontent among many of the other parents. Youth sports parents with competing interests and goals often leads to no good.

The team was originally billed as a professionally coached team. They had a hitting coach, a pitching coach, an ex-minor league catcher to coach catching and all baseball fundamentals. The two parent coaches on the staff both had roles one the team too. They were tasked with the administration work and management of the games and practices when the professional coaches were not around.

One of the reasons my son picked the team was because he made an instant connection with the hitting coach at tryouts. Sadly, my son never saw that hitting coach again after the tryouts due to personal reasons and conflicts.

The pitching coach, a former minor league player and son of one of the dad coaches, was / is terrific. He could teach and had a great rapport with the kids. The only issue with him was that he was not a regular sideline coach. He was primarily available in the winter, but not very much during the regular season. This was not an issue for my son because he does not pitch, but the other very talented pitchers on the team could have benefited from more pitching instruction.

The "ex-minor league catcher" coach was terrific coach too. He's a young, energetic and credible. The kids loved him. The problem, he coached high school baseball and was not available until the later half of the first season. And by the second season, he was not available at all due to a work / grad school conflict.

That left two dad coaches. Another dad, also joined the staff to help out. So essentially, we had an elite team with three parent coaches. This is not unheard of, most of the teams had dad coaches too, but it did not seem to work in this case.

Many of the parents did not like how their kids were being played (positions, batting order, playing time, etc.) vis-a-vis the coaches kids, actually one of the kids in particular. The anger and resentment boiled up and up as the season went on. The bickering and complaining got louder and louder as the season went on. The calls to the coaches to complain became more and more frequent. I buried my head in the stats book and tried to steer clear of it as best I could, but it was pervasive among the dads and the moms. I have learned over the years that complaining does not work. It actually makes you feel worse about the situation and yourself.

In Pensacola, Florida, the the last pitch was thrown and the kids collected their championship trophies. Five minutes later, all of the families jumped in their cars for an 11 hour drive, and the majority of the team would never play together again. It didn't matter that the kids really enjoyed playing together.

The Main Point

If your son plays baseball at a high level, get him on a team with a professionally paid coach who calls the shots, makes the line up and assigns positions based on merit. And have your son work hard to earn his spot. And finally, during the season don't complain and make the season miserable for everyone else.

Trust me at the end of the day, talent will eventually win out. It always does.

The parents on this team were fun to be around when baseball was not the topic. I will actually miss hanging out with them. I have learned that many parents make a lot of emotionally based mistakes with their first young athletes. I was one of these complaining parents with my first kid and a little with my second kid earlier in his career. Overtime, I figured out that complaining was counter-productive and stressful. The parents from this baseball team will figure it out too. I wish them and their kids well.

Youth Sports: It's Not About You Dad

This past memorial day weekend, my daughter's U11 soccer team advanced to the finals of the Warrior Classic, an elite regional soccer tournament held in Dayton.

The pre-game line-up before the finals

The team has played well all season, but has made fatal flaws in games that have resulted in more losses than wins. The team finally put it all together in this tournament, including a big win over the best team in Ohio during pool play. Unfortunately, our team lost in the finals to the same team 1-0. Regardless, my daughter's team earned a lot of respect and walked away with some hardware.

CC with 2nd place hardware

That is not the story. This is a Crazy Youth Sports Parents Series Story

One of CC's teammate did not participate in this wonderful experience. She did not participate because her dad made the decision to quit the team prior to the tournament.

Here is how it went down:

Memorial Day Weekend is a big soccer tournament weekend. Our U11 Elite team was playing in Dayton. The U12 Elite team was playing in Columbus.

A dad on our team has a daughter on both teams, so to keep the family together for the holiday weekend and reduce the number of hotel rooms needed, he asked the U12 coach if his younger daughter could play up.

The U12 coach called our coach to ask permission to take the player. Our coach approved the move.

Our coach then called up another defender from the B team, a defender who he has wanted to call up for awhile now. He saw this as a great opportunity to see how this B team defender would play at the highest level prior to tryouts coming up.

The U12 coach then decided that he did not want to add the younger player to his tournament roster.

