Baseball and Bass Fishing

[Koz]

My son had a travel baseball tournament in North Charleston, SC on Saturday and Sunday. While driving up U.S. Highway ALT 17 we saw a a place called Pine Hill Business Campus that had a decent sized body of water right along the roadway. A little further up the road is the Ashley River and lots of lakes and waterways all around the area.

 

As we passed it on Saturday we both thought it would be a great place to try and fish because of its proximity to the ballpark, the road, parking, and a ton of fishable shoreline. So naturally, on our return trip for the Sunday games we brought our fishing poles and tackle to give it a try. The ballparks were only 10 minutes away and we planned to fish for an hour before getting to the field.

 

About 15 minutes in I landed a nice 3 pound largemouth on my trusty white/gray KVD spinnerbait and a Keitech trailer. After releasing it I felt some discomfort in my stomach. A lot of discomfort. Uh-oh! Then discomfort traveled a bit lower, building fast. This was not good at all. I start packing up - quickly. I yelled to my son that we had to go NOW. RIGHT NOW! But he wants just one more cast. As my own panic sets in I hear him yell, "I got one! I got one!" With my luck it will be an epic battle of boy versus fish that will last for hours.

 

As he lands what turns out to be about a 1.5 pounder I'm already at the car. Of course, he can't get the hook out. You've got to be kidding me! Now I'm doing the bathroom dance - and not the #1 kind. It's getting critical. He's 200 feet away and I'm afraid if I move I might erupt.

 

We're no where near a bathroom.

 

I know there's a gas station about a mile down the road.

 

Can I hold it? (Please Lord!)

 

Can I make it?

 

Can my son ever get that fricking hook out?

 

For a second I'm really, really tempted to leave him for a few minutes and race down the road at 110 mph to sweet relief. But I'm not that kind of parent.

 

"Just cut the line! We need to go NOW!"

 

He then yells to me that his fish tool is in my bag. Are you freaking kidding me? I can't even move for fear of Vesuvius erupting from my bowels!

 

I can't wait a second longer.

 

Not. One. Second.

 

I take a quick look around and no cars are coming and no people are around. Thankfully the bicycle riders that were nearby a few minutes earlier are gone. I drop trow alongside some sort of storage / fence area and let it rip. It landed on the ground with a disgusting "squish-plop" instead of a "thud". Of course, I have no TP or paper towels in the car (never again) so I sacrificed the underwear that I was wearing. I did have a few plastic bags to clean up my mess, but of course there wasn't a garbage can in sight. So off it goes into the trunk for the time being. He finally gets the hook out and releases the fish. Too little, too late little buddy.

 

The good news was that there was a Wal Mart a few miles down the road and I did not have to go commando for long. I emptied the trash from the trunk, bought some new undies, and we headed off to the ballpark. Thamkfully there was no lasting smell in the car. I can laugh at it now (and I hope you all get a chuckle) but I was pretty ticked off at the time. At least I caught a decent bass and have a new spot to fish in the future!

 

So, how was your day?

 

 

[N Florida Mike]

Glad every thing came out smoothly !??

[Hez]

Holy Cow.  

 

How did the tournament end up going?  

[Gundog]

We've all been there. Had the urge to purge last week when I was about 10 miles from nowhere. Hopped over the guard rail, down the bank, quick check to make sure there ain't any poison ivy and made a pile. Funny thing is as I was leaving a guy come walking up the bank not to far from where I left the load. 2 minutes sooner and he would have seen a moon in the middle of the day. 

[Bankbeater]

Happened to me a few years ago. Now I keep a roll of TP in the trunk right next to the spare. 

[Koz]

9 hours ago, Hez said:

Holy Cow.  

 

How did the tournament end up going?  

 

They finished second this week. My son is a pretty good player but he had an off day on Saturday and took an o'fer. Sunday was better and he pounded a few off the top of the fence for doubles but couldn't quite hit it out. He also hit two to the fence that were caught and uncharacteristically K'd 5 times this weekend. That's as many as he's had in the first 20 games. Oh well, he's 12. No big deal. Everybody slumps now and then.

 

It was a pretty cool ballpark with the dimensions modeled after Fenway Park and a pseudo Green Monster (actually a giant scoreboard) that partially covered left field. It wasn't as nice as Shipyard Park, but still a great facility. We played there the other week and some GIANT 12 year old was throwing 79 mph from the 50 foot pitching distance. I swear this kid drove himself to the game and was shaving before the game in the dugout ?

 

 

[Fairtax4me]

Baseball and Fishing... A crappie story!

 

I keep a pack of wet wipes in the car and a small pack in my tackle bag when I'm out fishing. Never know when Mother Nature will call you out! 

[LCG]

*&it happens

[JustJames]

Good reading but very nasty and s h i t y I would say. Lucky our lake got bathroom almost every bank fishing spot, but I admit it happened to me a few times some I can make it some almost just almost. 

