Tiffani Amber Thiessen Shows Off Her Beautiful New Deck That Gen Xers Will Appreciate, Rory Or Mr. Bean & MEAT
Plus: Readers react to the end of my son's 12U season
Readers react to the end of Screencaps Jr.'s rec ball season & the opposing team claiming my runner missed home plate to score the game-tying run, which ended up the third out and the end of the season
For those who missed Thursday Screencaps, the short version of the story is that it was 10-8 in the top of the 6th. Bases loaded. My hitter laces one over the second baseman's head.
The kid on third scores easily. Zap, who was on second, scores standing up.
I was scoring the play in GameChanger when all hell broke loose and coaches are screaming he missed home plate. The umpire freezes. Wants nothing to do with this war and ends up agreeing.
Game over. Season over.
— Paul T. compliments me for not turning the situation into a viral video moment:
Good morning Joe, I have not even finished reading caps this morning but was wanting to let you know how proud of you I am! Your handling of the situation last night is exactly what I would expect from you.
Only knowing you from what I read and our limited correspondence via emails but consider you a friend. You are a man amongst men in my opinion. I can picture the scene in my head and can see exactly the scenario play out and the "celebration" of the opposing team.
When I was kid in the 70s and 80s, I played all the main sports down 7yrs old through high school, baseball in summer, football in fall, basketball in winter and even mixed in a few years of tennis and soccer too and have been around a lot of teams and know the "win at all costs" coaches and parents enough to see what played out.
I commend you for your actions, especially your character. Especially in this day and age you are what is needed teaching and leading by example for your players and their parents. Well done!
Kinsey:
Thank you, Paul.
I promise there's no video out there of me even asking the umpire to explain the situation. I was in full de-escalation mode. The league should actually give me some sort of award for how much of an adult I was in the moment.
— Duncan knows the youth baseball world very well:
Sorry to hear that the other coaches stole the game from your kids, don't know how some people sleep at night. When my son was playing rec 8U ball, his team was 5-0, playing another 5-0 team. He got a grounder at first and stepped on the bag.
Ump said he didn't see him step on the bag so called the batter safe (batter was a big kid and slow as molasses). I was an assistant coach, and asked the Dad who was coaching first base what he saw - "I wasn't paying attention." I asked the Dad pitching what he saw - just shrugged his shoulders. Hollered at the head coach and he said nothing.
Next batter strikes out, would've been 3 outs. Leadoff hitter comes up, hits a 3 run inside the park homer. We lose the game and my son loses his mind. He ended up getting banned from All-Stars because he argued with the same ump a few games later.
If any of those Dads were like yeah he stepped on the bag, they could've made a huge difference, but they wanted that 8U rec ball win so bad that they said nothing. So many bad daddy ball coaches out there, makes me sick.
— Bill S. tells me :
Props to you for keeping your cool when you had every right to be upset. While any good and caring coach would want to "fight" for their kids (especially for something so egregious), you see way too many stories about unruly coaches and parents literally fighting and cursing and it's a bad look on them, the beautiful game we were taught to respect and ultimately, the kids are the ones who pay the consequences.
I applaud your restraint and wish other coaches take cues. I've been coaching and umpiring 25 years and the behavior has intensified and become way too commonplace in the game and sports in general. I've made many mistakes as an umpire and will make many more because I am human and it happens. The coaches that understand these things tend to command the most respect of their players and the kids learn a lot more about themselves and things beyond baseball!
Life isn't always fair but if you get back up and give max effort, there's no reason you won't be there again next year and this time hopefully on the right side of things!
Keep up the good work.
— Robert S. has some thoughts:
Your story about the end of the baseball season brought me back to the summer of 1980 when my Little League season ended in a similar way. It was 3-3 in the championship game between Pepsi and Dairy Queen (my team and defending champs) and with two outs in the 6th we scored the go ahead run.
Nope, the other team's coach accused our player of not touching home plate. The umpire (an adult) agreed and called him out. They scored a run in the bottom of the 6th and we lost 4-3. That was 45 years ago and anyone who played for Pepsi or Dairy Queen still talks about that game! By the way, the player who "didn't touch home plate" was our best player and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins out of high school. Didn't touch the plate my ass!
Hang in there Screencaps family...a lot of great baseball ahead.
— Brandon in northern Kentucky emails:
I’ve been around long enough to realize just how petty, cheap and as you said chickenshit parent’s, coaches and adults in general can be. I officiated football for 19 years from pee-wee to Varsity and it’s at all levels but mostly before high school.