The dad then called our coach to inform him that his daughter would be coming to the U11 tournament. The coach informed the dad that he has already registered for the tournament with the B player on the roster. He said that she could come to the tournament, but expect reduced playing time.

The dad was not happy with this situation, became irate and decided to quit.

The Main Point

Unfortunately, this is not a unique situation. Many parents over-react when they feel that their kid is being wronged.

Who loses in situations like this?

The girl, who is a great kid. She didn't play soccer all weekend long and missed a chance to win a trophy.

The girl's teammates who missed playing with their friend.

The dad, who is a great guy and probably feels sick about the situation. I have never gone to this extreme, but I have approached coaches and regretted it. I don't do that anymore.

Tip - Let the season play out and then make a rational decision for your kid.

Youth Sports: Take a Time Out for Your Marriage

Last year, my two kids played in 256 games and participated in 180 practices. That's a lot of time dedicated to our kids, so last week, my wife and I took a time out from youth sports to reconnect with each other and refresh for the crazy spring to come.

We spent 6 days in the Caribbean while the kids stayed at home with grandparents.

Although our parents love our kids, the schedule that our kids keep would give anyone pause. I was able to convinced my dad and his wife to watch the kids. And we tried to make it easy for them so that they might consider doing it again.

Here are 13 tips on how my wife and I made watching our youth sports kids easy easier.

1. Create a very detailed schedule for each day of the week (see example)
2. Pre-cook and freeze some meals.
3. Set expectations on homework and bedtime with kids before you leave and with your parents (or whoever is watching your kids)
4. Clean and set out school and sports uniforms for the week.
5. Leave a list of contact numbers for doctors, dentists, orthodontist, insurance, school, the parents to your kid's friends (especially those who will be carpooling to practices), the local police / fire, the hotel where you are staying.
6. Leave medical insurance card(s) and a letter saying that the guardian has been given the right to recommend treatment.
7. Pick a destination that is easy to get to and from, just in case of an emergency.
8. Arrange rides to practices with teammates. (I'm sure your parents will

Youth Sports: Parents Role in Helping Kids Select a School

What role should mom or dad play when a young athlete is choosing a school?

National signing day for NCAA was this week. ESPN makes a big deal out of it. One of the top football recruits in the country, Landon Collins, selected Alabama over his home state school of LSU. His mom is a huge LSU fan and was not happy. Watch the video.

Crazy Youth Sports Parents Alert: It is not about you, mom.

______________

My son, Nic, is only in 8th grade, but he had to proclaim his intentions for a high school this past week too.

Nic had four obvious options. The free public high school in our town with is quite good. Moeller High School where his brother went to school. St. Xavier (the rival school to Moeller) and Cincinnati Christian Hills Academy (CHCA). Although there are pros and cons to each, all four options are strong educational institutions. Some are stronger than others but each will provide a great foundation for college. Nic couldn't make a mistake.

Nic quickly narrowed down to two schools based on baseball, Moeller and CHCA. I was ok that he used baseball as a criteria for selection because both programs were strong academically.

Moeller is a perennial baseball powerhouse. Ken Griffey Jr and Barry Larkin both went to Moeller. Moeller plays in the highest state baseball division. Moeller is a great program to prepare a young baseball player for college level. The program is highly competitive, so getting playing time is not a given.

CHCA is also well know for baseball. They have an amazing coaching staff. They are perennial favorites to win the division II championship every year. CHCA is a much smaller school than Moeller (50 boys per class compared to 200), so the competition for playing time is less.

My son set his sights on Moeller, not because of the academics or the baseball program, but because that is where many of his closest friends are going. He was also impressed with the House System. (Think Hogwarts)

I was pushing my son to go to CHCA because it is an amazing academic school and because he could play baseball, golf and basketball for the school all four years. He loves to compete.

Nic's elementary school is a feeder school for Moeller, so getting accepted into the program is pretty much guaranteed. Gaining acceptance to CHCA is much more competitive. Both schools require an entrance exam.

Nic was dead set on Moeller. He didn't want to shadow at CHCA or take their entrance exam.

What should a parent do?

The Main Point

It is not about me. My son is 14. He's old enough to make his own decisions. I believe that my role as a parent is to guide Nic, not make decisions for him. Well kind of.

