Touch of [NO] Class

Ryan had a baseball game on Thursday night.  

As has been the trend this season, they were behind when I arrived at the game.

I think it's a combination of 1) these boys have not been playing together long and they don't "jive" yet (whereas other teams have been together as a "comp" team for many years). 2) they have a hard time getting a FULL team due to many of the boys having jobs, and if they leave early, they get an automatic OUT each time it's the missing person's turn at bat. 3) when they get behind, [as a defense mechanism, I think] they lose their "seriousness" and start this non-stop light hearted chatter with one another on the field.

All of these things together have landed them a spot in the lower part of their leagues' standings.

{In a nutshell, they're not that good!}

And after observing all this, AND having an in-your-face confrontation with the umpire, the coach from the other team felt entitled to tell (yell) my son that his team was a "bunch of PUNKS."

(So what do you call a "GROWN MAN" who throws fits on the baseball field?)

When the game was over, we had lost.  No surprise there.  

As is customary, our team lined up at home plate to wait for the other team to shake hands/"low five" with them and say the automatic, "good game, good game, good game" to each and every member of the team & coaches.

  

And our team waited.  

The other team's assistant coach, on his way back to his dugout from coaching 3rd Base, came by the front of our line, held up his hand in the "STOP" sign and said, "We're FINE, boys" and walked right on by.  Meanwhile, the head coach was keeping his team in the dugout, ignoring our line up of boys.

Apparently, they thought our team was such a "joke" that we deserved NO congratulations.  NO courtesy.  No acknowledgement of a game played.

(What's the definition of "Punk" again???) 

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**As a little continuation of the story, some of our boys just stayed lined up, waiting for what should've been.   After a while, ONE boy from the other team broke free from (snuck out against the coaches will?) their dugout and came out and shook hands with our boys.  He received an applause from all our fans & players with that act of decency (& courage.)  After a few minutes, with our boys still waiting at home plate, a few others followed the example of the first boy, too, but there was still many who never came.