Youth Sports

[Jet]

In the produce section of the Woodstock Piggly Wiggly ...

Scene: Mrs. Myrtle Williams, early 80s, sweet but fiercely independent, meanders through the produce section, using her decades of shopping experience to select the best produce to buy. Also shopping is Baldy, 50ish, oafish, bull in a china shop, who was told to get some fresh fruit and vegetables by the long-suffering, saintly Mrs. Baldy.

MRS. MYRTLE (humming, and speaking out loud, but to no one in particular): "My, my, aren't these apples just lovely?"

BALDY (blocked from getting to the fruit by Mrs. Myrtle's slow movement): "Come on, lady. I got places to be."

MRS. MYRTLE (without turning around): "It'll be OK, son. I'll be done here shortly. No need to be in a hurry."

BALDY: "At your age, you ought to be in a hurry. You shouldn't even buy green bananas. Listen, lady, I've got a lot on my plate. I've got coaches to email, my neighbor's bombs to defuse, and whatever else. So, let's get on the stick."

MRS. MYRTLE (still shopping and ignoring Baldy): "Let's take a look at these cantaloupes."

BALDY: "You look like Malik Miller trying to get past the line of scrimmage."

MRS. MYRTLE (picks up an unusually large cantaloupe): "Mercy me, I do believe this is the largest cantaloupe I've ever seen ... (turns around to face Baldy and notices his dome) ... or maybe not."

BALDY: "Very funny. Don't you have an American flag to sew, Betsy Ross?"

MRS. MYRTLE: "You'll see stars and stripes when I bean you with this cantaloupe."

BALDY: "You'd have to catch me first."

MRS. MYRTLE: "Oh, dearie, dear. It is you. It is you. I thought you were ... what do they call it? ... an urban legend. Well, I'll have you know I beat Sister FloJo in the Senior Olympics five straight years. And all of metro Atlanta knows you've got Jake Holland speed. So, I'll give you a head start. I'll count to 10 ... 1 ... 2 ..."

BALDY: "Ma'am, ma'am, I believe there's been a misunderstanding."

MRS. MYRTLE: "Yes, I'm sure there has been ... Doofus."

Mrs. Myrtle returns to her fruit shopping. Baldy drops to his knees and crawls away.

END SCENE.

[ehyou]

[baldy1]

Apr 7, 2020 9:31:50 GMT -6 Jet said:

In the produce section of the Woodstock Piggly Wiggly ...

Scene: Mrs. Myrtle Williams, early 80s, sweet but fiercely independent, meanders through the produce section, using her decades of shopping experience to select the best produce to buy. Also shopping is Baldy, 50ish, oafish, bull in a china shop, who was told to get some fresh fruit and vegetables by the long-suffering, saintly Mrs. Baldy.

MRS. MYRTLE (humming, and speaking out loud, but to no one in particular): "My, my, aren't these apples just lovely?"

BALDY (blocked from getting to the fruit by Mrs. Myrtle's slow movement): "Come on, lady. I got places to be."

MRS. MYRTLE (without turning around): "It'll be OK, son. I'll be done here shortly. No need to be in a hurry."

BALDY: "At your age, you ought to be in a hurry. You shouldn't even buy green bananas. Listen, lady, I've got a lot on my plate. I've got coaches to email, my neighbor's bombs to defuse, and whatever else. So, let's get on the stick."

MRS. MYRTLE (still shopping and ignoring Baldy): "Let's take a look at these cantaloupes."

BALDY: "You look like Malik Miller trying to get past the line of scrimmage."

MRS. MYRTLE (picks up an unusually large cantaloupe): "Mercy me, I do believe this is the largest cantaloupe I've ever seen ... (turns around to face Baldy and notices his dome) ... or maybe not."

BALDY: "Very funny. Don't you have an American flag to sew, Betsy Ross?"

MRS. MYRTLE: "You'll seel stars and stripes when I bean you with this cantaloupe."

BALDY: "You'd have to catch me first."

MRS. MYRTLE: "Oh, dearie, dear. It is you. It is you. I thought you were ... what do they call it? ... an urban legend. Well, I'll have you know I beat Sister FloJo in the Senior Olympics five straight years. And all of metro Atlanta knows you've got Jake Holland speed. So, I'll give you a head start. I'll call count to 10 ... 1 ... 2 ..."

BALDY: "Ma'am, ma'am, I believe there's been a misunderstanding."

MRS. MYRTLE: "Yes, I'm sure there has been ... Doofus."

