Let the games begin

This afternoon Baseball Boy had his first practice for this years spring baseball season. He had a pretty good time. He reported some very talented burpers on his team. He was especially impressed by the kid who could burp the alphabet.

His coach seemed like a nice guy. I was pleased that there seemed to be some teaching of game basics instead of just letting the kids figure it out by themselves. This is the first level that they have pitchers instead of using a pitching machine and it was fun to watch the kids all try to get the hang of throwing the ball across the plate. I had the laugh when the coach reminded everyone about wearing a cup even just for practice. Seems these young pitchers get a little carried away with themselves sometimes.

We had the usual assortment of overly enthusiastic parents. The father who was micromanaging his kid from the sidelines. The mom who told me that this is her sons third year playing and she hopes he likes it this year. As usual I can't turn my filter on in time and asked her why she even signs him up if he doesn't like it. She was saved trying to answer when her son got hit by a ball because he wasn't paying attention. Yep, I could see he was lovin' being there already.

But overall the kids looked like they were having fun. There was a lot of kidding around and silliness you get when you put a bunch of 8 and 9 year old boys together. Following directions took a distant second to making the kid next to you laugh. A little rough housing and a lot of mud. You could hear the burps and silly noises across the entire field.

Yep, this has potential to be a good baseball season.