I was the HC for my son’s 4th grade intramural league basketball team way back when (I volunteered to help which automatically made me the HC). We could only practice one night a week, and we were not very talented anyway, middle of the season we have zero wins going against the "best" team in the league.
We catch fire midway through the first quarter and have a 4-point lead at the end of 1. Come out and boom hit one of our first 3s of the year early in the second. Our very next trip up the court, the other coach starts yelling at the one 70-year-old referee, who is volunteering his time, about 5 seconds in the lane.
I couldn’t believe it.
Next time down, the same thing. My blood was boiling, I simply looked at the coach and asked "really? It’s rec ball".
He replied, "They have to learn to play by the rules".
We ultimately go destroyed because they were the better team, but the pettiness knows no bounds. Chalk up how you handled the situation as "Doing Hard Things" because not many would’ve thought of teaching a life lesson in that situation. Keep up the good work.
— Florida Chris B., who will be North Carolina Chris B. very soon, writes:
The opposing coach should be banned for a year. Without knowing anything about him, I’m gonna bet that his kid gets his way 100% of the time (probably pitches every game he can and bats first, right?). It sounds like you handled the situation brilliantly, so kudos for that.
Kinsey:
I actually like the coach. He told me earlier this year how he's been an umpire for 30+ years or something like that. Ultimately, I think he got caught up in the moment.
— Keith W. adds:
What an unbelievable finish to your season! Thanks for sharing the league with all of us. You're absolutely right about this being your son's best season he'll remember forever... I can't help but think, as a dad of a couple young boys as well, you're also going to remember it fondly forever.
— Jim T. in San Diego has his own memories of such circumstances:
You did the right thing – putting a teenage ump in the middle of an angry argument benefits no one. And the kids on your team learned an important life lessons that too many parents try to protect their kids from (which never helps them): Life isn’t fair.
Life isn’t fair, and it’s full of douche bags, some of whom go into coaching as adults. Actually, LOTS of douche bags go into coaching. (Fortunately, they are still a minority of coaches.)
Closest I ever came to getting into it with another coach was when kid #2 was in a 6-man 10U flag football league at the local Y. None of the kids on my team had ever played any football before, so we worked on basics of throwing, catching, blocking. BUT … I let our QB, who was very athletic, call his own plays. I even let the players name their plays. So they took a lot of pride that even though they lost most weeks, they were the only team in our league where coach wasn’t calling in the plays. (We had like 8 plays in our playbook total.)
Middle of the season, we’re playing an off-season Pop Warner team that was in our league to get more practice time in. Except they’re full-on tackling our guys. I call a time out after our first offensive play when our kid is tackled. I go to the ref, "They can’t be tackling." Their coach yells, "Too bad you kids are a bunch of pussies!" I walk toward him and say, "Yeah, that’s some real tough stuff there – tackling kids who ‘ve not trained to play tackle football." The ref, a teenager, just looks lost – like, this isn’t what he signed up for. Next play, our kid gets tackled again. I ask the ref, "Who’s in charge here today?" He points toward the next field (there were about 8 games going on that day at this school) – "Mr. ‘Smith’."
I knew Mr. ‘Smth’. Only I knew him as Gunny Smith, a Marine. (LOTS of Marine dads in San Diego!) I turned to one of my assistant coaches and said, quietly, "Go get Gunny up here ASAP," and then I call my first time out.
By the time our timeout is over, Gunny has jogged over to our game, and told the teenage ref to go to take over the game he was reffing.
We run our next play, our kid gets tackled. Gunny blows his whistle, calls a penalty. The other coach loses it, says the ref is trying to turn his players into pussies.
Well …
Gunny – who was about a head and a half taller than that coach, and in a whole lot better shape – is in his face, telling the coach that this is a flag league, that coach knew that when he signed up, and that the next time one of his players tackles an opposing player, he, Gunny, will tackle the coach just as hard.
The coach looks at Gunny for a second, realizes he’s in WAY over his head, huddles his players up, and says, very loudly, "Okay, guys, I forgot this is a flag league, so we’ve gotta stop tackling and grab their flags, okay?"
We still lost, but at least nobody got hurt.
But if there hadn’t been an adult ref to fix that situation, I would have pulled my kids off the field and forfeited for their safety.
