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As many visitors know, I coach a youth baseball team. We had our tryouts last weekend. Over 220 10, 11 & 12 year olds tried out for baseball last Saturday and Sunday. The tryouts help coaches to draft "even" teams and group players according to ability. The kids run the bases, field grounders at the shortstop position then throw to first, and they hit balls pitched from a pitching machine. As a coach I look for kids who can throw well and who "hustle." Every player on my team has hustle. It's not an easily identifiable trait, but I know it when I see it.
I remember baseball tryouts when I was a kid and I always wanted to show the coach that even though I may not be the most talented kid, I was a hustler. I would expect any kid trying out to give his or her best effort.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen in one case last weekend. There was one kid, a kid who is an excellent ballplayer, who purposely "dogged it" at tryouts so he would drop in the draft in order to be picked by a specific coach. This kid was easily the most talented athlete at the fields either day last weekend: he had played exceptionally well during summer ball last year and his summer ball coach made it no secret that he'd love to draft him. Unfortunately the coach had the fifth pick in the draft, so there was a good chance another team would pick him.
Apparently the kid's parents wanted him to be on that particular team because the kid was CLEARLY advised to "dog it." When running the bases he practically jogged. When fielding grounders he'd normally get to easily he purposefully bobbled the ball. When hitting he stood in as a lefty (he's a righty) and batted with a right hand grip! While in the batter's box he was seen to be grinning and staring out as his dad-as if they were both in on the joke. It was obvious to all the coaches and to the folks who were running the tryouts that this kid was "dogging it."
The coaches who wanted to pick him were mortified-both guys are not the type to engage in such chicanery. Other coaches thought the display was disgusting and voiced their displeasure in a variety of ways. Now I am not one to believe that a 10 year old kid can be so diabolical-he had to have gotten the idea from somewhere. One look at the SEG on his dad's face and it was obvious where he got the idea. What a piss poor example for a father to present to his son! If my kid did something like that, I'd be wicked angry at him, I believe you should ALWAYS give your best effort.
Now I coach in this league, I run the league website and compile all the schedules and I am on the Board of Directors. I spend hundreds of hours (along with many other dedicated people) making our league the best it can be for our children. When someone makes a JOKE out of what we do like this dad and his kid did, it pisses me off. It shows disrespect for the league, the coaches and all the other kids who were out there trying their hardest.
4 teams passed on the kid in the draft and he was eventually picked by the team that wanted him (I wouldn't want that kid on MY team because he showed he doesn't want to play by the rules-not easy to coach). We decided not to punish the kid by disqualifying him-but there are many dissenting opinions. I personally don't think the kid could have come to the decision to "dog it" on his own and knowing the history of the kid's father, (not the first time he's acted like an ass in youth sports) I can make the leap that it was HIS idea. You can't punish a kid for who his parents are.I am not sure how the father will be received once the season starts-I for one have very little respect for what he apparently advised his son to do. I can't imagine the move will be held in high regard by most parents with kids in the league.
On the plus side, it looks like I have a good group of kids and I can't wait to get out there and get them practicing. We got snowed out last night!
Please leave your thoughts on the kid "doggin it."
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Tryout Review: Bad Parenting Revealed
Bitch, I Love You
Jeff from Horizon Technology is probably my "top regular."Back at the old spot, seeing Jeff only four times a week meant something was wrong or he had a sales meeting. I don't know if Jeff will be a daily visitor at the new spot, but I am sure he'll continue to be a frequent regular.
Jeff has also hipped the guys at the California office (located in Lake Forest) to this website. They stop in and look at the site regularly and I like to have a little fun with them.
Last week, I received an email from another Jeff at Horizon Technology with the subject header: "Can You Come to Lake Forest, CA - We Roll Hard Out West N Sh*t....."
All the email contained was these two pictures:
I don't know what the hell it says on the gal's belly (please if you can translate let me know), but those look like some beefy dogs!
