As you know, the big kid had his heart and soul ripped out of him the other night after he pitched. He was not only devastated but despondent and depressed. To get over the trauma, he has been keeping a journal and sending me passages. As I read it, there are things that he has not shared with me which has added fuel to the ulcer growing in my gut. Ouch!
To recap, the coach called him out in front of the team the other night after he loaded the bases with an error and walk, then struck the next batter out to end the inning after he had a 3-0 count. Not bad. Not great. But hey, two kids gave up 11 runs before he entered the game. Does this sound like Bad News Bears with Buttermaker as the coach? Anyway, the coach who we call Coach Incredible (CI) was hired this summer after a very short national search. He talked a good game in his interview and has been trying to brand his name throughout campus by making and selling tee shirts with a catchy logo attached to his name. He also has weekly coffee with the coach for any fan who wants to show up. He blasts his face all over the internet and facebook. He also has a documentary team from the Communications department following him to present him as the savior of baseball on campus. Frankly, he is all smoke and no fire.
But hey, I digress.....
On Thursday, I had a chance to speak again to my son who was still upset and had been called for a meeting by the coach by one of his assistants. You see, he cannot pick up the phone and call himself. During this meeting, he continued to call him a ^5#( , berate him, and continue to call him soft with no mental toughness. This is the coach's thing...mental toughness...read a book...listen to me....I will deliver you to the promised land. And yet, this is not what is happening....The coach wants to meet with him every day to improve his mental game. Sheesh! The coach is already mental and is going to help my kid with his head? I am worried about this one.
As the kid has been documenting the activities and coaching sessions, I read one passage in his journal that sent me into outerspace....After a lackluster bullpen session, the pitching coach, Psycho, started to scream at him and told him "Go home and slit your wrists..." Uh huh....thanks dude. These kids do not have enough pressure on their plates without their coach telling them that not only are they worthless but they should kill themselves. Nice. Can I sigh my 10 year old up for this camp?
Ok, this is just one of the many and I mean many mean spirited, abhorrent sentences that these twits utter on an hourly basis. Now, is this just my son who is the lightening rod for this abuse?
Nope! Two nights ago, LW came off the mound after a so-so outing. He was called out after the game in front of the team. He was then stripped of his status in the line up and humiliated far more than my kid was. According to Buddy, the kid was suicidal afterwards. The coach even asked the team if they thought LW was a joke (Keep in mind, I am not using the terminology/phraseology that the coaches are using). No one replied. Again, this is no way to conduct a team. I may not be a professional coach, but I have coached college players and yelling, belittling, and publicly humiliating them is not the way to go. LW plans to leave the team. This is sad because he is a senior and has been instrumental in many of the wins (and losses) over the years.
On to last night...once again...the starter has some problems. For those who do not know this, the pitchers are not allowed to call their pitches. Signals come from the dugout. And so, the coaches think they know what to call. As they continued to call fast balls, the pitcher decided that he wanted to throw off speed and waved off the catcher. Well, it did not work. The batter hit it into the out field. Psycho storms out of the dugout and screams at the pitcher rather than calming him. Then he asks the catcher, the captain of the team, about the pitch. When the catcher supported the pitcher, he was promptly pulled out of the game and is benched tonight.
After the game, the pitcher was screamed at for 10 minutes. Guess what folks? There were five errors behind him on the field. No one was called out for those. I guess we are only going to win games with pitching.
Now for the better news....the coach announces that he does not care about the guys. They can walk and he can cut them. And he is safe, because he has a five year contract. Huh? What? He is throwing all of these kids who have worked hard to prove themselves and he is demonstrating how powerful he is. Again, this is bullying....
Hey, I am not done yet. There is a depth chart in the dug out. My kid has been moved to the bottom. That means, they look at him as the worst pitcher on the team. As such, his pre game assignment was to catch balls and carry the buckets of balls for the fielders, which is the worst job on the team. Even the kids with 20 and 30 ERAs are higher on this bogus depth chart.
How did he take it? Well, if you asked me on Wednesday or Thursday, he would have been devastated, but now, all of the guys are plotting some type of revenge or exit strategy. They will be able to evaluate the coaches after the season....which does not end until May.
With that said, game time today is 3 pm. I will be watching on my computer, then be updated after the game by my inside source. Until then, my take on all of this is that I agree with BD, they want the guys to quit so that they can bring their own players in. Rather than salvaging the season, they plan on gutting the team and starting over, hence the comment on his five year contract, which screws even the freshmen.
I continue to wonder if this is normal. Are all D 1 coaches like this tyrant and psycho? I need answers. Therefore, I am going to the Yoda of D1 and professional sports, my girl friend, Big Girl whose three sons either played or are playing D 1 football. Her oldest has been drafted as a professional quarterback. Big Girl will have the answers. Now all I have to do is take her out for happy hour and interrogate her. If this is the norm, I will shut up. If not, I will stand by until I get a clean shot (figuratively) like a navy seal. Then I pounce like a BP mom cheetah....graceful yet deadly....
As my son wrote in his journal....Pride goeth before the fall....impressive that he would know this quote.
Gotta go....I have a game to watch.
Peace.
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