Years ago, I used to coach Little League baseball. Baseball was a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I played it, I watched it, went to Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium more times than I can remember — got thrown out, too, one time. Yankee Sunday doubleheader. We were throwing orange peels down on the level below us and were escorted out by the stadium guards as the crowed booed! — I collected huge amounts of baseball cards, yearbooks, and stat guides, and spent hours playing APBA & Strat-O-Matic baseball board games. In short, I knew how to play, knew all the rules, and, as an adult, discovered I was pretty good at teaching young boys how to play the game I loved.
During my 5 years, I think it was, of coaching, I managed to win back-to-back championships and took over a team that had won something like 2 games the previous 3 years, and turned them into a .500 team. I was proud of myself, but mostly proud of the kids that I coached. I loved coaching. I was passionate about it and was all-consumed by it during the seasons. When one was over, I couldn’t wait for the next one to begin. The first thing I always did was to start with the basics, the fundamentals … we did all kinds of fun drills I devised to master the little things … the stuff that wins games. And one of the very first things I taught was base running, because that took no special talent to master. Speed certainly helps, but anyone can
become a good base runner, and Lord knows how many games are lost because of a bad base running decision. So, my teams learned to run THROUGH the bag, not TO the bag, when running out a grounder, they learned how to go from first to third on a base hit, how to tag up on a fly ball, and when not to do those things. Basics win ballgames, and I instilled in the boys that is what we wanted to do … win … play hard, have fun, and win. And we got pretty darn good at it.
After games, win or lose, at the next practice we sat together and discussed what we did wrong, what we did right. I had them figure out what we did to lose. Then, we worked out drills for whatever was decided to rectify the problem. The next time we were faced with a similar situation in a game, every kid knew what to do. We had a ball together … no pun intended … we stuck together as a team … we were tenacious and always believed that we could win.
And all this brings me to the Republican Party … my party. What a bunch of wimps and losers. One thing about the Democrats – they are tenacious and they always think they can win. This Fiscal Cliff thing … I just know that the Republicans are going to cave. We don’t seem to have passion, or togetherness, or the ability to fix things within the Party, or a true desire to win. All the things that help a team win in sports seem amiss. I thought we looked pretty good at the RNC this year. It never resulted in victory. We shy away from conflict. We are always on our heels. That is not how you win. Someone needs to step up, and soon. The ideas are on our side. Our messaging stinks. We are the better team but we can’t win and need to return to the basics, the fundamentals. The “dead” TEA Party needs to come to life again, for that is what we are all about. The Someone is going to have to be a bunch of someones … We the People who believe in liberty, limited government, and life.
And that’s my story & I’m sticking to it.
Originally posted elsewhere on December 29, 2012
Richard's Meanderings 