Category Archives: Just call me Coach

I feel their pain. Like thousands of other ballplayers across Texas, the young T-ball players at the YMCA have been plagued by rained-out practices and games, muddy fields and the hordes of fire ants that thrive in the wet weather. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

TBogg writes about his and his daughter’s experiences with Little League, in context of the debut of the remake of The Bad News Bears. Having spent seven years toiling in Little League hell, there is so much that is accurate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

With two games to go, both of which were rescheduled due to rain, the Twins were tied for the lead of the Mustang division with a 12-2 record. Their penultimate game was yesterday against the co-leading Cardinals, against whom they’d … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We won six games in a row before finally losing, as we did last night in a game that was closer for us than perhaps it should have been. Though we did some good things, including throwing a runner out … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Having entered the (for me) uncharted waters of winning a game on Tuesday, we kept on plunging forward by embarking on a winning streak – the Twins defeated the Marlins 9-2 last night for the second straight victory and a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

That sound you heard tonight had nothing to do with the Presidential press conference. That was the sound of the monkey climbing off my back in the wake of the Mustang Twins’ first win of the season, a 9-5 triumph … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Opening Day was Saturday, and my perfect record as a coach remains unblemished. Unfortunately, that means we lost, 12-3. We had a bad first inning, nobody came close to hitting the ball until their second or third time up, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Opening Day for the Timbergrove Little League is this coming Saturday. We’ll finally get to play on the brand-new fields that were supposed to be ready for last year’s season but were delayed due to drainage problems. We were able … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We’ve had a week of practices so far, and there are many differences between this year’s team and last year’s at the same point in time. Last year I was still trying to figure out what the kids’ skill levels … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Thursday night was the draft for the Timbergrove Little League, so barring anyone coming or going, the rosters are now set. Quite a bit happened that night, starting with the fact that I am no longer the head coach of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today was tryout day for the Timbergrove Little League. Unlike last year, when I was called in to coach an already-formed team, I had the opportunity to observe and participate in a brief workout of the new and returning players … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You may recall that I spent a few months last year coaching a Little League team. At the end of the season, I was asked several times by parents, players, and league officials if I would do it again this … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Why didn’t I think of this? A Little League coach let his players manage themselves for a playoff game, and they won. [Coach Paul] Davis patiently watched from the top row of the bleachers as son Nick and the rest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

When last we spoke, during the Little League All Star Game, I was uncertain about my future status as a coach. I had a chat yesterday with John, the league president and co-worker of Tiffany’s who recruited me to be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Friday night I was an assistant coach at our Little League All Star Game. The game featured kids from the first-, fourth-, and sixth-place teams (my group) versus the representatives from the second-, third-, and fifth-place teams. Our team lost … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Twins played their final game last night. They played hard and they played well, but they came up short. We finished the season as we started it, looking for our first win. The final loss was really tough. We … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Been awhile since I’ve added a Just Call Me Coach post. We’re still looking for that first win – with three games to go, we stand 0-10. I keep seeing signs of improvement – in our most recent game, we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We had a tough game on Saturday. The game was originally scheduled for 9 AM on May 3. A few weeks ago, the other team’s coach emailed me to ask if we could move the game to Friday night, since … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We lost again on Tuesday to reach the halfway mark with an 0-6 record. Still, as losses go, this one wasn’t too bad. I thought we got a good effort from everyone, and was encouraged to see some of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We are now five games into our 12-game schedule, and we are still looking for our first win. I think this is going to be harder on me than it will on the kids, who seem for the most part … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The good news is we scored 10 runs in our game tonight. The bad news is that the other guys scored 13. The strange news is that we scored 10 runs without ever once making contact with the ball. Every … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We finally played our first game today, but alas, we lost by the score of 9-4. We did some good things and some not-so-good things, and we’ve identified a few areas for improvement for Game 2, which will be Monday … Continue reading → Continue reading →

…and some days it rains, as Nuke LaLoosh once said. Today it’s raining, and our opening game has been postponed. Rats! According to the email I received that informed me of the rainout, it’s the coaches’ job to figure out … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ready or not, Monday is the first game for the Mustang Twins. We had a pretty good last practice yesterday, and the boys were all excited about getting their uniforms, but I’ve got some concerns. Part of it is just … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Last night I called the mother of one of my players to ask her to attend a Team Mom meeting on Tuesday. We will get our schedule and information about uniforms at that time, so I’ll finally be able to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

HISD spring break is over, so with any luck we should have a full house at tomorrow’s practice, which will once again be at the batting cage. T and I are travelling to a wedding this weekend, leaving on Wednesday, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Spring break may decimate our practices, but thankfully war seemed to have no effect. Last night was what should be the last sparsely-attended practice due to family travels. One of the kids who was there had just returned from attending … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We had three and two kids for the last two practices, today and Thursday. HISD is now on spring break, so some kids are out of town (including two who are off at spring training), and Thursday was a school … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Finally, we’ve had a string of sunny and warm days around here. I suppose if my birthday weren’t in February, I’d hate the damn month as much as everyone else does. And I don’t even live in a cold climate. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“There are three things the average man thinks he can do better than anyone else: Build a fire, run a hotel, and manage a baseball team.” — Rocky Bridges, quoted in Why Time Begins on Opening Day Thomas Boswell once … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We managed to have a fairly short practice tonight in spite of the wet field. My goal for the evening was to give everyone a turn on the pitcher’s mound to see what they all had. League rules mandate how … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The team practice last night was at an indoor batting cage. I’d made the decision to do that instead of work out on the regular field because of the recent nasty weather which forced the cancellation of our last practice. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I cancelled team practice today because of the nasty weather today. We’ll try again on Thursday. I’m going to try to find an indoor batting cage that we can use as a backup in case the weather doesn’t cooperate then. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

My Little League team (the Twins) had their first practice today. We’d had quite a bit of rain and nastiness in Houston over the past couple of days, so I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do much of anything, … Continue reading → Continue reading →