The Home Run Kid

That's going to be Tyler's new nickname from now on. How do you think it suits him? He likes it just fine! He blasted another one out of the park last night and I would have given anything to have caught it on video--the look on his face, the roar of the crowd . . . well, I'm not sure you would have been able to hear the roar of the crowd over my screaming, but still . . . plus, the video would have been awfully shaky what with my jumping up and down, pumping my fists and clapping; so I guess it's just as well that I simply tell you about it!

The rest of the night was sort of anti-climactic after that. By the time Tyler got to bat again, the pitcher's arm was tired and he couldn't throw strikes so he walked Tyler, but Tyler did get to score on a really close play at the plate, so that was exciting! And he got a single in his third at-bat and scored again. Unfortunately, our boys lost this one by a score of--get ready--25 to 19!

Without sounding like a disgruntled parent whose son lost his game, believe me when I tell you that our boys were robbed. Each season there is at least one game like last night's, and there's always ONE coach like the opposing team's. He was the perfect model of how NOT to coach. He encouraged his boys to do a lot of things that, while not "illegal," are just widely accepted as NOT part of the rules in the Parks and Rec leagues. A couple of people tried to gently point out to him that he wasn't playing fair and he would not acknowledge a single one. Normally when there's an issue the coaches can get together and hash it out, but this guy was immovable. He wouldn't make eye contact, would pretend that he hadn't heard what was being said . . . and his assistant coaches were the same way. Just ignored everyone.

And the other really irritating thing that he did (and there's always at least one of these coaches, too) was tell his boys not to swing unless he got a "perfect" pitch. So his boys stood up there, never swinging the bat, and just praying for a walk. B-O-R-I-N-G. Our boys may have lost the game, but at least they went down swinging!