Now That It's Summertime..

Woo-hoo!! Memorial Day Weekend!! School's out, little league baseball's getting going, and the pools all open up for 3-months! With all that in mind, how about some thoughts on the "do's" and dont's" of summertime?

Let's start with the pools. DO spend some time enjoying the heat with some refreshing dips in the water. DON'T be like the guy who wears his speedo and spends more time prancing AROUND the pool instead of swimming in it (but DO snicker to yourself that he has the stones and/or ignorance to do what he does!).

DO wear your sunscreen, because you DON'T want to hear those dreaded words from a doctor in the near or distant future, "You have skin cancer."

And, for parents who have kids in little league baseball and/or softball, DO heed what I have to say about any media coverage your kid may or may not get: I can't speak for the newspaper guys, but from a TV reporter's perspective, please DON'T gripe and complain because your kid doesn't get the coverage you think he/she "deserves". Because truth be told, your kid doesn't "deserve" coverage--no matter how well he/she does or how good his/her team is. "But they work hard", you say. Well, I counter, "So do the kids who are not as good as your kid, and so do the teams who are not as good as your kid's team. They may just not be as good. Tough" We're getting a pretty warped idea of what kids "deserve" and it's this sense of entitlement that's going to set them up for failure when and if they reach adulthood. One of the big reasons you don't see TV coverage of local little league baseball/softball until it gets to district, state or national tourney times is otherwise very simple: You cover one team, you have to cover them all--and with limited staff, that's just not realistic--because somebody will get left out. The same applies to junior high and JV teams--they all work hard, but you can't cover them all, so we don't cover them at all. It's as fair as we can be. Again, you don't like it? Tough. Deal with it.

But every summer, I get angry parents who don't--calling me up griping because I don't show more little league, and even though they can't see me when they call, I'm rolling my eyes and shaking my head. Yes, your kid is special. So is mine. But every other parent thinks his kid is special. So as Seargent Hulka said in the movie "Stripes": "Lighten up, Francis".

And there you go. Enjoy the kickoff weekend of Summertime 2009. Ditch the speedo, chuckle at the guy who doesn't, wear your sunscreen, and leave the TV guys alone when it comes to little league (and continue that in the fall when it comes to JV and junior high sports!). That'll help make it a summer to remember!