Little League Politics.

I really enjoyed playing baseball back when I was a kid. I played all positions except catcher.  I was a pitcher for a while, but in the middle of the season, a rule was passed an 11 year old can't pitch to an 8 year old (the "minor" league team I was on consisted of 8-11 year olds).

What happened was parents of the 8 year old kids were complaining because this tall lanky pre-pubescent beast of a boy was "too intimidating".   So my pitching career was put to a stop.  It was my first experience with little league politics.  I felt it again when we moved to San Antonio and I was the new guy on the team.  I was benched for the betterment of two seasons.  I'm not saying I was an awesome ball player and deserved every inning of playing time,  it just became obvious I wasn't liked by the coach.  Turns out my parents weren't part of the "Good Ol' Boy Network".  Which was the reason for lack of playing time.  Another example of Little League politics.

If you have never  played Little League or your kids haven't been through it yet, there's one thing you have to know.  There can be adults in every league that take the game too seriously.

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting your kid to be part of an organization that stresses integrity in the rules. But when parents and coaches get angry and upset over calls and constantly argue and yell at opposing team's fans, coaches and the ump over decisions on the field, it hinders the game play.

Back to Houston.  There was a T-Ball game going on.  One of my brothers were part of it, I'm not sure which one.  The team was in the league playoffs and the ump was enforcing all the rules (unlike casual Saturday morning games where minor variances might be overlooked).  Obviously, when you're in the stands of the team that's currently losing, you're not going to like any call that goes against your team.  

So there was a call some parent on the trailing behind team did not like, They made their remarks known out loud.  Well some people in the other bleachers didn't take too kindly to those words and had words back at them.  There was a back and forth until both bleachers were cleared and there was a brawl in the middle of this T-Ball game.

A brawl.  An actual fight.  It's not like one side were the white folk and one side was the black folk and we're living in 1965.  This was 1986.

Some lady even got her arm broken during the battle.

And they don't even serve alcohol at these events.

So it's crap like everything I mentioned (and more that I didn't), that I just don't like being involved with  Little League.  I'll enroll my kid if they want to play, but I refuse to make it about myself, a network, or it's win or we riot.

I realized I deviated from my original plan and it'll go on for far too long.  So I'm breaking it down into two parts for those of us who have A.D.D.