He decided he was not going to explore the CHCA option. I explained to him that options in life are good and that he had nothing to lose. I also sensed that he wanted to explore CHCA, but was a afraid he would not get in. So I made him shadow and take the entrance exam. I told him that he would go through the process and then he could decide.

I remember when my older son decided to quit playing soccer in HS. He gathered up the courage to tell me. Much to his surprise, I said that was ok. That it was his life and his decision. I also told him that he was going to tryout for the team and if he made the team he could tell the coach that he didn't want to play. I knew he wanted to play, but was a afraid that he would not make it. He made the team and played.

Nic got into both schools. Together we discussed the pros and cons to each. He then made an informed decision to go to Moeller.

Guide your kids. Teach them how to make decisions. It is a life lesson that needs to be learned.

Youth Sport: How to Start A Youth Sports Blog (Part 4)

In Part 4, you will learn how to build traffic to your blog posts with Twitter.

Review -

In Part 1 of the series, I encouraged you to determined if you really had the motivation and passion to start a Youth Sports Blog.

In Part 2, you learned how to set up a blog and perhaps you started to write.

In Part 3, you learned how to build credibility and organic traffic (Traffic via search and referrals).

Follow the steps below and have patience it takes time and effort to build a following.

1. Join Twitter

In Part 3, we talked about joining the conversation on blogs to increase your authority and credibility about your chosen subject. Twitter is another great place to hold a conversation about your chosen topic and as a bonus Twitter can drive traffic to your blog.

I would recommend that you set up a Twitter account in association with your blog. My twitter account is www.twitter.com/Stats_Dad. I use twitter to curate, disseminate and converse about youth sports subjects. 

It's so easy to set up a Twitter account. Just go to Twitter.com and follow the very easy instructions. You can be conversing about your topic in a matter of minutes.

Of course, you need people to converse with and you need followers to see the influential thoughts you have about your topic. So, the first thing you need to do is find people to follow. A simple search on Twitter will uncover a long list of potential people to follow. First, I searched for coaches. After weeding out life coaches, I started following coaches of youth sports who had large followings (500+). I also started following moms and dads with kids, the target audience for my youth sports content. After I found people of interest though my search, I just started clicking the Follow button. You will immediately start to see a stream of tweets from the people you chose to follow.

The next thing that you need to do is join the conversation. When someone you follow says something interesting or provocative click on the rely link and voice your opinion. If you do not have anything to add to the conversation, but like the content, you can simply retweet (RT) the message by clicking on the Retweet link. This rebroadcasts the tweet to your followers. (Note: only followers see tweets) When you RT, the original writer of the post will be notified in his or her tweet stream and perhaps via email (You can set your preferences to notify you of any activity relating to you via email. I do not do this because it will take over your email. Simply look at the activity on Twitter).

Note: People love to be retweeted because it validates the sent message. RTs tell the twitter world that the writer contributed something worthwhile.

Note: In the beginning, I would recommend that you keep your replies positive and supportive.

Soon, you will start to notice that the people you are following and conversing with are following you. (It is somewhat common courtesy to follow those who follow you unless you are a celeb.) Your followers will likely start reading and replying to your Tweets. When they reply to your tweets they expose their followers to your conversation. So make your tweets worth reading and sharing and soon followers of the people you follow will start following you. It is a snowball effect.

If you want to start a new conversation with someone on Twitter simply post a message on your Twitter page with the twitter handle of the person you want to converse with - For example, if you wanted to send me a message that can be seen publicly then tweet @stats_dad I really liked your post on How to Start Youth Sports Blog. The @Stats_Dad is like my address on a letter you are sending. I will immediately see this in my activity column and most likely respond to you.

Note: You can also send me a private message or direct message (DM) via twitter. Click on my profile and if a little envelope icon is there send a message. I need to be following you for you to send me a DM.

Note, you can Tweet 135 character text messages. You can also include links to pictures, videos or websites as long as the text and the links combined are less than 136 characters. 

Advice: Tweet links to each one of your blog posts.

Before long you will have hundreds maybe thousands of people that you follow and who follow you. I have assembled 1000 followers in 10 months.

