Corcaigh Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 With sports other than baseball, they can learn and play a sport while also getting some good fitness in there. Put another way ... baseball or softball have no redeeming features. :pfft: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Put another way ... baseball or softball have no redeeming features. :pfft: Very well said. Like I said, when I was 10 or so, I saw baseball as my escape from soccer. Had I been halfway decent at soccer, I might not have been in such a hurry to get out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsburySkinsFan Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Baseball just seems really boring for kids unless they're good enough to pitch or play in the infield. Which is why it's the coach's responsibility to rotate players around on the field, sure it'll cost you games but then at the little league level it should really be more about instilling the love of the game in the kids. Personally, when I coach little league baseball I have two goals, 1) that the kids enjoy the game, 2) that they get better throughout the season, those two goals obviously affect my win-loss ratio but I get nothing but compliments from parents, and several of those parents have become close family friends. The coaches that focus on winning first look miserable and you can tell their players don't enjoy the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chachie Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I can't speak for the youth of today, but the steroid scandal (and Peter Angelos) killed baseball for me. I haven't watched a regular season game in well over a decade and haven't watched a post-season game in maybe 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beans Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Great news. Baseball is finally dying the slow death it deserves. Viva La Football! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinfan2k Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 you know what they need to introduce. Kickball. I love playing adult kickball. I think they need to continue it til high school to be honest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmySmith Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I am a baseball guy. I play, I coach and I understand exactly why kids aren't playing. One of the main reasons is it has a high learning curve and requires a great deal of skill. That skill comes from hours of practice. Kids want to play something that gives instant gratification (see soccer), where one can play competitively almost instantly. The whole "boring" thing is also true, if you have poor coaching, and you typically do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeesburgSkinFan Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Great news. Baseball is finally dying the slow death it deserves. Viva La Football! Baseball is thriving in the cities that matter (NYC, Boston, LA, Chicago, etc). Record profits and attendance. It's not going anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan since a Fetus Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I recently (within a couple of years) saw a segement somewhere and they were asking black youth why they did not like baseball. Their numbers have been decling the most I believe. They all stated that they thought it was a weak sport. That you were not tough if you played baseball. You have to play football in order to be tough. This is image problem that I do not think baseball can over come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCsportsfan53 Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Some people don't see it but baseball is in the process of dying a slow death. Could be worse, could be the drug addled former star rapidly snorting, smoking and injecting his way to the grave that is the NBA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Interesting. Kids play football less and less as well, right? So what the hell are these kids doing, playing video games all day? :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Interesting. Kids play football less and less as well, right? So what the hell are these kids doing, playing video games all day? :doh: Not so fast. Only 3 Billion hours are spent each week playing video games. But online video gamers might save the World if we can increase the number. http://www.hulu.com/watch/219284/tedtalks-jane-mcgonigal-gaming-can-make-a-better-world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.C.O.L.B. Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Some people don't see it but baseball is in the process of dying a slow death. Could be worse, could be the drug addled former star rapidly snorting, smoking and injecting his way to the grave that is the NBA. I couldn't disagree more. I actually feel sorry for sports fans who don't follow the NBA for whatever reason. They are really missing out. And aren't ratings up anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Harris Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 i think it was colin cowherd i was listening to not long ago talk about this subject and how kids just don't watch baseball. he had some crazy statistics about the demographic make up of fans of different sports....basketball has the biggest fan base of teens. he said you can see it by reading the obits......."george was an avid red sox fan....." "steve loved his cubs...." etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yank Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Which is why it's the coach's responsibility to rotate players around on the field, sure it'll cost you games but then at the little league level it should really be more about instilling the love of the game in the kids. Personally, when I coach little league baseball I have two goals, 1) that the kids enjoy the game, 2) that they get better throughout the season, those two goals obviously affect my win-loss ratio but I get nothing but compliments from parents, and several of those parents have become close family friends. The coaches that focus on winning first look miserable and you can tell their players don't enjoy the game. I coached my kids from Little League (Great Falls All Star head coach for 4 years) into high school age and there are some real reasons why baseball is not as popular as it used to be: 1. The old adage that baseball is like war - long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of extreme fear - is appropriate. It is hard to keep youngsters motivated if they are not getting action in the field. Rotation from infield to outfield is key to keeping their interest. 2. Little League requires 2 innings in the field per player. Great Falls league rules said 3 innings. I always strived for 4 innings per player and rarely missed. Nobody has fun on the bench. I won the league title and tournament with this program. 3. Every kid in the field or at bat has a spotlight on them. Everyone knows what they did right or wrong - especially from the bleachers - ugh. It is very stressful for kids who are in LL and are transitioning to puberty. This is not nearly the case in soccer or lacrosse or basketball (which I also coached) - kids can blend in the pack more but not at all in baseball. 