Anyways, I replied to Jeff but he didn't get my email, spam filters being what they are at big companies. Here was my reply:
I would LOVE to come out there, it looks really nice, but you also say stuff like "we roll hard out West N Shit," which is kind of gay!
You couldn't afford to pay for my gas to drive this beast coast to coast anyways. It would be a lot easier for you to fly east, take the entire Framingham office to lunch and leave a big tip.
You WILL be harshed on the internet.
Have a nice day!
-the Hotdogman
Just for S&G's, I googled "We Roll Hard Out West N Sh*t." and I found THIS GUY'S page. The site is strange-the guy is either a complete idiot or a comic genius! What hooked me was the site's music. I'm normally not one for music on a website, but the track "Bitch, I love you" by Black Joe Lewis caught my ear. The site is a definite WTF!?!?
So to you, Jeff in Lake Forest, I say this. The only way I roll is on a hot dog roll! NO SH*T!
It's All About the Oil and the Extremists
CyberCelt, a reader of the Hot Dog Truck left a link to this article in a comment recently. I thought hot dog lovers would like to read it, so I am putting it up here. The truth is often ugly:
This president and vice president have vowed to repeat the mistakes of history, and they have put into motion a plan to do just that in Iran, even as the House is about to send the president a box of blank checks for Iraq, against the will of the American people.
The history is worth knowing.
In 1953, the United States and United Kingdom launched Operation Ajax, a covert CIA operation to destabilize and remove the democratically elected government of Iran, including then Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh.
Why? Oil.
Under Mossadegh, the Iranian government decided to reclaim Iran's rightful ownership of its national oil treasure, which had been exclusively controlled by the British who were taking 85 percent of the profits.
Oh, and by the way, the U.K. also kept the books secret, merely telling Iran what its 15 percent take was.
As soon as Mossadegh began to reclaim Iran's oil treasure, it was all over. Operation Ajax was set into motion.
The U.S. embassy in Tehran provoked phony internal Iranian dissent, while the Brits engineered an Iranian financial crisis by orchestrating a global boycott of Iranian oil. We brought down the Iranian government and installed the Shah.
For two decades, we propped up the Shah against the will of the Iranian people. It was all about controlling Iran. It still is. Today, ABC News is reporting exclusively that this president has authorized a new covert CIA plot to bring down the Iranian government.
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the journalism produced by chief investigative reporter Brian Ross and Richard Esposito of ABC News.
This is their lead sentence in the story.
"The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert 'black' operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com."
We’re back in 1953, and that worked out so well.
Of course, the vice president wanted to invade Iran, so we can be sure he will spin new tales of fear in coming days to keep his preferred option, invasion, very much alive.
The president knows only one way -- my way or the highway.
His vice president knows only one way -- invade and seize control of what you want -- and he wants the oil treasure of Iraq and Iran to become wholly owned subsidiaries of the western oil companies he so favors.
With Iraq in civil war, the president has authorized a secret plan to repeat the doomed mistakes of history in Iran.
How many billions of reconstruction money for Iraq will be siphoned off for the deconstruction of Iran?
The American people are virtually shouting at us to pay attention and get our soldiers out of Iraq, now.
Vast sums of U.S. taxpayer money are flowing into Iraq and billions of U.S. dollars are missing.
The special inspector for Iraq reconstruction told a San Antonio newspaper last week that corruption in Iraq is endemic and debilitating.
But, Prime Minister al-Maliki has granted ministers and former ministers immunity from prosecution by Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity.
And, in turn, the ministers can shield their own employees from prosecution.
And, a government that has been told by this president and vice president to pass an oil law that transfers control -- and profits -- to Western oil companies, just like the good old days in Iran.
Overthrowing Iran in 1953 was all about oil. Invading Iraq was all about oil. And the new secret plot against Iran is all about oil.
Oil is the only benchmark this president and vice president want, and they will keep American soldiers fighting and dying until an oil law is passed in Iraq that gives Western oil companies control of the spigot.
It is time to unmask the latest doomed plot to overthrow Iran and past time to get out soldiers out of Iraq.
Nothing less than protecting our troops is acceptable.