Mrs. Myrtle returns to her fruit shopping. Baldy drops to his knees and crawls away.

END SCENE.

lol. That one got a couple of snorts.

[baldy1]

Warning: another Baldy1 story that includes drama. (I wasn’t the cause of it though. Just a witness).

Baldy Jr and his buddy attended their first basketball showcase for rising juniors (they do showcases for recruiters to watch those kids that want to play college ball). They limited it to 55 players and there were NO chumps. He and his buddy were two of only 5 white players in the showcase. Many of the kids there hold multiple College scholarship offers from so it was gonna be tough but a good chance for him to see what he’s competing against if he wants to go to the next level.

He did well when he was given the opportunity. A point guard that plays for THE elite travel team in GA was the guy distributing the ball for my son’s team and guess how many passes he received from this point guard in two full games of basketball? He and his buddy were on the same team, and neither of them received a single pass from this point guard. Not. One. In 60 minutes of court time. On one occasion, my son sprinted down the floor and was standing under the basket with no one within 20 yards of him and instead of passing, this kid took on a double team (which is dumb at this level) and got it stolen. On another, my kid was wide open under the basket and instead of passing, the kid launched an NBA 3 point shot and bricked it. Just absurdly bad guard play. And who gets recognized on social media when the showcase is over? This kid. This kid made maybe 5 of of over 40 shots in two games (forcing up bad shot after bad shot instead of passing). My son didn’t even get a single shot in their final game, and it sorta sucks as ALL the recruiters are looking for “impact” kids. It’s kinda hard to make an impact if they don’t pass it to you. Your job as a point guard is to distribute the ball, which the kid failed at miserably. And who got a shoutout from one of the recruiting gurus after these two games? The kid that shot about 15% from the field, which ain’t good. “I really like what I’m seeing out of Brandon Banks!” Lol. One of the kids (who is also one of the top players in the state) did actually pass to josh multiple times and josh had a dunk and a few other nice highlights out of it.

My kid earned some respect with his play - one of the coaches pulled him aside after one game that he played well in and said “folks simply don’t expect much from the white kids” and he was admittedly “a little surprised to see a white kid play unafraid in this environment”. It was funny, and we took it in the spirit in which it was intended, but i can’t help but imagine the blowback if a white guy said that to a black guy in a sport that is primarily dominated by white players. Another guy that does research on players pulled josh aside after the game and got his social media stuff, and it was at least good to see some of these guys give the “huh, not too shabby” look to each other on a few of his shots. He did get an offer from one of our competing high school’s varsity coaches to join their travel team (he’s already on a team) and has had a number of higher profile people start following him on Twitter, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. I think he earned some respect.

After the showcase ended, my son’s travel coach (Lincoln, who is also the father of the kid who went with us) approached the selfish kid to tell him he was a solid player (he lied) but could really advance his game if he involved his teammates on offense (because it is definitely true that recruiters want to see that stuff too). The kid was gracious, and it wasn’t a negative conversation, but when we got outside, the dad (in a “Black lives matter” shirt) stormed over to us and got in Lincoln’s face and said “do you have problem with my son?” (At the time, Lincoln was speaking time the director of the event who is a recruiting guru in Atlanta). My suspicion is the dad chose this moment to make Lincoln look bad in front of those guys. (If you get the racist label around a bunch of folks of color, that’s difficult to shake. Racist white dad = racist white kid, so stay away from this kid.) In hindsight, Lincoln should not have said anything to the kid given the racial tensions out there, but he can’t take his coaching hat off sometimes and see the bigger picture - it was a little naive, but not racist or an effort to demean the kid. He really does have a good heart and fortunately the recruiting guys know that. Lincoln did a good job of not escalating it and trying to defuse it but the guy was a total ass and kept yelling as he walked away. I just kept my mouth shut as I’d have only made things worse. After we left, the showcase director called us to let us know he called the dad personally and told him he was out of line to act like he did. It sucked to end the day like that but it was still a good day of exposure for the kid overall.

[allend]

😎

[aumom]

Youth sports would be 100x better if parents stayed out of it.

[Norm]

Hey baldy1 should I consider the list of Players which is available within the East Cobb Baseball site to be complete and accurate?

[baldy1]

Jul 9, 2020 15:50:42 GMT -6 Norm said:

Hey baldy1 should I consider the list of Players which is available within the East Cobb Baseball site to be complete and accurate?

