Dear dimwit on the phone

[fossywriter8]

For those of you scoring at home, tonight's high school softball game featured a 3-1-9 fielders' choice. Have at it.

Fake bunt, hard slap to right side that bounces off first baseman to pitcher, who throws to right fielder who was charging on in bunt attempt?

But if the out's at first base, it's not a fielder's choice, right? The out would have to be at any base BUT first. So was the right fielder covering second?

Didn't see the part about a fielder's choice.

 

[Mark2010]

Today, I received not one but TWO calls from a girls soccer mom two counties over from us (about 45 miles away). Their team is supposed to be travelling to face our team in the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs Saturday. Problem is, visiting team has their prom Saturday. They tried to get the home school's coach, AD and principal to move the game to Friday (or at least early Saturday afternoon), but they wouldn't budge.

Soccer moms from two counties over are calling us asking us to write a story about it and how their girls' lives are being ruined (they've already bought dresses, this is an important moment in their lives, etc.). All this despite the fact that they have their own paper in that county.

While I feel bad for the girls, us writing a story isn't going to do anything to change the game time. Also, from a business standpoint, I'm not going to tick off the locals who actually subscribe to our paper at the request of people who live more than an hour away.

Still could be a good story. No matter when you schedule something, it is bound to conflict with something else.

As for prom, I've run into that before. Regional tennis tournament scheduled for Fri-Sat. Rain on Friday backs up the schedule. Girl wins two matches early Saturday, needs one more win to qualify for state, two more to win regional championship. Excited? No, she's out of there at 2 p.m. sharp in order to GET HER HAIR DONE!!

It was at that moment I realized just how far out of whack some (not all) teenagers have their priorities these days.

Another time, star volleyball player ditches team for regional tournament so she can play on some travelling all-star softball in hopes of getting a college scholarship. I told her mom it was the wrong thing to do, to ditch your team at such a crucial time to further your own self interest. Roasted her in a story the next week. (Other parents later told me in private they were steaming, too, and appreciated the story being brought to light.)

 

[HanSenSE]

An interesting sidebar though...can't you play the game, change into your dress and enjoy the end of prom? Or what I've seen more often is the schools work together and moved the game to earlier in the afternoon.

we had a baseball team that played regionals on graduation day last year. They played the regional semi at 10 am, the seniors drove back home and walked across the stage, then drove back and played the regional final at 7

Great story!

Had a situation a few years ago where crosstown rivals were meeting in the Section softball final the night one was scheduled to hold graduation, the first time the schools had ever met for a title. They moved the game start up an hour or so to accommodate both. But, they had to cut short graduation after a rare lightning storm in the area. Parents were up in arms because little Jimmy or Janie didn't get to walks across the stage. School had to hold a second ceremony.

My thoughts: 1) You'd rather they be hit by lightning? 2) So they didn't get to walk across the stage ... they still got the sheepskin, which is the whole point, darn it! and 3) I'm glad they moved the game time up, since we got an extra hour to do everything, and our whole cover that day was nothing but game coverage.

 

[Bud_Bundy]

We had a girls soccer team reach the regional tournament with a game the same day as the school's prom. As I recall, the game was an hour+ away and at least half the starters, if not more, decided they wouldn't play because they wouldn't have time for their pre-prom primping. So they in effect quit the team to get ready for the prom, the coach pulled up a bunch of JV players and they lost something like 9-1.

 

[fossywriter8]

Must be a "girl" thing.
We've had instances where the seniors on a certain area school's baseball team walked through graduation with their uniforms on under their robes after coming directly from a regional game -- all without complaints or calls to move the game time up or even flat out bailing on the team.

 

[HanSenSE]

Oh, and this afternoon: Bases loaded, second inning. Batter strikes out, catcher thows to first to double off runner, as runner from third breaks for plate. First baseman throws back to the catcher, and runner on third gets caught in rundown. 2-3-2-5.

 

[Mark2010]

Since this seems to crop up with some regularity, it begs the question.... can't these dates be standardized?

I mean, we all have calendars. We don't schedule games on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc. Why can't we all get together and agree to have a "dark date" in order to avoid these conflicts? Like say, "there will be no competition on the second Saturday of May" and everyone schedule their proms on that day. Do the same thing for 1-2 days per year when they do the ACT/SAT tests.

It might push the season back a few days, or even a week. But it wouldn't change competitive balance and would be fair to everyone.

I feel for the teammates who are affected by some of their colleagues ditching on them at an important time.

 

[schiezainc]

Since this seems to crop up with some regularity, it begs the question.... can't these dates be standardized?

I mean, we all have calendars. We don't schedule games on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc. Why can't we all get together and agree to have a "dark date" in order to avoid these conflicts? Like say, "there will be no competition on the second Saturday of May" and everyone schedule their proms on that day. Do the same thing for 1-2 days per year when they do the ACT/SAT tests.

It might push the season back a few days, or even a week. But it wouldn't change competitive balance and would be fair to everyone.

I feel for the teammates who are affected by some of their colleagues ditching on them at an important time.

That would be madness.

For a small area, like the one I live in, a lot of schools schedule their prom around the proms of other schools because it makes it easier for their kids to get tuxs/dresses, makes it easier to hire a DJ, a photographer, book a room, etc.

I don't see why there should be any sports scheduled at all after 4 p.m. on a Friday during prom season for schools that have their event coming up. Much easier to reschedule a game to accommodate prom that the other way around.

 

[BillyT]

Since this seems to crop up with some regularity, it begs the question.... can't these dates be standardized?

I mean, we all have calendars. We don't schedule games on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc. Why can't we all get together and agree to have a "dark date" in order to avoid these conflicts? Like say, "there will be no competition on the second Saturday of May" and everyone schedule their proms on that day. Do the same thing for 1-2 days per year when they do the ACT/SAT tests.

It might push the season back a few days, or even a week. But it wouldn't change competitive balance and would be fair to everyone.

I feel for the teammates who are affected by some of their colleagues ditching on them at an important time.

Mark: If you are suggesting a "Prom Weekend" that would cover all the schools in a league/region, it wouldn't work, because there are not enough sites, limo companies, etc. (Tuxes are not a problem).

You'd be forcing school to compete for sites.

Schiezainc: The logistics are difficult. In place I have been baseball/softball play Tuesdays and Fridays, mostly. There are proms on different weekends.

It's as simple as the two ADs being reasonable and working it out.

The problem is, sometimes people are looking for a competitive advantage.

 

[Mark2010]

Fair enough about the proms. Been a looooong time since I was in high school. And I never went to one of those things anyway.

It would SEEM easier to reschedule a game, but from the comments here and what I have seen over the years, apparently not. So I guess it comes down to choices, like a lot of other things in life. However, if I were a coach and a player ditches the team for some other event (aside from something like, say, a death in the family), they're done. No coming back for a future playoff game or whatever. I'd make that clear at the start of the season.

 

[HanSenSE]

Mark's post reminds me of something that happened a few years ago.

The senior trip to Disneyland was scheduled the day before the league finale in baseball, with the bus leaving during Thursday practice. The coach made it clear: If you're not at practice Thursday, you're not playing Friday. A few made the trip and didn't play, and the team won with reserves mostly in the lineup.

Couple of hours before deadline, parent sends me an email asking if I could mention what happened in my story. I didn't, and sent him a note suggesting a letter to the editor. He wrote it ... and got fried by the readership. Of course, still don't understand why the parent would want me to make a fuss out of the team winning without their spawn in the lineup as usual?

 

[txsportsscribe]

schools wouldn't be competing for sites if they held the prom in the gym like it's supposed to be!!!!!!!