[Hez]

7 hours ago, Koz said:

 

They finished second this week. My son is a pretty good player but he had an off day on Saturday and took an o'fer. Sunday was better and he pounded a few off the top of the fence for doubles but couldn't quite hit it out. He also hit two to the fence that were caught and uncharacteristically K'd 5 times this weekend. That's as many as he's had in the first 20 games. Oh well, he's 12. No big deal. Everybody slumps now and then.

 

It was a pretty cool ballpark with the dimensions modeled after Fenway Park and a pseudo Green Monster (actually a giant scoreboard) that partially covered left field. It wasn't as nice as Shipyard Park, but still a great facility. We played there the other week and some GIANT 12 year old was throwing 79 mph from the 50 foot pitching distance. I swear this kid drove himself to the game and was shaving before the game in the dugout ?

 

 

We play travel ball as well...my boys are in 14u...so I can relate to EVERYTHING in your post...including the guys on the other team driving home after the game...with their wives and children.  

 

Funny...we got 2nd place this weekend too...lost to some BIG boys  men in the championship game...We fought hard though.  

 

That is cool that your facility was modeled after Fenway...that is one of my favorite parks.  It's definitely on the bucket list.

[Koz]

54 minutes ago, Hez said:

We play travel ball as well...my boys are in 14u...so I can relate to EVERYTHING in your post...including the guys on the other team driving home after the game...with their wives and children.  

 

That is cool that your facility was modeled after Fenway...that is one of my favorite parks.  It's definitely on the bucket list.

 

They had two other fields there, one with scale AT&T Park dimensions (with a pond beyond the RF wall in place of the bay) and one a scale model of Turner Field.

 

It's a tough season for me because this is the first year I am not coaching. The idea was for my son not to play "daddy ball" this year and let someone else teach him skills and drills. Unfortunately, the coaches idea of practice is pounding balls at kids for half the practice and another coach lobbing pitches for the other half of practice. No skills and drills, no hitting coach, no pitching coach, no game situations. The guy is a lousy rec ball coach.

 

The director of the organization had said that the primary coach was a former MLB player. That's true, but the guy is only coaching 11U - and that team is fundamentally sound. The other parents are ticked off as well. I was hoping to have the spring off, but lately my son has regressed. Time to start doing our own workouts again. Oh well, only 2 more tournaments left for the spring season. He won't be playing on that team during the summer.

[Hez]

15 minutes ago, Koz said:

 

They had two other fields there, one with scale AT&T Park dimensions (with a pond beyond the RF wall in place of the bay) and one a scale model of Turner Field.

 

It's a tough season for me because this is the first year I am not coaching. The idea was for my son not to play "daddy ball" this year and let someone else teach him skills and drills. Unfortunately, the coaches idea of practice is pounding balls at kids for half the practice and another coach lobbing pitches for the other half of practice. No skills and drills, no hitting coach, no pitching coach, no game situations. The guy is a lousy rec ball coach.

 

The director of the organization had said that the primary coach was a former MLB player. That's true, but the guy is only coaching 11U - and that team is fundamentally sound. The other parents are ticked off as well. I was hoping to have the spring off, but lately my son has regressed. Time to start doing our own workouts again. Oh well, only 2 more tournaments left for the spring season. He won't be playing on that team during the summer.

Yeah, that's a tough situation.  Hope it works out for you. Sounds like you've identified what actions you need to take. 

 

You're right...a lot of these coaches are more like babysitters.  Most of the issues I see are like you say: lack of drills focusing on mechanics for position players/pitchers/catchers and/or overworking them during batting practice by not limiting their reps.  After 5 or 10 swings their mechanics severely suffer due to fatigue...and they don't identify that.  

[Koz]

4 hours ago, Hez said:

After 5 or 10 swings their mechanics severely suffer due to fatigue...and they don't identify that.  

 

You're right, especially if the kid is using the proper bat. But half the kids still swing drop 10's and 12's that they can swing all day long. My son swings a drop 5 (he's still a year away from the drop 3 BBCOR standard) and in BP the coaches rapid fire pitches at him thing more swings is better. I told my son to step out of the box and tell the coach he'd rather take 5 good swings instead of 25 bad ones. But they don't get it. The worst part is paying to play for that coaching! Anyway, I better quit now before my ranting takes up my entire afternoon

[Hez]

20 minutes ago, Koz said:

 

You're right, especially if the kid is using the proper bat. But half the kids still swing drop 10's and 12's that they can swing all day long. My son swings a drop 5 (he's still a year away from the drop 3 BBCOR standard) and in BP the coaches rapid fire pitches at him thing more swings is better. I told my son to step out of the box and tell the coach he'd rather take 5 good swings instead of 25 bad ones. But they don't get it. The worst part is paying to play for that coaching! Anyway, I better quit now before my ranting takes up my entire afternoon

Sounds like your son has it going on.  Good for him.  Keep up the good work Dad.