For some reason, being a coach makes me want to be a better person than just being a teacher does. I remember my first year of coaching, a while ago now, and whenever I felt like doing anything wrong - having a few too many drinks, for example - I would always imagine my players' faces, and their eyes, looking at me. There was one kid (I'm not sure why, because he was kinda bad), and I would actually think to myself, "Oh, what would Emmanuel Jackson think of you right now?" whenever I felt like doing something that wasn't something I would, say, want them to be doing. And, often, I didn't do it, or I felt guilty about it if I did.
I guess it's because I get to know the kids on a much different level. Today, for example, I've received six cell phone calls from students, and my text-message inbox is full of students' messages. Or maybe it's because I'm tougher on them than my regular students. Something. It's kind of a good feeling, I have to admit.
Today was the first day of tryouts. It was cold as hell. I was happy with the four pleasant surprises. There is no JV team. I will have to make cuts.
Dürer’s Demons
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The great German artist Albrecht Dürer inured himself to the melancholy of
his time by embracing religion: Like so many of his contemporaries, Dürer
was ha...
50 minutes ago
8 comments:
When was the last time BCPSS schools fielded JV baseball teams?
I'm not sure, it's been a while.
We tried it the last couple of years - there definitely is interest - but it was too expensive with not enough support.
Not enough support in the individual schools or down at North Ave?
I'm glad to hear there's interest. I'd heard that interest for baseball in BCPSS schools had waned in favor of lacrosse mostly. It's unfortunate that there isn't a JV system in the city. In my experience, with good coaching and with a system in place to get players used to the high school game, that can help raise the level of play of teams in the city. I just wish there was the money to do it.
Both.
I don't know if there's less interest than in the past. There certainly is lots of interest, what with all the kids who come out every year. Or head to a Northwood League event and see how many kids are there. I wish north avenue still supported a JV program, that's for sure.
I do too. I think one unfortunate weaknesses of Baltimore City baseball is the lack of JV teams. When I was playing in the city, there were both JV and Varsity teams, and as you'd imagine, players who were good, but maybe not mature or developed enough for varsity, could play JV and get the coaching and experience in that level of ball.
I'm glad to see that Northwood is still going strong. When I was closer to the game in the city, Northwood fed some good players to are schools -- Northern (yeah, I'm kinda old) and Mervo, in particular. I felt kinda bad for the Northwood players who had gone to Northern. There were a few really good players on the team with a bunch of knuckleheads who didn't care about the game. Mervo was just flat out good, especially earlier this decade.
Are the elite travel teams like Yankee Rebels still going strong? What about the former Crown All-Stars? Are they getting more players from Baltimore and AA Counties?
I'll be honest, I haven't heard of those traveling teams...
No problem.
Yankee Rebels is/was basically the premiere travel team in the Baltimore area during my day. Crown All-Stars is/was an all-star team featuring players from schools all around Central Maryland. Mark Teixeira was selected one year. I mis-searched on the web. The Crown All-Star Game is now the Brooks Robinson All-Star game.
You're almost done with cuts already???
We've had three days of tryouts already.
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