# Coach has disabled player deliberately hurt **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 15, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677 "2005-07-15T17:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/21 "2005-07-16T00:16:13Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Better yet, let him spend a week with the same mental faculties of the victim. So you want him to finally gain the intellect required to tell right from wrong? An idealistic goal, but worthy. > [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Doesn’t sound like much? Stop and think how it would feel to go through days, weeks, months of essentially being invisible to the world, knowing that the thing you’d done was so abhorrent to your community that they cast you out of it. Well, part of the point of being an outlaw was that you were _completely_ outside the law. Someone could walk up and kill you and face no penalty under the law. (That is, at least, how I understand it. I could well be wrong.) > [@photopat](#): > > No kidding. I’ve watched my nephews play teeball in the past and it’s hard enough to get the kids to hit the ball. Never mind the outfielders entranced by whatever happens to catch their eyes at the moment. This isn’t a criticism, by any means. It’s cute and I was the same way as a kid. I’m just saying this is the least critical sport in terms of winning and losing. Precisely. There are even teeball leagues where they don’t even keep score. That is the definition of noncompetitive. ---
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/22 "2005-07-16T02:22:53Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Then just fucking play everyone. It isn’t like there were lives at stake. I read something about this earlier- it mentioned the coaches were requiered to play all their players at least 3 innings. Poor little guy. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/23 "2005-07-16T03:18:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Well, part of the point of being an outlaw was that you were _completely_ outside the law. Someone could walk up and kill you and face no penalty under the law. (That is, at least, how I understand it. I could well be wrong.) You’re correct that in certain societies at certain times being declared an outlaw did entitle anyone you met to off you without penalty. But that isn’t the same as shunning, at least as I meant it. I was thinking of shunning the way the Anabaptist sects in the US (Amish, Mennonite, Hutterite) do it: No physical harm offered to the offender, but obliteration of that person’s place in the community. I’m not sure, but I believe in at least some cases even the shunned one’s family will refuse to have anything to do with him/her. Now, that sort of punishment works best in a close-knit, even insular community, so it’s quite possible it would be futile in the case of this coach. Still, given how rabidly ego-driven he must be to have done such a thing, being treated as a nonentity ought to really, really hurt. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/24 "2005-07-16T03:30:25Z")
Well this has just got me thinking. And I’d have posted in the other thread but it seems to have gone in another direction so I won’t hijack it. And hopefully I 'm not hijacking this one… the other thread being : > **[Father kills "gay" toddler](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=325510)** > > I think I may be sick. If there’s anything that could make me re-think my opposition to the death penalty, this just might be it. I’m just thinking, talking about this guy’s case has to envolve the sociaty idea that in sports you must win an any cost. A socialty apporoved of idea. And that this has something to do with why he did what he did. Much, I think, as homophobia and gender sterotypes have to do with the case in the other thread. I think in both cases the ideas and socail approved justifications are worht looking at evn as we condem the guy for being a total asshat. Hard for me why you can’t do both. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/25 "2005-07-16T12:19:13Z")
I can’t even comprehend the idea of being competitive in tee-ball. I mean, seriously, it’s tee-ball. The kids are so uncoordinated they have to sit the ball on a fucking tee for them, how can you be all rah-rah competitive about a game like that? ---
**Author:** ![coldie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@coldie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coldie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/26 "2005-07-16T12:29:00Z")
Of course what coach did was wrong but it IS annoy to have lousy player ruining the game for teammates. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/27 "2005-07-16T12:39:55Z")
How do you ruin T-ball? ---
**Author:** ![coldie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@coldie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coldie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/28 "2005-07-16T12:49:20Z")
For example if some retard keep runnig when he should stop or throws ball to the wrong place and team loses the game. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/29 "2005-07-16T12:50:23Z")
People make mistakes. And it’s fucking T-ball. And don’t call people retards. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/30 "2005-07-16T12:54:58Z")