When you follow a lot of people you will notice that you cannot keep up. You will want to create lists of your favorites. I have a Dads list and a Youth Sports Coaches List. This is easy to do. Click on the person that you want to follow or are following - look for an icon of a head / bust. Click on that and then click on add to list.

Advice: It is a good idea to bond with a person who has a strong twitter following. Intrigue them and they will likely drive traffic to your Twitter page.

Note: You can and should customize your Twitter page to match your website. You can do this through settings and the design button. Use Trial and error to get the look you want - you can always reset it.

2. Set up TweetDeck or HootSuite or similar

There are free Twitter platforms that can help you organize and send Tweets in one view. I use TweetDeck to organize my Twitter streams - The first column is my Youth Sports Coaches list. This column has the most relevant information that I might want to explore and respond to.  The second column consists of tweets from all of the 1,500 people I follow. It is quite cumbersome. The 3rd column showcases all the tweets that @Stats_Dad is mentioned in and the 4th column shows all direct private messages (DMs) to me. Again, this one view layout makes participating on twitter easier. These platforms also make it easy to add videos and pictures and shorten URL links so that you can maximize your 135 character limit. You can also schedule Tweets using these platforms. Sending out a tweet at 2AM will not have the same impact as one sent at 12N unless you have an international following.

Twitter can do all of the above. These platforms just make it easier to see because of the one view layout.

3. Set up Buffer

In the previous posts, I talked about how important good consistent

Youth Baseball: Another Injury Scare

Last week, my son's baseball career flashed before his eyes after an awkward swing during an indoor winter practice had him clutching his elbow. The elbow swelled immediately and turned purple.

6 yrs old

7 yrs old

8 yrs old

9 yrs old

10 yrs old

11 yrs old

12 yrs old

13 yrs old

As we drove home from practice, my son iced his arm. I could see the worry in his eyes as he stared straight ahead without saying much. I felt so sorry for him. 

Baseball is his love. In fact, he recently started some grueling work outs with a personal trainer to increase arm strength. He also started working with a baseball trainer to improve his throwing mechanics. Ironically, he was doing all of this to avoid arm injuries. 

He has had arm injuries before. At age 10, he broke the growth plate in his elbow while he was pitching. That healed fairly quickly, but while the elbow was healing, his shoulder became weak. The shoulder weakness led to shoulder pain. He battled arm discomfort off and on. Last year, he was injury free and he was really looking forward to a breakout year in 2012.

We had to wait to call for an appointment with an orthopedic because his latest injury happened on a Sunday. The ice and Advil seemed to eliminate the swelling and discoloration. The pain was minimal. Still, we made an appointment to see the doctor.

The doctor suggested an MRI and it took a week to schedule the MRI. During that long week, my son wondered if he would be playing baseball in the spring or recovering from surgery. 

Fortunately, the MRI came back negative. There was no bone or ligament damage. The swelling and discoloration was the result of a minor bursae sac issue. I was thrilled for my son and, quite frankly and selfishly, for myself. I love to watch him play and get a sense of pride from his accomplishments. 

My son's baseball career was back on track and he was back in the gym the day after the results came back.

The Main Point

All dads know how unlikely it is that their son will make the pros or even play in college. To make it, a player needs to be a very special talent, be seen by the right people at the right time and stay healthy. 

Every time I think about how unlikely it is that my son will advance in baseball, I also consider that every college and pro ballplayer has a dad who wondered the same thing. So there is a chance. The results of the MRI kept those slim chances alive.

Youth Sports: A Plane Crash is a Good Excuse to Miss a Game

Do you go to all of your kids youth sports games? (Please let me know in the comments)

I faithfully and happily go to about 95% of all of my kids games. I do have to miss a few games on occasion. Sometimes I will miss my daughter play a game because my son is playing a game at the same time (or vice versa). Sometimes I miss a game because my wife and I are taking our annual trip together. We travel a week in February from Sunday to Friday to minimize the number of games missed. And sometimes my work interferes with a game. Luckily, I have pretty good control of my schedule so I can avoid conflicts most of the time.