Rep. Jim McDermott
God bless you, Rep. McDermott! Let us bring our young people home, alive. It is an atrocity that we are sacrificing yet ANOTHER generation to the god of oil.
AND in the interest of presenting an alternate point of view, here is the text from a recent speech by Joe Liebermann, Senator from Connecticut:
Thank you so much for that kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here among so many friends.
Now, I know there are some who are probably wondering -what is a nice Independent Democrat from Connecticut doing at a Republican event like this?
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to reelection last
year. And as Rabbi Hillel said, the rest is commentary.
In all seriousness, many of you in this room stood with me
last year through the long journey up a winding road that was my 2006
reelection campaign. You came to my side without regard for party
affiliation, and you stayed there even after I ran as an Independent but
said I would caucus with the Democrats. Your non-partisanship in my race
is a model for what our politics should be. I thank you personally and deeply
for it. I could not have won without it.
And I pledge to you that I will do everything I can to
vindicate your confidence.
We gather at a critical time for the future of our country.
The war in Iraq has now become the defining issue for this Congress and
for this presidency-although the decisions we will make in the weeks and
months ahead about Iraq will have consequences that reach far beyond the terms of
anyone now in office.
Part of the disagreement we face over Iraq comes down to a
genuine difference of opinion.
On the one hand, there are those who believe, as I do, that
the struggle against Islamist extremism really is the central challenge of
our time, and that, as General David Petraeus -our commander in
Iraq-recently said, Iraq is now the central front of the war against
Islamist extremism.
On the other hand, there are those who reject this view -who
genuinely believe that the threat of Islamist extremism is overstated, or
that Iraq is a distraction from the "real" war on terror, or that the war
there is lost, or not worth fighting to win.
It is my deeply held conviction that these people are not
only wrong, they are disastrously wrong -and that the withdrawal they
demand would be a moral and security catastrophe for the United States, for Iraq,
and for the entire Middle East, including Israel and our moderate Arab
allies.
Let there be no doubt-an American defeat in Iraq would be a
victory for Al Qaeda and Iran. the two most threatening enemies we face in
the world today. It would vindicate the hope of our enemies that America
is weak and that we can be driven to retreat by terrorism, and it would
confirm the fear of our friends -not only in Iraq, but throughout the world -that
we are unreliable allies who will abandon them in the face of danger.
The fact of the matter is, you cannot claim to be tough on
terrorism while demanding that our military withdraw from Iraq, because it
is the terrorists, in -particular Al Qaeda, -that our military is fighting
in Iraq.
You cannot claim to be committed to defeating Al Qaeda,
while demanding that we abandon the heart of the Middle East to Al Qaeda.
And you cannot claim to be tough on Iran, while demanding
the very thing that the mullahs want most of all, -the retreat of the
American military from the Middle East in defeat, leaving a vacuum that
Iran will rush to fill.
I recognize that this war has been controversial, and there
are those who oppose it on principle. I respect that.
But too much of the debate we are having today about
withdrawal from Iraq has little or nothing to do with principle, or with
reality in Iraq.
It is about politics and partisanship here in Washington.
For many Democrats, if President Bush is for it, they must
be against it. If the war is going badly, it is bad for Republicans and it
is good for Democrats. It is as simple as that, and it is as wrong as
that.
For many Republicans, the unpopularity of this war and this
President has begun to shake their will. They say that they have no choice
but to abandon General Petraeus and his strategy because the American
people tell the pollsters they want out. If previous generations of American
leaders had allowed their conduct of war to be shaped by partisanship or
public opinion polls, we would not be the strong and free nation we are
blessed to be today.
Republicans in Congress delude themselves if they think they
will be helping either themselves, their party, or their country if they
now attempt to wash their hands of Iraq, out of a sudden sense of political
anxiety.
Democrats in Congress delude themselves if they think they
will not be held accountable for the bloody consequences of the retreat
from Iraq they seek.
