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Strollerderby
This is not the first time we have heard a story like this and it breaks my heart to say it won’t be the last. In fact, it might not even be the last this season.
Four people, one coach and three teenage athletes, have died in the last four days – and all signs point to the excessive heat as the cause. Don’terio Searcy, a 16 year old lineman from Georgia died yesterday as did another teen who had been in critical condition all week after becoming ill as a result of heat stroke.
These two join South Carolina rising freshman Tyquan Brantley and Texas assistant football coach Wade McLain.
If we know we need to keep an eye out for tips to be careful in the heat on an average day, why not an a day when there is strenuous activity involved?
At what point do we say enough is enough?
Will your kids remember their grand slam in the championship game, or the time that Mom and Dad were arrested for beating up a kid?
Three parents, including the town prosecutor, in Castlerock, CO were charged with third degree assault and disorderly conduct when their little brawl landed a kid in the hospital. Apparently, the whole fiasco started when Shannon Carlson and her son tried to dispute an ump’s call. Now, I don’t know how they do things in Castlerock, but where I lived in Chicagoland, that was a big no-no. It didn’t matter if an ump called a strike when the ball hit the dirt and literally rolled to the batter, we could not dispute a call, or tell an ump he’s blind, or run out onto the field and make fools of ourselves. A parent, coach, or played who questioned an ump was promptly removed from the game. (Hmm, maybe I should’ve tried that a time or two to get kicked out of one of the million freezing cold games I’ve sat through over the years.)
Soccer practice. Piano lessons. Swimming. Gymnastics. Chess club. Community service. Art classes. Theater. Aikido. Band practice. Basketball.
That’s a partial list of activities my kids and their friends have been involved in. It’s a list that could go on. And on. Kids are busy. They’re busy developing talents, seeking their passions, spending time with their friends and working on the well-rounded resumes that will get them into college.
There’s a lot of good that comes from all those extra-curriculars. But is it too much of a good thing? Some experts say yes.
Steve Buckley
Sportswriter Steve Buckley has taken one small step for himself and a giant leap for the LGBTQ community today by coming out of the closet in his column for the Boston Herald.
Buckley titled his column, “Welcome to my coming-out party,” saying, ”I haven’t been fair to my family, my friends or my co-workers. And I certainly haven’t been fair to myself: For too many years, I’ve been on the sidelines of Boston’s gay community but not in the game — figuratively and literally, as I feel I would have had a pretty good career in the (gay) Beantown Softball League.”
The columnist admits that his inspiration for finally opening up about his sexuality was his mother. He describes having come out to her, and then adds, “My mother… didn’t like the idea of me coming out publicly; she was of the opinion that it was really nobody’s business, and she worried that prejudice might disrupt my career.” Eventually, though, his mother warmed up to the idea of her son coming clean with his readers. About seven years ago, she told him, “Just go ahead and do it. And then we’ll have a party.” How perfect!
Unfortunately, though, his mother passed away shortly thereafter, before Buckley was able to get his column – or his sexuality – out. Continue reading »
Will the 2011 Super Bowl be family friendly?
Super Bowl coverage is as much about the game as it is the commercials, but one commercial set to premiere on Super Bowl Sunday is offending Christians worldwide.
In it, a pastor is afraid of dwindling church attendance and he’s worried. While he prays in his church pew wondering how to attract more parishioners to his church, he asks for a sign from God, and he gets it in the form of a crunch. Doritos! The commercial then flashes to a filled church with people lined up to receive communion, and instead of the sacred host, they get a Doritos chip.
Cool ranch?” a man asks.
“The other line’” the priest responds and points to the right.
Sal Alosi maintains he "just didn't think" before tripping Nolan Carroll.
It looks like Sal Alosi has been promptly punished for his recent infraction Sunday night when he tripped Miami Dolphins player Nolan Carroll. The NFL officially suspended Alosi from coaching in any games for the rest of the season, including the playoffs. He also will be fined $25,000.
But is that enough?
The season is nearly over so while his absence is a consequence, it is just three games. $25,000 is a large sum to most people but I’m not so sure that amount means the same to a coach as it does to a typical working person.
What’s disturbing is that a coach is supposed to be a role model for his players. He should model and exhibit professionalism at all times, even when losing. What Alosi modeled was immaturity and poor judgment at best.
Shut out of your kid's sports obsession?
As one of those picked-last-for-kickball kids with no affinity for team sports, a longstanding aversion to gym teachers and a son who is a particularly avid baseball fan, I have the eerie feeling that Elana Sigall is describing me when she writes in the October issue of Parents:
I never liked sports growing up. My poor hand-eye coordination makes it a challenge to drive a car, let alone hit a ball with a bat. I don’t like watching sports on TV and I don’t even like sports metaphors. So I never imagined that I would have a kid who was so focused on baseball. It was alienating to watch my son drift farther away from me – toward anyone else he knew who could talk about plays and records and suicide squeezes. I was starting to feel a little desperate, reduced to begging for good-night kisses. I knew I had to find a path to baseball or I was going to lose out on a connection with Julian.
In the piece, Sigall (a writer-mom I now know socially after our sons bonded over their mutual baseball obsession) recounts how she found a way back into 6-year-old Julian’s world by baking him a baseball cake, learning about all his favorite players as she lovingly formed them out of fondant. Somewhere along the way, as she drew pinstripes on Yankees jerseys with a food-writer pen and carefully sculpted mitts and belts and shoes, she became a fan, invested in a game her son adored and able to speak with him about it.
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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