There are some parents who missed most of their kids games. And there are situations where you only see the mom at games but never the dad. The reverse is true too. The reasons, good and bad, vary from work conflicts (including military deployments) to marital issues to lack of interest. And there are parents who go to most of the games but complain about what a waste of time it is the entire time.

For those of you who miss games you could actually make, this short video of a man who survived the plane crash of USAir 1549 better know as the Miracle on the Hudson may change your attitude about going to your kid's games.



The Main Point

This video should inspire everyone to cherish every at bat in little league baseball, every snap in pee-wee football, every tip off in AAU basketball and every minute of a 0-0 youth soccer game.

Time with our children goes by so quickly. Last night, my fifth grade daughter wanted to go to the regional finals of the Ohio State High School Football Championship because all of her friends (boys and girls) were going. Although we did not know any kids playing in the game, we decided to go to the campus of The University of Cincinnati to watch.

High school football is a big deal in Ohio. The stadium was crowded and electric. We had a good time, however sitting amid a sea of high school kids made me realize the my youngest will not be young very long. Soon she will be in high school and more interested in boys than her dad. Actually that's already happening. My son watched the game with his buddies far from my wife and me on the other side of the large stadium. We met up after the game and we walked side by side through campus to the parking garage. Every time I look at him lately he seems to have grown and matured more. At that moment, I realized I will dropping him off at college in 4 short years.

At the game last night, I peeked into the future and it made me bit sad. During the game, I remembered the video above that I just saw this week and it reminded me cherish every moment I have with my kids now. But I did not really need the reminder, I all ready do and I hope you do too.

Youth Sports: Marriage Advice for Crazy Youth Sports Parents

Marriage advice for Crazy Youth Sports Parents

Today is the 285th day of the year and my two kids have played in 236 games and participated in 137 practices. That's 373 youth sports events in 285 days. My wife and I have logged 13,000 miles just going to and from sports games. I'm not sure how many water bottles we filled and washed or how many loads of uniforms and practice jerseys we have washed. Lots of time and effort goes into our youth sports obsession. Of course, our kids are not just athletes. Both are terrific students and are involved in non-sports extracurricular activities as well. It's pure insanity I know. 


To do this you need two very dedicated parents with a passion for their kids and sports. My wife and I wouldn't commit to this schedule if we weren't on the same page because a schedule like this could put a strain on a marriage. 


While we concentrate a lot of time and emotional energy on our kids, we don't forget about each other. We believe that one of the greatest things that we can give our kids is a happy and healthy marriage. My wife and I both came from broken families and know the toll that divorce can take on kids, so we constantly work at our 15 year marriage. Of course it helps that we are both compatible sports nuts.



Here's some marriage advice for Crazy Youth Sports Parents.

1. Have a date night every week without kids. (Fall Ball Baseball Saturday nights is killing this for us in Sept and Oct.)
2. Get on the same page about the sports schedule - jointly decide what to do and not do. And when too much is too much.
3. Go to every youth sports event together to share the memories. Of course, when you have multiple kids you need to divide and conquer. When you are apart, text sports updates or provide play-by-play over the phone.
4. Finally, take a TIME OUT from youth sports and go away alone for uninterrupted time together. This past weekend we took a break from youth sports and drove to Nemacolin Woodland Resort in Western Pennsylvania for a 50 / 25 / 20 / 15 celebration. My two sisters and my two brother-in-laws met us there. My older sister turned 50 and was celebrating her 25th anniversary. My younger sister was celebrating her 20 anniversary and my wife and I celebrated our 15th.

The Nemacolin Woodland Resort is a great getaway for active youth sports parents. There is so much to do. (Actually it is a great place for young athletes too. We intend to take our kids there one day soon.)

