It's 9AM

Is it worth it?

Chris Lowry

Jul 07, 2023

Are we unlucky or just out of our league?

This has been a weird year for our baseball boys.

#10 turned 11 on a team full of 12 year old’s.

And 12 year old boys are different.

It’s the start of “the changes” and each boy’s at a different stage, but it all affects how they play ball.

We went from being one of the best in the state to one of the best in the center of the state.

Every time we played up North or East or West, we ran up against stiff competition.

Boys topping six feet, hitting the ball twenty yards further.

Boys with mustaches, or the peach fuzz that passes for it in sixth on the verge of seventh grade.

I remember having one.

I’ve seen the school portrait.

A dirty top lip and a gold chain worn on the outside of an iZod polo.

The only thing that changed is the type of shirt.

They still wear the chains.

And the smell.

Axe body spray and the funk of BO over sweaty sun soaked uniforms.

Plus the chatter of moms reminding everyone else that they told them to put on deodorant.

The ball playing is leveling up, and our team hasn’t yet.

Leveled up.

We won every tournament but one we played in Central Arkansas.

Teams would drop out if they saw us register.

That’s how much our reputation preceded us.

But the best teams reside in Texas and Florida and Georgia.

And they are in Southaven MS this week.

We like playing the best because it reminds us we need to be better.

Except yesterday was brutal.

They had double digit scores and we couldn’t knock it past the infield.

Their giant kids were pitching between 60-70 mph when we’re used to average 50.

The bats couldn’t turn on and somehow, we forgot even the basic rules of fielding.

Plus we’re shy two of our best kids.

July is a time when recruiting for the Fall and other teams begins heavy, and Dad ball is nothing but trying to surround your kid with the best players so maybe no one will notice why the coaches son needs the most work.

Those two boys are gone, and they had good arms for pitching and good bats for base running and good attitudes because they were good kids.

Which leaves us with pick up’s we haven’t played with, so they are learning on the fly against tough competition.

It is a formula for learning.

Because if you’re not winning, you’re learning.

What we are learning most is that you can love the game all you want, but it will never love you back.

And it’s frustrating because I see the defeats taking away the love of the game from the kids.

I know it’s going to be fine, because there’s still a lot of baseball left.

In the Fall, next Spring and the rest of our careers.

Except 12 is also the year when the filters begin.

Boys go play Football and Basketball and if they start to pick favorites over Baseball.

They trickle away, one or two at a time in a process of elimination and selection until there is no more original team left.

The hardest part isn’t the changes the boys go through, it’s making friends with the parents you spend so much time with.

Because they trickle away too, and the process begins all over again with new additions or new teams.

Maybe that’s why I like the game so much.

There are rules, and ways of doing things and superstitions both on the field and off.

And there are ways to shift the rules in your favor and work for an edge, and even when you win, you get to do it all over again next time.

Like life.

The struggle is real this week and weekend.

We’re playing against better teams.

But still we try.

When the odds are stacked against us, it’s time to dig deep and find it and fight for it.

Whatever we learn from it is worth it.

9AM

It's 9AM

Is it worth it?

Discussion about this post