I have a reasonable amount of mental acuity, but completely crap physical coordination. It’s better than it used to be, but tee-ball was the game of choice for me when I was under 10 (the age at which we were kicked out into the harsh world of softball.) I have absolutely no doubt that I did things that lost us games. Seriously, hitting a ball off the tee was difficult enough for me. But you know what? The really competitive kids weren’t playing tee-ball anyway. They were off playing other sports. So no one gave a fuck. We all ran around, practiced our team sport skills some, and got some fresh air and sunshine. There is no excuse for taking any childrens’ game seriously enough to hurt one of your own players in order not to lose a game, but for chrissakes, _tee-ball_!? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/31 "2005-07-16T13:08:05Z")
There’s a loser in T-Ball? How? I thought the whole idea was to get the kids used to swinging the bat, hitting the ball, and running the bases. No scores, no competition, no pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/32 "2005-07-16T13:16:32Z")
> [@coldie](#): > > For example if some retard keep runnig when he should stop or throws ball to the wrong place and team loses the game. Save yourself $14.95 and don’t join, you fucking asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/33 "2005-07-16T13:42:10Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > And don’t call people retards. **{{{Rilchiam}}}** From me and my developmentally challenged niece, whose sunny face falls in an instant at the tossing around of that hated word. I agree w/ the idea of shunning the ‘coach’, and I lay odds it may already have begun. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/34 "2005-07-16T13:45:06Z")
> [@coldie](#): > > For example if some retard keep runnig when he should stop or throws ball to the wrong place and team loses the game. So, coach, why don’t you listen to your lawyer when he tells you to STFU and not talk about the case while it’s pending? ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/35 "2005-07-16T13:56:46Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > So, coach, why don’t you listen to your lawyer when he tells you to STFU and not talk about the case while it’s pending? Shit, that cracked me up, **ETF**. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/36 "2005-07-16T14:36:07Z")
My son plays t-ball. These are their rules: They play three innings (unless its after 7:00 - they don’t start a new inning after 7:00). Each inning involves all kids hitting the ball from the tee. The kids all run to first base after their hit, except when the last kid hits, then its an automatic home run. Sometimes the kids get lucky and there is actually and out, but it doesn’t count, except the parents on defense all cheer to let the kids know they did something right. There is no score. Dads (mostly) stand behind the players and make sure the balls don’t go too far into the outfield and overthrows to first (very common), don’t slow play. If there are fourteen kids on the team, there are fourteen fielders. If there are six kids that show that night, there are six fielders and the “backup Dad’s” do more backing up. We had a disabled kid on the team last year. He played with the assistance of his physcial therapist. She helped him run bases, and made sure he knew which direction to throw the ball. He wasn’t the best kid on the team, but with t-ball, he wasn’t noticably worse than most of the kids (there were a few standout players - they were the ones that normally hit the ball from the tee the first time, understood they were supposed to get the ball after it was hit, and threw it approximately the right direction by the end of the season). He didn’t spoil the game for anyone, and I was glad he was on the team, my kids got an opportunity to understand that they are fortunate. I was rather shocked after that with my first soccer game after this experience. Soccer they actually keep score. They still have the rule that everyone plays, though they only have seven players on the field at any time and rotate kids on and off. But it still wasn’t exactly competative. ---
**Author:** ![coldie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@coldie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coldie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/37 "2005-07-16T14:48:57Z")
Excuuuuuuuse me. Sorry if I offend the PC Police. What you want me to say instead of “retard”? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/38 "2005-07-16T14:51:39Z")
> [@coldie](#): > > Excuuuuuuuse me. Sorry if I offend the PC Police. What you want me to say instead of “retard”? I think you’re better off not talking at all. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/39 "2005-07-16T15:01:25Z")
Second. The motion has be proposed and seconded. What say the Members? ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677/40 "2005-07-16T15:05:16Z")
Actually, I really don’t care what Coldie calls the kid. It’s not really the label that’s important to me here, it’s the action. I do not think this is about competition. To bring some aspect of the, “Oh no, the culture is degrading,” into it, I think this is another move by a subset of people I like to refer to as the “asshole Dad.” Everyone knows them. They are the dads who, when their kid plays T-Ball, you can tell that Dad has been drilling them for the past 5 years in the hopes that they will be the next A-Rod. They are the dad’s whose kids are already overcompetitive little jerks themselves, and when they start talking smack to the other kids (showing what Dad has taught them, dad looks a little embarassed that the truth has come out. You can tell them in other areas of life too. Everything needs to be about training their kid to be “hard,” and a real man. They also generally mow their lawns about 3 times a week (okay, my neighbor does that, but I’m sure back when he had kids living at home he was an asshole dad :)). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coach-has-disabled-player-deliberately-hurt/312677.md?page=3)