Dear dimwit on the phone

Or, depending on the format, consolation bracket. One state where I worked took so many teams to the state basketball and softball tournaments that you had consolation quarterfinals and championship quarterfinals.

 

Agreed. The bulk of these, along with the bulk of the combines are strictly pay-to-play goldmines for the organizers as parents grow faint and hand over checks and/or credit cards hearing coaches and recruiters will be there.

 

Since we're on the topic of youth sports, we got an e-mail complaining about our lack of coverage of some youth soccer thing and chastising us for not keeping up with what goes on in our region.

 

There's one parent I've known a while who has stars in his eyes over these things. I think his kid has been to a couple of the Perfect Game baseball camps the past few summers, and whenever I see Dad he'll breathlessly tell me all about how great his kid did.
The kid is a decent player, but he might have been the fourth or fifth best on a high school team that finished around .500 last season. The kid transferred to a private school at the end of the year, where I'm sure he'll light it up and be a great asset for them. After that, though, he'll be probably do well to get a juco scholarship.

The coach has told me the parent and kid are both a pain in the ass, too. Grumbling why the kid isn't playing more or batting higher when he hit .250 and skipped the first week of the season because the parent didn't think his arm was ready.

 

Email of the day: "You put the Stanley Cup on page 3 and the soccor on the front page! Your a ass hole."

So tempted to correct his spelling.

 

Well, true, but I'd be a little pissed if my local paper did that, too.

 

Wrestling also has plenty of consolation brackets for tournaments.

 

We have more than two dozen soccer fields here. The nearest ice rink is 60 miles away and the roller rinks don't even host hockey.

 

Our editor would've told the desk to put the Stanley Cup on the inside, then after getting the complaint, would ask everyone why it was put inside.

 

Exactly!

 

first msg on the voicemail today "Yeah, I can't believe you said in your paper that the Royals won. I was at that game and they lost." (this was followed by a lengthy description of the game)
second voicemail, five minutes later, same person "Yeah, I'm sorry, it was Saturday's game I went to, I didn't realize they played again on Sunday"

 

Text message yesterday from a friend of mine who's son plays for a 7-year-old All-Star baseball team in my neck of the woods that couldn't go any further than the Cal Ripken district tourney it won.

"Why weren't you at our game today? This is a big deal."

Did I say this was a 7-year-old team? And that the team could go no further than its district tournament?

Oh, and did I mention that yesterday was a day off for me?