Conspiracy Theory?

Lamb, the brave confident girl that she is, has entered a Timberwolf Idol singing (acapella) contest. Gulp! And actually, I need to be careful cuz I know she reads this when she thinks I won't find out. Hi, Lamb! She has decided to sing Help by The Beatles. If you are so inclined, please think, pray, all of the above about her Friday around 1-1:30. Not for her to win, but just that she has as much confidence leaving the stage as she did entering it. That she grows from this experience and is respected by her peers. Junior high is a tough, tough time. I worry. She can sing, but she's still quite rough around the edges. It comforts me (& her) knowing she'll have support all around her.

In other children news and the reason for my title, Wed. night Bear had his 2nd game of the season. As I was retelling the game to Big D, he mentioned something that had me thinking, "surely, that can't be right. It's so wrong."

Let me back up a few years. While this is the 1st time Bear has had this coach, the family is not new to us. The son has played on 2 or 3 of Bear's teams before. The mom has always been the team mom of those teams. One year that the son was on our team was also the one time that Big D had hours that allowed him to be assistant coach. The son has no great passion for baseball. He likes being out there with the guys and being part of a team. But doing work? Not interested. So he figures being catcher is the position to play. That would be all fine and good if he were a quick boy. If he would keep the balls in front of him, that would be just dandy too. And, hey, I'd be thrilled if he could be quick & accurate throwing a runner out at 2nd. Back to the story, that year, the boy & Bear rotated being catcher. And when they weren't catching, they were outfield. That drove the mom crazy. Drove the boy crazy too. Towards the end of the season, the boy wasn't even catching at all. Horror of horrors! The team mom started bad mouthing the coach (who previously she just ADORED and thought he was the best coach eva!). It was not pretty.

During this past fall ball season, her husband decided to start coaching. She says they tried to get Bear on their team but Bear's coach wouldn't trade him. Fine by us! Then we get the call for the spring season and they finally succeeded in snaring Bear. Now, wouldn't you think if they wanted him so dang bad, they would utilize him?

Let me take you back to the present. As you know, the 1st weekend in March there was a tournament. Bear played 2nd base & some outfield the 1st 2 games. The 3rd game he sat for the 1st THREE innings! And then he only got to play one inning before game/time was called. All of that after he had been told that he would pitch & warmed up in the bullpen. The 1st game of the season, he sat out for the 1st two innings (after warming up in the bullpen again). Played left field only and then sat out the last inning. Last game was the exact same except he did play the last inning.

After I told Big D this, he came up with the idea that maybe they are doing this because of what HE did to their son that season. I would like to think he's wrong. I mean, how petty can you be? Nor was any of what happened Bear's fault. I would just hate to think that they wanted Bear so bad just so they could bench him. As a matter of fact, I refuse to believe it. Big D, however, can't shake the feeling.

I know part of the problem is we got 2 older boys from late registration. They've pretty much secured 3rd and shortstop which used to be Bear's positions. However, Bear is perfectly capable of rotating 2nd, pitcher, & catcher. The coach has not switched up his infield any (except for pitcher) and his son has caught all games for the entire game. ARGH! It's just frustrating.

We did decide that we weren't going to worry about it unless it becomes worse or more obvious that he is being shunned (which he's not, don't worry). What we need to focus on is his batting. Hi Bear, you know it's true! Big D will keep working with Bear on his fielding just in case he gets rotated in, but the batting will be primary. Bear is losing faith that he'll ever hit the ball. We just can't have that. Sorry for the baseball talk, but really, it's more about Bear. Hee! Look at that discouraged face. :(

Parenting. There is nothing easy about it with any of your children.