The Seasoned Rookie

Last night was our son's first baseball game of the season. He's playing on a Knights of Columbus team, and the other KOC team they played had about 10 more players than his team, which made for an interesting night. With KOC, everyone plays. No one is benched. Every kid has a position. Every kid bats. Our son played second base (much to his chagrin; he wanted first base), but it turned out to be a happening spot, as most of the balls came his way.

The poor little outfielders though - it was like a mass version of ADD. SQUIRREL! PLANE! They saw everything else there was to see, because there was rarely a ball coming their way.

When we were kids, you signed up for little league to LEARN how to play. That's not so much the case anymore. In the world of Xbox, Wii and MLB packages on satellite, kids know how to play. Well, they know the rules anyway. They still need the physical skills. Here's a bit of our son's post-game analysis (no doubt, a future ESPN commentator):

During the game, one kid "lapped" another at second base and rounded over to third. "You can't do that!" our son said. "You can't pass a runner!"

Another kid over-ran third base. "You can only over-run first base!" he said.

One batter was hit with the pitch (coach pitch!). They kept making her swing. "Why didn't that umpire let her go to first? If a batter gets hit, they get on base."

Another girl got the ball and instead of throwing towards the base to get the runner out, she threw it AT the runner. "It's not dodge ball," he said. "She can't do that."

There was something else that had to do with a foul ball, but I don't want to try to recreate that one, because I'm not even very good with baseball rules (don't tell my kid I said that).

And at every hit (he got two great line drives), if he was fielding, he'd point to wherever the fielder who had the ball was to throw it. They all started watching him to see where to aim!

I kept wondering how he knew all these rules, at his first game. They'd only had four practices, one of which he missed when he was sick. But then I remembered - technology. Playing xbox and wii baseball may not be as physically challenging, but it got him in the game.

You should see his golf swing (it's awesome). Did I mention what a milestone this is for him? Eight years of fighting and fighting his health, and despite it all, he's playing two sports this summer. Infusion continues, antibiotics are constant. But he doesn't care. That's my boy.