Over two days one or more of us did the following

1) Zipline

2) High-wire Obstacle Course

3) Wall-Climbing

4) Miniature Golf

5) Bowling

6) Beer Tasting Festival

7) Dog Sledding

8) Billiards

9) Jeep obstacle course

10) Fine dining and lots of drinking

We did not do the following because we did not have the time or the activities were totally booked

1) Spa

2) Skeet shooting

3) Archery

4) Golf (Two spectacular courses)

5) Zoo

6) Antique Car Museum

7) Antique Plane Museum

8) Hiking

9) Learn to fly fish

10) Horseback riding

11) Tennis

12) Swimming

13) Croquet

We had a great time. We only missed 1 basketball game, 1 golf match and 1 basketball practice. It was actually the State Cup Soccer Semi and Finals weekend. My wife and I rolled the dice that scheduled the weekend thinking that the team was not quite good enough this year to make it to the final four weekend like we did last year. We were right so we did not miss any soccer.

The Main Point

The over-scheduled youth sports world we live in can make life stressful for kids and parents.

My advice go to as many youth sports games are you can and enjoy watching your kids play. It will all be over before you know it. And periodically take a TIME OUT away from your kids sports schedules and your kids for a couple of hours per week and a couple of days per year to connect with your spouse.

Youth Soccer: Full Spectrum of Emotions for Dads of Goalkeepers

In 1980, Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions which consisted of 8 basic emotions and 8 advanced emotions each composed of 2 basic ones. I think that he studied fathers of 10 year old girls who happen to play goalie for their soccer team.


I certainly went through a wide range of the emotions just this past weekend watching, coaching, cheering and consoling my daughter, CC, during the opening tournament of the season. 

Anticipation - Fathers of young athletes anxiously await the first games of a season. All week long, I couldn't wait for the weekend to come so I could see my daughter, CC play. CC was being featured as the starting and full time goalie for her elite soccer team for the first time. 

Optimism - I did not schedule any golf for the weekend because I assumed that CC's team would advance to the finals.

Boredom - My daughter's team dominated the first game of the tournament. As such, CC recorded a shutout, but did not touch the ball more than two times the entire game. The highlight of the 8-0 win for the goalie's dad was one punt and one goal kick.

One punt in 60 mins, boring.

Apprehension - Before the second game, My daughter and I looked over at the other team. CC saw the big, strong girl who injured her last season on a 1v1 fast-break. Bad thoughts ran through my mind. 

Last season 1v1 vs Number 59

Drilled by #59, CC saved the ball, injured thigh

Annoyance - In the second game, the wing defenders were not getting back on defense while my daughter was getting pounded with shots. 

CC faced a barrage of shots

Disapproval - My daughter did not call for a ball in the box that she could have easily picked up. The defender hesitated expecting CC to pick it up before she decided to kick it. The weak clearing pass was intercepted and ended up in the back of the net.

Disgust - I was disgusted that the coaching staff did not make any defensive adjustments to try to protect my daughter.

The barraged continued all game long

Sadness - My daughter gave up 6 goals. After the 4th goal she was weeping in the goal thinking it was all her fault. I felt her sadness and yelled out words of encouragement.

Bad first half

Remorse - Should I have encouraged her to be a goalie. Is she tough enough mentally and physically to endure the long stressful season on a top regional team?

Fear - My daughter had to come out of the goal to shut down a breakaway threat against, you guess it #59, the strong girl who ran her over last year.

I think that I was more scared than my daughter

Admiration - I admired her courage as she deflected the point blank shot.

Ball deflected over the goal

Awe - CC made 9 truly amazing saves in three games. Saves I could have never made as a 10 year old boy.

Great tip save

Amazement - I was amazed at how CC bounced back after giving up 6 goals to just the day before to perform with absolute confidence.

Another save to preserve the lead

Surprise - I was surprised when she made a game saving stop with one hand.

Great one handed game saving stop

Anger - I was angry that the Refs did not call a handball in the box that would have led to a game winning PK chance.

Handball caught on film, but not by the ref.

The Main Point

These are the most important emotions that I felt this past weekend as the team went 1-1-1.

Joy - Several moms came up to me after the last game and were very complimentary of CC's performance. That made me feel great.

Acceptance - I accept that there will be ups and downs as the goal keepers dad.

Love - Win, lose or draw - I love my daughter.

Youth Baseball: The Link Between Baseball Past and Present

The link between baseball present and baseball past is omnipresent. Chevy used this insight to develop ads with little leaguers recreating famous Major League Baseball moments. The ad features the dramatic home runs by Carlton Fisk, Babe Ruth and Kirk Gibson.

