The Rules of the Game

I always like watching This Week In Baseball while growing up. I especially liked the "You Make the Call" and "Rules of the Game" portions where I could test how well I knew the game. Not really surprising since my dad was an ASA ump and I grew up watching him call games. I started umping Little league games in the field and behind the plate before the age of 14.

So now that I'm older, I've gone back to umping Little League locally here in Texas. I'm surprised by the number of coaches, players, and parents that don't know the rules of the game. Some of the rules are just things that the kids are learning, like balks, which I still don't like to call. Other rules are just plain and simple in the book. Here are few that I've had to cover with coaches over the last couple of weeks:

• Pitchers must have their foot in contact with the pitching rubber when beginning their motion.
• The ball is in play and live during a walk.
• Pitchers can't wear white sleeves under their uniform.
• Jewelry is not permitted until it's for medical purposes.
• It is against National Little League rules to have a cell phone in the dugout.
• The limitations on bat size apply to everyone, not just everyone else.
  

On top of teaching coaches, some long time umpires have surprised me with their own interpretation of the rules. One ump thought that Texas must have an exemption from the no tobacco on the field rule since he was dippin' like a donut. The same guy tried to explain fair and fowl balls to me in between innings. Needless to say, his interpretation wasn't even close to what the rule book says.

Finally, if you happen to be in the stands and the ump and scorekeeper both have only 2 outs but you think there are three, you're probably wrong. Even if you're not, you aren't likely to change things and it definitely won't help your team in the long run. Overall, even the bad umps I've met, all umpires go out and try to do their best for the kids, coaches, and fans. Try giving them a break sometime, or better yet, read the book and come on out and ump a base for us. You might just find that you like it, or that it's not as easy as you think.

Dribbling Drill

So Caleb had soccer practice last night and I found one of the best drills that I've seen for teaching the kids to dribble and keep the ball away from others.

With the U6 age kids the site I got it from (http://www.coachingsoccer101.com) recommended playing games instead of drills that aren't fun.

The game was called Killer Whale. We actually practiced with a U4 girls team and all the kids played well together. Everyone dribbles around in a set area (we used half the micro soccer field) and the Killer Whale (or Whales) ran around and tried to kick their balls out of bounds to get everyone out. We gave everyone a chance to be the killer whale at least once. We played this for about 20 minutes and no one got bored with it.

For all those soccer dads out there, I thought I'd share. Check out the site too, it has more great little games.

I have some questions....

I thought I would just bore you with some of the questions that have crossed my mind lately (I promise they are not all about politics)...

• Why is it ok for Congress to hand out $9M in bonuses to their staffs while they are running a huge deficit and not ok for AIG to do it with a somewhat smaller deficit?
• Why do we keep electing some of these guys?
• What is wrong with term limits?
• If the auto industry is now offering payments on your new car if you lose your job, isn't that more of my money going to people who aren't working?
• Why can't poorly run automakers go out of business? Do they think that demand won't still be there and that another automaker won't fill the void?
  
• Why is Obama's aunt who is here illegally still here?
• Why don't Little League coaches know the current Little League baseball rules of the game?
• Who designed Franklin's athletic cups??
• Why do parents think they do know the rules better than those who are responsible for knowing them?
• Why am I more awake at 10pm than at any other time during the day?
• Why does bad food taste good and good food taste bad?
• Why does your car get dirty when it gets rained on in a driveway?
• Where are the dents in the drums coming from?
• What are they thinking? (applies to may different people)
• Why don't Christians go to church every week when they are in town?
• Why is it hard to pray somedays?
• How many times do you have to punish your children before they will learn whatever you are trying to teach them?
• How many times does God have to whack me before I will learn whatever He is trying to teach me?
• What is chucking wood?
• How many stickers can my children possibly have?
• How many legos can a vacuum bag hold?
• How long does it take for temporary window paint to become permanent?
• Why is Facebook so appealing?
• Why do athletes get paid so much for playing a game?
• Why do you need to get mail everyday from the postal service, couldn't we survive with only 3 days a week and save a ton of money?
• Why do new hires make more than long time employees in the same position?
• Why is hitting a golf ball straight such a challenge?
• What are the odds of the Cub's winning the world series this year?
• How can they afford that? (you decide)
• What if we made Congress attend Financial Peace University?
• Why can't politicians get their taxes filed correctly?
• Why does supervising union workers seem a lot like parenting young children?
• Why do friends have to move away?
• Why is it so stinking hot in SE Texas?
• Why on earth did you read this whole list?