Chirping at the Umpire

Tough loss today. 7-6. We got out to a 4-0 lead early in the game. By "we" I mean the team of 12 year-olds I help coach, including my son. My kid pitched 3 innings of shut out baseball. There are few things I'm fully present for in life. Baseball when my kid plays is one of them. It was like watching it in slow motion. My kid is on the small side, because genetics. It's enjoyable to watch bigger kids struggle to hit him. To be clear, there are many games he gets hit, and hit hard. But today was not one of those days. He didn't play perfectly, because no one does. He made an egregious baserunning mistake. And a bunt that he didn't place where it needed to be. On the ride home I told him to keep his head high. None of us are perfect. We win as a team and lose as a team. Too many runners were left on base. We made errors. We didn't hit enough. Collectively we didn't get it done. Cue Argent... Hold your head up. 

The coaches for the opposing team were chirping for the entire game. They complained about many of the calls the umpire made. They were relentless. I don't know how old the ump is, my guess is late teens. He did a solid job. Sure, he missed a few calls. But so does every umpire. Just like the players, umpires aren't perfect. This dude was solid. But there are coaches who operate like this intentionally. They chirp at the umpire all day long. To the credit of the opposing them, they came from behind and earned the win. They chipped away at us and beat us, legit. Sometimes, you're left with clichés. You win some, you lose some. 

I should note, the coaches were complimentary of one of our players. They were impressed by our first baseman. One coach joked about how he would've been a good first baseman if he were taller. I can relate, I joked, as a fellow short man. Camaraderie among coaches is something I especially enjoy about the youth baseball scene.