The Kirk Gibson home run was particularly inspiring. This famous moment in baseball history happened in game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the A's and the Dodgers. Kirk Gibson was so hobbled by a swollen right knee and a strained left hamstring that he did not even come out of the club house for the team introductions and national anthem. He spent the entire pre-game and 8 innings of game getting treatment in hopes that he would get into a game later in the series.

Jose Conseco had hit a grand slam early in the game to give the A's a lead. The Dodgers held the A's to those 4 runs and managed to scratch out 3 runs before the 9th inning. The A's sent future hall of famer Dennis Eckersley, who had 45 saves during that year, to save the game. Kirk Gibson got his uniform on and went into the dugout. The Eck got two quick outs but then walked a batter. Kirk Gibson was called on to pinch hit. Gibson limped up to the plate and quickly got in the hole 0-2. And he looked bad doing it. He then hit a weak ground ball that went down the first base line. Kirk struggled down the base path as the ball went foul. He took a lot of time getting back to the batter's box. He then fouled off a few more pitches and took some balls but never looked comfortable. And then it happened, Dennis Eckersley gave Kirk Gibson a pitch he could hit and he served it into the right field bleachers of Dodger's stadium to win the game. As he rounded second base, he pumped his arm three times.

The Main Point

Share baseball history with your baseball playing kids.

Yesterday, my son, Nic, injured his knee while playing second base. He was in obvious pain, but the team only had 9 players so he could not come out of the game. The umpires gave Nic time to walk it off. Nic was able to finish the inning. He hobbled off the field and put ice on his knee which was beginning to swell. 

The team started to rally against one of the best teams in Ohio and Nic's turn to bat approached. As he was taking swings on deck, I yelled out to him, "Go get'em Kirk Gibson." I yelled that for the other dads of my age to hear, knowing that they would understand the reference. I didn't expect my 14 year old son to understand, but my son looked at me and gave me three arm pumps and smiled ear to ear.

Nic got to the plate with 2 on base and the team down 5 runs. He fouled off the first pitch. Then he took a low curve ball that was called a strike. Like, Gibson, he was down 0-2. He fouled off a few more pitches and worked the count to 2-2 just like Gibson. Then the opposing pitcher gave Nic something to hit. He drilled a line drive over the short stop and darted past the left fielder. An easy triple if he were not hurt, but Nic hobbled around the first and just got to second base.

It was not as dramatic as the Kirk Gibson HR, but link between baseball past and present and fathers and sons is dramatic.

Here is the entire 9th inning of the 1988 Game 1 World Series.

1988 World Series - Game 1 - Bottom of 9th -... by senatork

Youth Sports: My Daughter is a Better Athlete Than I am

I was approached by Sportsgirlsplay.com to write a guest post for the site. I was honored to do so. I wrote an honest post called Confessions of a Youth Sports Dad.

The story was inspired by a simple question that my daughter asked me just the other day.

"Daddy, if I were a boy, what was my name going to be?"

The question brought back memories of when my wife was pregnant with our daughter. I remember process of figuring out two names prior to the ultrasound appointment. We selected a name for a boy and a name for a girl. I also remember how I wanted another potential Major League Baseball player, not a girl. The story details my ignorance about women's sports.

The Main Point

My wife and my daughter have taught me that women can be great athletes.

Youth Sports: Gatorade Become Campaign

Gatorade is running a campaign called BECOME to promote their G Series products. It's an authentic campaign that is rooted in real consumer insights. I believe that these ads will resonate with Gatorade buying moms because they beautifully illustrate the real emotional bond between moms and their little athletes. 


I like the ads, but I have to admit, I am disappointed that Dads are not featured too. The insights that make these ads so strong are true to both moms and dads. And Dads buy lots of Gatorade. 

The Main Point


Moms are planners, they buy Gatorade in bulk at the grocery, club or mass store. Dads are forgetters, they forget to get the Gatorade out of the refrigerator before the game and then need to stop at the local convenience store or concession stand to buy more. Both moms and dads are important to Gatorade. Therefore, I think that they should feature dads in their ads.


BTW - I am not paid to talk about Gatorade.