I doubt it. It’s not a particularly well organized facility with regard to such stuff, but I think they are reasonably accurate. If you’re looking up rosters, I’d suggest the more accurate site to check is Perfectgame.org. They are constantly having tourneys and the teams are updating their Rosters.

Are u looking for a particular team/age group?

This is an example of what you get in PG - my son’s team.
www.perfectgame.org/PGBA/Team/default.aspx?orgid=420&orgteamid=66079&team=150792&Year=2020

Scroll to the bottom and you can click on a kid and see some of the individual stats and awards and performances and such.

[allend]

Pfft - ever question how your kid has hair?

[baldy1]

Jul 9, 2020 18:37:19 GMT -6 allend said:

Pfft - ever question how your kid has hair?

I tell him that’s how I looked when I was his age so don’t get too attached to it. All I hear is “it’s not the father’s side that determines baldness”, but I’m gonna tell him anyway, I had a mane just like that when I was his age.

[allend]

I initially looked and was surprised he wasn’t 6’-9”

[Norm]

Actually; I was interested in a specific player. The kid I’ve mentioned previously, his folks tell folks around here that he’s been playing with East Cobb. No one here with a bit of sense believes them. He’s not on any Roster on their site. He appears twice on PG but not since last Fall.

[baldy1]

Jul 9, 2020 20:20:19 GMT -6 Norm said:

Actually; I was interested in a specific player. The kid I’ve mentioned previously, his folks tell folks around here that he’s been playing with East Cobb. No one here with a bit of sense believes them. He’s not on any Roster on their site. He appears twice on PG but not since last Fall.

Hmm, FWIW, the east Cobb site isn’t reliable - just searched my own kid, and several of his teammates and pals who play there and none are listed on the East Cobb search feature. (Not surprising as the place is run by one jackass and a few of his henchmen who are technologically savvy. Fortunately for him, Perfect game (which used to operate out of LakePoint facility in Emerson, Ga) now operates out of East Cobb. PG put a buncha money into East Cobb and got all turf fields so the place can attract the best players/teams as the place was starting to look old.

If he’s not on the PG site, you could also try their primary competitor in this area, www.prepbaseballreport.com/advanced-search

If he isn’t on either site, then he ain’t playing in top tier tourneys in the state, which means he’s probably not on a top tier team.

Just messaged you.

[allend]

Jul 9, 2020 22:14:40 GMT -6 baldy1 said:

Jul 9, 2020 20:20:19 GMT -6 Norm said:

Actually; I was interested in a specific player. The kid I’ve mentioned previously, his folks tell folks around here that he’s been playing with East Cobb. No one here with a bit of sense believes them. He’s not on any Roster on their site. He appears twice on PG but not since last Fall.

Hmm, FWIW, the east Cobb site isn’t reliable - just searched my own kid, and several of his teammates and pals who play there and none are listed on the East Cobb search feature. (Not surprising as the place is run by one jackass and a few of his henchmen who are technologically savvy. Fortunately for him, Perfect game (which used to operate out of LakePoint facility in Emerson, Ga) now operates out of East Cobb. PG put a buncha money into East Cobb and got all turf fields so the place can attract the best players/teams as the place was starting to look old.

If he’s not on the PG site, you could also try their primary competitor in this area, www.prepbaseballreport.com/advanced-search

If he isn’t on either site, then he ain’t playing in top tier tourneys in the state, which means he’s probably not on a top tier team.

Just messaged you.

Yeah, we see it.

[baldy1]

Jul 10, 2020 5:38:14 GMT -6 allend said:

Jul 9, 2020 22:14:40 GMT -6 baldy1 said:

Hmm, FWIW, the east Cobb site isn’t reliable - just searched my own kid, and several of his teammates and pals who play there and none are listed on the East Cobb search feature. (Not surprising as the place is run by one jackass and a few of his henchmen who are technologically savvy. Fortunately for him, Perfect game (which used to operate out of LakePoint facility in Emerson, Ga) now operates out of East Cobb. PG put a buncha money into East Cobb and got all turf fields so the place can attract the best players/teams as the place was starting to look old.

If he’s not on the PG site, you could also try their primary competitor in this area, www.prepbaseballreport.com/advanced-search

If he isn’t on either site, then he ain’t playing in top tier tourneys in the state, which means he’s probably not on a top tier team.

Just messaged you.

Yeah, we see it.

LOL. Hey Norm, I also just messaged you about that smart aleck, Allend. I’m talking names.