{"id":79541,"date":"2017-05-02T13:23:30","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T13:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=79541"},"modified":"2023-03-01T21:46:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T21:46:42","slug":"behind-mic-kids-play-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-kids-play-baseball\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: More Kids Should Play Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, I’ve\u00a0asked RCN’s John Leone to guest blog. \u00a0RCN-TV viewers should recognize John from the Lafayette College basketball broadcasts on the Lafayette Sports Network.<\/strong><\/em>
\n________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
\nMore kids should play baseball.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m watching a game the other evening, and an ex-player by the name of Tim Flahert<\/a>y was quoted as saying, \u201cThere are two kinds of baseball players \u2013 those who are humble, and those who are about to be humbled\u201d. If you follow the game, or if you\u2019ve played it, you know how true that rings.<\/p>\n

In an age of highlights and swag, of touchdown dances and trash talk, it\u2019s possible that baseball has become the last bastion of sanity. Patience is still a virtue and 162 games over six months demands persistence. To get to a safe space you have to earn it, and there are no consolation prizes for those who fail \u2013 and fail they do, most more than 70% of the time. Not everyone gets a trophy, at least a real one.<\/p>\n

I know that football \u2013 a game I enjoy completely and follow religiously \u2013 has been called \u201cthe ultimate team sport\u201d. And basketball \u2013 my one true love – requires a synchronization and non-verbal communication that can transform it into a ballet in sneakers. But baseball is different.<\/p>\n

The whole team concept in baseball is more substantive, it can be argued, because it happens mostly out of the glare of the TV cameras and the crowd. A guy standing alone in the batter\u2019s box and facing a 97 mile per hour fastball, shares a visceral bond with not only the guy on deck, but those other 23 teammates in the dugout who\u2019ve been there, or are about to be sooner or later. They know to keep a respectful distance after a strikeout, and the hugs and high fives after a hit are genuine. He also shares a curious bond with the guy throwing a 97 mph fastball at him; a bond reflected at times by a simple tip of the cap, signifying a mutual respect.<\/p>\n

An error belongs to one guy. And it\u2019s actually called for what it is \u2013 an error.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sugar coating or camouflaging failure in baseball. A guy owns it and wears it, and his teammates know it. They\u2019ve all walked in those same shoes, or understand completely that at some point, they will. A top young prospect who has dominated his way to \u201cThe Show\u201d, suddenly can\u2019t find his release point and can\u2019t get out of the inning. The mound is elevated no longer for any advantage to him, but suddenly as a focal point for 30,000 partisans to voice their frustrations, or revel in his. It\u2019s a long walk to the mound for his coach, and an even longer walk for him to the solitude of the dugout. There\u2019s nowhere else to look but inside. What a concept.<\/p>\n

Most of the lessons I try to impart on my kids come by way of sports metaphors, admittedly a narrow and sometimes myopic view of things. That\u2019s on me, but for the most part, I\u2019d like to think I\u2019ve had some positive effect. And the more I watch baseball, the more I see parallels for good living. It\u2019s hard, but as Jimmy Duggan, Tom Hanks\u2019 character in \u201cA League of Their Own\u201d said, \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be hard. It\u2019s the hard that makes it great\u201d. How hard is baseball? Well, the mere fact that it\u2019s the only sport where the offense doesn\u2019t even have the ball should tell us something.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure that we make enough things hard enough for our kids these days. I\u2019m lucky to have lived long enough now \u2013 long enough to have listened to the stories of my father and grandfather who grew up in a very different time. Their hard times were real. These days what\u2019s left for so many of us \u2013 those of us more fortunate –\u00a0 \u00a0are metaphors and games; facsimiles of challenges and opportunities. But you have to work with what you have. Sort of like \u2026.in baseball.<\/p>\n

Like life, baseball is a complicated game, and its rulebook seems to keep expanding as the game evolves. Again, a lot like life. But the fact that there seem to be more unwritten rules in baseball than in any other sport speaks to the natural, almost organic structure of the game, and a fundamental reason why it endures. After all, \u201chabits are better than rules; you don\u2019t have to keep them. They keep you\u201d. And baseball is a game of habits. And good habits get rewarded.<\/p>\n

Yeah, more kids should play baseball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, I’ve\u00a0asked RCN’s John Leone to guest blog. \u00a0RCN-TV viewers should recognize John from the Lafayette College basketball broadcasts on the Lafayette Sports Network. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ More kids should play baseball. So I\u2019m watching a game the other evening, and an ex-player by the name of Tim Flaherty was quoted as saying, \u201cThere are two…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-79541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-baseball"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: More Kids Should Play Baseball - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind the Mic: More Kids Should Play Baseball - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week, I’ve\u00a0asked RCN’s John Leone to guest blog. \u00a0RCN-TV viewers should recognize John from the Lafayette College basketball broadcasts on the Lafayette Sports Network. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ More kids should play baseball. 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