— Eric P. emailed:
In a few years, you will look at that picture you posted and feel the same as you do today.. proud of your kid, your team and how you handled the situation.
— Ken in North Augusta, SC reminds me:
Tough loss for your baseball team, but they will always remember the experiences and lessons from the season. It’s a shame they had to learn that final lesson in that fashion. I’ll bet they’ll be ready for more Rec ball next year!
Bengals-Packers invitation
— Brad B. wants me to come into enemy territory:
I don't know if you have ever been to Lambeau, but this seems like the perfect day to tender an invitation. Usually, I am hesitant to ask a fan of the opposing team to sit with me, but you are worth the exception. I have indoor club seat season tickets, a change I made last year from outdoor club to indoor and have loved it. Weather is no longer an issue and if it's nice we can always migrate outside.
Unlike the aluminum bench seating in the bowl, there are padded seatbacks, arm rests, and cupholders-> living large.
The Bengals come to town October 12 for a 3:25 start, so the tundra won't be frozen. The day before would be devoted to a Lambeau Field tour and time at the Packers HOF, which I think surpasses the one in Canton, but I recognize my intrinsic bias.
Saturday night we could experience some of Green Bay's finest cuisine, which is code for supper clubs and a throwback to my Midwestern roots. In the 60's I grew up on Raleigh Street, a couple blocks from the Stadium, and parked cars in my driveway for 50 cents apiece on game days. You'd appreciate that my Dad wouldn't approve parking on the LAWN, depriving me of an extra $1.50 of revenue.
Kinsey:
My dad and I attended a Bears-Packers game at Lambeau on a Thursday night years ago when it went from like 85 and beautiful to 55 and FREEZING after a massive storm came through. I seem to remember there was a weather delay.
I also seem to remember people going through hypothermia.
A quick Google search tells me it was September 2017.
Just so readers know, I DO NOT solicit tickets from you guys, and I've turned down some wild offers, but if you're asking, and it makes sense in my life schedule, I do make these trips from time to time.
These adventures turn into content. The Masters trip turned into memories for life and John Daly signed cigs on my basement wall.
A couple of years ago, I ended up at a Bengals-Steelers game with Tom in Fort Wayne, Mig and three of Tom's childhood buddies. There's talk of another similar trip this year.
Brad, I will get back to you. It might be time for a drive across the Upper Peninsula and over to Green Bay.
Are you looking for a new content series to watch this summer?
This 9-hole golf course rehab in Chesterville, Maine is off to an interesting start. It appears a father and son took on this pasture that has been left to die. The golf shack is literally a shack. The mowing equipment was left to rot.
The greens are hard to distinguish from the fairways, which are indistinguishable from the rough.
Have you lost faith in the youth of this country? Remember, there are Gen Z and Millennials out there who were raised right.
Dig in.
A report from Banff
— Wyn in Colorado is one of the longest-tenured Screencaps readers going way, way back like a decade:
Just got back from a trip to Banff and the Canadian Rockies—absolutely unreal. Pictures don’t do it justice. It was a mix of postcard views, wildlife, glacier water, and good food. Hate to say it but Canadian Rockies > Rocky Mountains.
This morning, I was at a girls’ flag football camp and ended up chatting with a neighbor. Her A/C went out yesterday, thing is only 18 months old. I’m not usually a conspiracy guy, but something about these newer units going belly-up just feels… off. Like they’ve got a timer set to fail right after the warranty runs out. I had to replace the fan motor in one of my units last summer and appreciate the help from YouTube #NotSponsored.
The camp wrapped up by telling the girls to "Do Hard Things. Loved hearing the coach preach it. We need more of that kind of messaging. Life’s tough and might as well train kids for it early.
Also, sorry to hear about your 12U baseball team’s loss. That call? That’s just not one an umpire should make in that moment. Let the kids decide it. Total heartbreaker, and you handled it with class.
Quick ask for the Screencaps community: I’m in the process of building a custom home and I’m looking into central vac systems. Anyone out there have experience, good, bad, or indifferent? Worth it, or waste of money? Appreciate any insight or recs from the community.
And hey, Tom in Highlands Ranch, if you’re reading this, reach out for a beer sometime. I’m nearby.
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That is it this morning. Screencaps Jr. still has an all-star game to play this weekend and then we officially enter the dog days of summer when I can get back to playing golf and watching baseball on the patio.
Let's have a great weekend. Go do something fun.
Email: joe.kinsey@outkick.com or use my personal Gmail