This past weekend, we had our first experience with the boys playing against the local college-age team—the Lincoln Potters. This team comprises young men from across the country who are currently playing in college and are here for summer playing baseball. Some will be heading to their new colleges and just graduated from High School but the majority are currently on a college team. With that being said the stands are filled with a healthy mix of more fans than parents.
What I mean to say is that most people there are routing for the jersey and not necessarily a player. The opposite is also true. They are rooting against the opposing jersey not because of the player but just because of the jersey. This was my first encounter with it. Whoa!
To be fair our team is made up of some great baseball players from all over the country. They are 16 and 17 years old. They are also large individuals and to some people they may look just like the Potters if not bigger. With that out of the way, it was an awesome environment. Fun in the sun with entertainment between innings and cheap beer in the stands. Joey being back on the diamond was fun. Meeting new parents and players from Hawaii, Arkansas, and Washington was cool.
They came out and took the lead. It was cool, almost like a badge of honor to be the underdog little brothers and come out and score a few then like the little brother who can't pace himself we ended up losing the lead in both games—good lessons for the boys and better lessons for me. People cheering against your child or your child's friends for no other reason than what jersey they are wearing. You might be wondering what I mean. Like, don't all the teams root against you when you're playing? The answer is yes but not like this. It was weird.
To see full-grown adults and parents with their kids yelling and criticizing our kids was a new thing. It was fine, no one was crossing the line but like if they were at a High School game I would think a teacher or administrator would come over and ask that parent to relax. However we were not at a school, we were not at a tournament. We were in fact in the next level. For a brief moment, we were experiencing even if for only a game or two what we may be experiencing at the next level in college or bigger.
Now you may be asking me "What? Joe, have you ever been to a Giants game, a Niners game?" The answer is yes but it was never with my child out on the field let alone in the opposing jersey. It was different. The cool thing was that you didn't take it personally the way I would if it was a local team where I may know those people or when those people know my kid and route against him or his team. You should know by now how I feel about actively routing against kids. Whether on my team or not. It was similar to my days in law enforcement when someone would yell at me because of my uniform and not necessarily because of the person inside it. One of the best lessons I learned early in that career was to not take things personally. Sometimes people will hate me for what I represent, people will hate me for what I am wearing and sometimes people will hate me for what they think I believe in but the truth is they don't hate me they hate what they think about the clothes I'm wearing. Similar to this will be they don't hate Joey they just don't like the opposing jersey. Hate is a pretty strong word and I am not sure it correlates the same concerning my past profession and sports teams but you get the point.
Just like then, I did not take the "Hey you suck!' and other taunts you hear personally. Whether directed at my child or his teammates. Instead, I almost grinned internally as if to want to ask them for their resumé. Like "Hey buddy show me your Topps rookie card" but instead I just sorta sat there and started to let it soak in that the more successful we become in life the more we may be disliked by others for no exact reason other than what they think. I did at one point ask this guy with two small children under 5 years old who kept screaming at our on-deck batters. I kind of politely said hey bro you know these guys are in High School right? He was not aware and got a little red in the face I think realizing what I was getting at but needless to say he enjoyed the rest of the game with his family as the Potters regained the lead and beat the boys from High School and rightfully so.
We are currently in North Carolina attending some college baseball games and visiting some schools. We had the pleasure of making the super-regional matchup here at the University Of North Carolina. We happened to be seated next to the visiting bullpen and the taunting and screaming at the opposing team was insane. Nothing more electric than a winner-take-all game to head to the World Series. Man, all the taunting and cheers I had been complaining about seemed like child's play. I looked at Joey and said "Well bro I think we can safely say any heckling moving forward is just a badge of honor and you will have to learn to tune it out. " I have to credit his HS Coach who told him earlier this season that "The scaredest dog barks the loudest." Nothing could be truer. Do your thing and say less son. Let the crowd do the talking whether cheering for you or trying to tear you down. Do what you do and handle your business. As for us parents trying to protect our babies, well I do not know if the maternal instinct will ever quite subside but I hope I can remember that it's not personal and it's just the uniform.
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