Now that I have a few years of High School sports under my belt and multiple years of travel ball it has dawned on me that I am becoming that old man who kinda gets irked at different things. Ratings, stats, and whether or not you're bragging or just posting. So here it is.....
First off let me start with the first and most important part of this blog. Being proud of your child is the number #1 rule of being a parent. Let's face it, they are our little me's and we feel their losses more than they do and enjoy their victories for them as well. Bragging about your child is acceptable and is to be expected. Just understand that it may come with some ridicule. Here it is.
The picture above was used as it is a picture I can proudly post and say that most parents on the West Coast do not and can not have. Why? Well it it was the beginning of freshman year the boys headed out to Florida on what would be the largest tournament of their lives. The PG Freshman World Series. Yes before you tell me that PG has lots of tournaments let's just say this is a pretty large one. There were 94 teams! 94 of the country's best. Now you might even ask me if every team was there. I can think of 1 or 2 West Coast teams that were not there and perhaps that was why no West Coast team had ever won this tournament but to answer your question, all of the top teams were there. Who flies to Florida at the beginning of your freshman school year? We did.
This picture also means a lot to me as it would be the last time Joey would wear this jersey for the next 2 seasons. Little did we know then about his nagging elbow pain. Just like this past week the kid got the ball in the semi-final game to get his team to the ship and just like then he did a great job and won by a handful giving up 1 run or less. Ok so back to my point, if you want to brag then you better be bragging to other parents who understand what you are saying. To most parents, this picture won't mean a tremendous amount. My parents, will not understand the difference between this and the trophy Joey is holding at Twin Creeks. Yes they are both trophies and yes they both mean he won that week but 1 is not like the other. Understand the difference. Bragging is done lol.
Stats, oh where do I begin? Most stats are compiled by a parent on the team. The coach typically does not have the bandwidth to do both nor does he want to. If he can then hats off to him and that is something to brag about. Pun intended. For the rest of us please understand that a hit is a hit and an error is well, sometimes a hit. To be fair I do not believe that people go around maliciously giving out fake stats. I think most people try to be rational and also try to be unbiased. However, in that grey area, your child could be batting .400 or .300. Your child could have a sub-1 era or a +3 era. Try to be more focused on whether or not your child is having good at-bats or throwing good pitches. The stats will matter at some point but for the most part, any college coach watching from far is going to take your stats and mentally make them a little worse. Just the way it is.
Ratings, well this one is easy. Ratings are typically based on stats. As my old boss use to tell me crap in crap out. What is put in will make the sum of what is put out. Bad effort in and you won't love the outcome. The current High School ratings are great for kids to be proud of their schools as well as for parents to be happy. Understand however there is a difference. I know I am about to get some heat here and I will take it. If you are playing against schools and you outscore them by double digits often then you are an anomaly and your ranking and stats are skewed. Does it make your season less successful? Heck no celebrate that. Just understand that when you tell everyone you are 56 and 0 and have never lost people automatically think "Well who are you playing?" Once again post away but understand what the other room is saying about your "Brag".
This HS season has been so toxic at times that I have had to remove myself from the cheering section. Opposing teams, opposing parents, and sometimes even my friends. I can say proudly that I wear my emotions as a parent of a player on my sleeve. I do not and can not stand by if you are talking poorly about a child on the field. I just can not do it. It makes me upset and it doesn't jive with my moral compass. On my team or the other team. I can't do it.
This week Joey has a chance to win a section championship in Division 1. Savannah also has a chance to win a section championship but in Division 2. Who are the top two teams in the finals for D1 in softball? Yup, you guessed it. Cross-town rivals and cross-lake rivals. All great friends of hers and in the same league. By the way, both teams have great pitching and so do we. STUDS! That is in fact why we are all here. I am sure however that most understand the most highly recruited pitcher/player on our side of the country if not on this planet is in the D3 Section Championship. Does not diminish anyone's accomplishments. In this circumstance, some teams can win their league and move up to a higher division. Some teams can win all they want and never move up a division. Just the way it is. This is a team sport. 1 position does not make the team but in softball, we all know that it begins in the circle.
We have seen a few stellar "stat" teams so far in the playoffs and unfortunately, they have not succeeded when facing a team that has battled all year long. Ready for my softball dad brag? Well, here it is. Sav's team could be the first team to win a section championship and be under 500. Is that a brag? Well no not really but I guess it goes to their character as a team. They play against tough teams and have won a few and lost a few more. Either way, they are battle-tested and ready to compete against the best.
So to be clear. Always route for your kid and sometimes brag but understand the bigger pitcher. Understand that when summer rolls around and you start hearing top teams and rankings just understand that is in their org or in the association they play in. SImilar to divisoin in HS. Play your game, compete till you succeed, and for the life of my route for all these kids to be successful in life and become awesome adults who may need to come to cheer us on when we start playing some senior ball!
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