4. Baseball is a game of failure - hitting .300 in MLB or even .500 in LL means lots of failure. Kids need mental toughness to play the game like really no other. Teaching hitting is a process and is much harder than learning any other skill because you cant simulate it even at batting cages. 5. The most fun parts of the game need to be stressed especially in warmups and practice. I always tried to have a rundown/hot-box drill in practice to simulate a rundown to both teach the kids how to do it right (force the runner back and one throw max) as well as have fun doing it. Also I would do "outrageous catches" and throw the ball where they had to dive to catch it - they loved it. Saved at least 2 games a year because they knew how to do both and they remembered it as a fun thing about baseball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrypticVillain Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Since they put the new baseball stadium over here, I think the number has gone up in my neighborhood. We used to play baseball all the time when I was younger. I would have kept playing, just couldn't throw the ball anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Three key points about baseball: 1. 2. 3. It is obsolete and it will fall. I can't wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble Screen Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Not to mention the cost to play baseball. Parents have to buy their kids a glove, bat, and balls to play the game, where as all you need to play basketball and football is a ball and hoop (for bball). Plus Selig has done a horrible job promoting his game. Games take too long to keep a kid's attention on TV, and playoff and World Series games start way too late for kids on the east coast, so kids miss out on watching the best players and games MLB has. It's no surprise that football and basketball have vastly surpassed baseball in popularity with kids. Both sports have more action in their games, and don't take 5+ hours for a game to conclude. Baseball isn't really any more expensive to sign up than any other sport. And so what if you have to buy a glove and bat. Its not like you have to buy those every year. Those last for years if you take care of them. And I don't buy the stuff about the games coming on late either. Not all playoff games are late at night. There are day games (not enough though). And its not all about the World Series. There are 162 games in a season. Plenty of time to watch games. I just think that kids nowadays are a bunch of wusses. But I don't blame them, entirely. Most of it falls on their parents. Not as many "families" these days, as there used to be. Therefore, its alot harder to have the dad around to teach them the game. ---------- Post added April-1st-2011 at 01:07 AM ---------- From the article,"Studies suggest more people now play soccer in the U.S. than baseball." Check out the ball fields in your area, most kids are playing soccer not baseball. Here is a PERFECT example of my comment about kids these days being wusses. No better example than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 How does not playing baseball make you a "wuss"? I'm really trying to figure out how soccer is a "wussier" sport than baseball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble Screen Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 How does not playing baseball make you a "wuss"? I'm really trying to figure out how soccer is a "wussier" sport than baseball. I'm saying "in general" kids nowadays are a bunch of wusses. Look at how many kids spend their summers indoors playing video games. Hell, year round they are always inside playing video games. And soccer is ABSOLUTELY more of a wussier sport than baseball. Hell, I can think of few sports that are more wussier than soccer. Kids just aren't tough these days. And its been like that for a long time. Sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrifNick21 Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 How does not playing baseball make you a "wuss"? I'm really trying to figure out how soccer is a "wussier" sport than baseball. It's probably because he played it, therefore he thinks those than don't are wusses. I could be wrong, though. If you think playing soccer makes you a wuss, you clearly have never played the sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I'm saying "in general" kids nowadays are a bunch of wusses. Look at how many kids spend their summers indoors playing video games. Hell, year round they are always inside playing video games. And soccer is ABSOLUTELY more of a wussier sport than baseball. Hell, I can think of few sports that are more wussier than soccer. Kids just aren't tough these days. And its been like that for a long time. Sad. I never played soccer, and stopped playing baseball after elementary school. I'd just like to hear why you think soccer is a wussier sport than baseball. What the hell do you do in baseball, especially as a kid, besides hit and catch the ball, and run around the bases? Soccer's more physical than baseball, even for kids. And requires more endurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble Screen Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 It's probably because he played it, therefore he thinks those than don't are wusses. I could be wrong, though. If you think playing soccer makes you a wuss, you clearly have never played the sport. Yeah, I played baseball. Played football, too. But basketball was the one I was really good at. And no, I never once played soccer. Never had any desire whatsover to play such a wussy sport. People that playes soccer at my school were mostly made fun of. And rightfully so. ---------- Post added April-1st-2011 at 02:01 AM ---------- I never played soccer, and stopped playing baseball after elementary school.I'd just like to hear why you think soccer is a wussier sport than baseball. What the hell do you do in baseball, especially as a kid, besides hit and catch the ball, and run around the bases? Soccer's more physical than baseball, even for kids. And requires more endurance. Dude, take it from someone who was a very good athlete growing up, there was NOTHING harder than hitting a baseball. Its the single hardest thing to do in sports. I was good at it, but not nearly as good as I was at basketball. Soccer was mostly a sport that kids played (at my school) that weren't good enough to play the "real" sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrifNick21 Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I don't get how you can diss a sport you never played, yet you go off on other people's posts and say it's idiotic, etc. I hate to break it to you, but your **** stinks, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble Screen Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I don't get how you can diss a sport you never played, yet you go off on other people's posts and say it's idiotic, etc. I hate to break it to you, but your **** stinks, too. Dude, I was too good to lower myself to play a sport like that. It was, and still is, considered an "inferior" sport. The better athletes (see: me) didn't play soccer then, nor do they now. And that's probably the major reason why the US team routinely gets their asses handed to them every World Cup. Our best athletes don't play the sport! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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