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/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Politics, Religion (Tall Table) >> 17 Inches /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1472687865 Message started by MnSpring on 08/31/16 at 16:57:44 |
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Title: 17 Inches Post by MnSpring on 08/31/16 at 16:57:44 MOST, readers will ‘get’ it. Some will not! To Paraphrase: Do NOT, change the ‘rules’, of what is. to ALLOW, those who can NOT, Meet the, rules’, of that thing. The, GIMMI, GIMMIE, people will say, “That's To Hard’. And the, ‘Fairy Dust Sprinklers’, will say: “OK, We will CHANGE the Rules, Just For YOU” So, ya gonna, ’sprinkle, “Fairy Dust”. AND gonnina, give the, Gimme, Gimme, people, what they want? Or you going to, “Stand UP’, and say, 'Enough is Enough’? Here is a, ‘Quote’. Just look up, John Scolinos & 17 inches, you will have a WHOLE lot of references. Don’t Widen the Plate! In Nashville , Tennessee , during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA convention. While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name, in particular, kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh man, worth every penny of my airfare.” Who the hell is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter, I was just happy to be there. In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate. Seriously, I wondered, who in the hell is this guy? After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage. Then, finally … “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck. Or maybe you think I escaped from Camarillo State Hospital ,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “No,” he continued, “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.” Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?” more of a question than answer. “That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause. “Seventeen inches?” came a guess from another reluctant coach. “That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?” “Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident. “You’re right!” Scolinos barked. “And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?” “Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison. “Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?” “Seventeen inches!” “RIGHT! And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues?” “Seventeen inches!” “SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?” Pause. “They send him to Pocatello !” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter. “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. You can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches, or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'” Pause. “Coaches …” Pause. ” … what do we do when our best player shows up late to practice? When our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him. Do we widen home plate? The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We widen the plate!” Pause. Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag. “This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?” Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross. “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves! And we allow it.” “And the same is true with our government. Our so called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen home plate and we see our country falling into a dark abyss while we watch.” I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curveballs and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path. “If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: if we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools and churches and our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …” With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside. “… dark days ahead.” Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including mine. Meeting him at my first ABCA convention kept me returning year after year, looking for similar wisdom and inspiration from other coaches. He is the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches. |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/31/16 at 17:38:03 I read it. Don't I at least get a participation trophy? |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by MnSpring on 08/31/16 at 18:19:05 66797F7865625363536B79753E0C0 wrote:
Well no trophy's, and don't have any ' stick on Gold Stars'. But I will keep the notation in my head. (Of the people that read all of it). Guessing most would not have to much argument with it. Well, unless they, Want to, 'widen the plate'. And those that do, sure aren't going to 'say' so !!! ;D |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by Dagillespi on 08/31/16 at 18:38:01 Good post man, that was a good read. |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by Kris01 on 08/31/16 at 18:48:40 How right he is! I have a guy at work that couldn't hit the plate at 25 inches even though the boss has widened it for him. He comes in extremely late EVERY day without fail. He leaves early about 50% of the time. He takes at least 4 times as long as it should to get something accomplished. I've timed him. He sleeps on the clock constantly. He takes 3 hour lunch breaks. The boss knows about all of this. "Oh well", he says. "What are ya gonna do?" How wide is too wide? >:( |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/31/16 at 19:20:34 The boss knows about all of this. "Oh well", he says. "What are ya gonna do?" How wide is too wide? Angry Does he get paid ? The People who are productive are being used to pay for his wages. Does that boss not know that just Seeing someone get paid and not even try to do their JOB is demoralizing to the other employees? What are ya gonna do?" What would happen to him if His boss caught him being such a slob.? Maybe he has something really juicy on the boss. Blackmail? |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by LostArtist on 08/31/16 at 19:25:03 I didn't know this was a baseball forum..... oh, this is metaphor of some kind.... Baseball is the boring fracking sport ever, it's actually even more boring to play than it is to watch. |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/31/16 at 19:43:57 You didn't get it, did you? |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by LostArtist on 08/31/16 at 20:17:03 554A4C4B5651605060584A460D3F0 wrote:
no, I didn't get it.....I'm just a silly stupid forum liberal who's too stupid to get a metaphor... |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by Paraquat on 09/01/16 at 06:03:37 7D5E4245704345584245310 wrote:
I never thought I'd see the day where we agree on something... 62415D5A6F5C5A475D5A2E0 wrote:
Let alone two things... --Steve |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/01/16 at 06:23:30 OUCH! Clean-up, aisle seven. Need a suture kit, mop/bucket, and enough hydrogen peroxide for the cut and to get the blood off of the floor. |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by HovisPresley on 09/01/16 at 06:30:59 Paraquat, I have to say that is funny ;D |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by Serowbot on 09/01/16 at 07:44:42 17 inches?... Trump's exaggerating again... :-? |
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Title: Re: 17 Inches Post by LostArtist on 09/01/16 at 18:54:07 6D7274736E6958685860727E35070 wrote:
for what??? are you imagining that hurt me or something??? I know you are desperate but it's going to take more than that |
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