The fact is, a loss to Al Qaeda and Iran in Iraq would be
devastating to our security. These are fateful days and critical decisions
we are making about Iraq. We must make them with our eye on the safety of
America's next generation, not the outcome of America's next election.
It is to the everlasting credit of President Bush that in
the war against Islamist extremism he has shown the courage and
steadfastness to stand against the political passions of the moment.
I have never hesitated to express disagreement with the
President on any issue when I felt he was wrong-and I have criticized his
administration many times for the serious mistakes I believe it made in
prosecuting the war in Iraq.
But let me tell you this: I believe that each of us should
be grateful that we have a commander-in-chief who does not believe that
decisions about war should be driven by poll numbers. And each of us
should be grateful that we have a commander-in-chief who does not confuse what is
popular with what is right for our security as a nation. The public
opinion polls may not reflect this today, but I believe history will tomorrow.
My friends, as Ronald Reagan once said, now is the time for
choosing.
If we stand united through the months ahead, if we stand
firm against the terrorists who want to drive us to retreat, the war in
Iraq can be won and the lives of millions of people can be saved.
But if we surrender to the barbarism of suicide bombers and
abandon the heart of the Middle East to fanatics and killers, to Al Qaeda
and Iran, then all that our men and women in uniform have fought, and died
for, will be lost, and we will be left a much less secure and free nation.
That is the choice we in Washington will make this summer
and this fall. It is a choice not just about our foreign policy and our
national security and our interests in the Middle East. It is about what
our political leaders in both parties are prepared to stand for. It is about
our very soul as a nation. It is about who we are, and who we want to be.
Will this be the moment in history when America gives
up-when Al Qaeda breaks our will, when our enemies surge forward, when we
turn our backs on our friends and begin a long retreat from our principles
and promise as a nation?
Or will this be the moment when America steps forward, when
we pull together, when we hold fast to the courage of our convictions,
when -with a new strategy, and a new commander on the ground -we begin to turn
the tide toward victory in this long and difficult war?
I know that we can rise above the anger and smallness of our
politics. I know we can rise to the greatness that this moment demands of
us.
The question is-will we choose to do so?
I would like to close today by sharing with you a story from
my last visit to Iraq a few months ago. It was in Anbar province in
western Iraq-the center of the insurgency-a part of the country that conventional
wisdom last year dismissed as hopeless.
In fact, on September 11, 2006, the Washington Post ran a
front-page story reporting that even the chief of Marine Corps
intelligence in Iraq had concluded that Anbar was "lost," and our position there was
"beyond repair."
I was in Anbar last December, on a forward operating base
just outside Ramadi, the capital of the province. As one of the briefings
with our military commanders ended, a colonel who had been sitting in the
back of the room came up to me. He said something that I carry with me to
this day-something that I hope you will carry with you as well.
He said: "Sir, I want you to know on behalf of the soldiers
in my unit and myself that we believe in why we are fighting here, we want
to finish this fight. And we know we can win it."
Today, five months later, Anbar has been dramatically
transformed. Thanks to the bravery, ingenuity, and commitment of our men
and women in uniform, shops and schools have reopened, Al Qaeda is on the run,
thousands of Iraqis have joined the local police, and-yes-no less than the
New York Times reports that we have turned the corner there.
My friends, now is not the time for despair. Now is the time
for resolve.
Now is not the time for reflexive partisanship and pandering
to public opinion. Now is the time for the kind of patriotism and
principle America's voters have always honored.
I ask you to plead with every member of Congress you can in
the days and weeks ahead-
Do not surrender to hopelessness.
Do not succumb to defeat.
Do not give in to fear.
Rise above the political pressures of the moment to do what
is right for America.
Believe, like that colonel, in why we are fighting in Iraq,
and know, as he and his soldiers know, that we can and must win there.
OOOOPS!
Well it was a fine and sunny day so my son and I went out to play a little catch. It was nice to get outside and chuck it around. We were playing long toss and after about ten minutes we were really throwing hard. I let one fly and it tailed away from my son.
It was one of those times when everything slows down and you JUST KNOW what is going to happen.....
