MHearell

@AugieNash Excited for Blues games in SLC!

I'm going with Salt Lake City Salt Dogs.

@rxnelson @CoachDavidKlein …their kids prior to signing them up. Maybe an instructional league where they teach basics before they ever play an actual game. You can place all kinds of small competitions in a practice environment.

@rxnelson @CoachDavidKlein The community I live in plays kickball for the first year that kids sign up to play baseball. The disappointment on my daughters face when she realized she couldn’t wear her glove or swing a bat was heartbreaking. She wanted to quit. The problem is that parents aren’t working…

I feel bad for the kids. My first coach pitch game of the season was this Saturday. 3 practices before game 1. 12 kids on my team. I put 11 kids out on defense. (5 outfielders) While my team was on defense, I paced behind 2nd base as the other coach pitched to his players. The opposing coach knelt, throwing very high, looping pitches to his players, where they all lunged forward and swung downward with a tomahawk chop motion. Of course very few players on the other team could make contact, so all of them wound up hitting off a tee after 6 pitches or so. Each At-Bat took about 2 minutes. As I stood there silently going crazy inside, I looked at my players and my son who stood there in the field… Eager. Just watching. Not moving. Just waiting for something to happen. But nothing ever happened. Only a few players got a ball hit to them on their first game. Each player on my team got exactly 2 at bats in 90 minutes. There were only a few outs made on the bases. At the end of the game, I excitedly asked them, “Did you guys have fun!” and they all emphatically answered “YEAH!” And yes, they did have fun. As Captain Fun, I have mastered what it takes to engineer fun no matter the situation. 😜 But, was this as fun as my son’s flag football game the following day? Not even close. Was it as fun as his winter soccer league? Not according to him. Could this experience compete over time with a playdate with a friend? Or going to a playground? Unlikely. I didnt write this to be a plug for SpeedBall, but the format I created with Legends SpeedBall is not just a different format of youth baseball, it feels like an entirely different sport. It does not compare to what I just experienced on Saturday. It's not even remotely close. It is not a little more fun. SpeedBall is exponentially more fun. Truly. In the same 90 minute timeframe where the majority of kids got 2 at bats and 1 ball hit to them, in our “SpeedBall Pro-Pitch Divisions” players easily get 10-15 At-Bats (often more) and at least 6-10 balls hit to them in the field. Im frustrated because the answers to saving the declining participation numbers are clear as day: First off, STOP doing everything so early! 5-7 year olds should be doing Tee Ball. 7-9 year olds should be doing coach pitch or machine pitch. Advanced 10-12 year olds can start with rec kid pitch. I genuinely believe this change alone would save baseball. If the coach pitcher needs to come to the mound for 100% of the at-bats to finish off the hitter because the kid pitcher can't throw strikes, then you should probably be doing “coach pitch” to begin with. 8-10 year-old walk fests dont help anyone and they are the opposite of fun, yet it's the standard across the country. Second… Practice for at least a few weeks before the first game and have 2 practices for every 1 game. Most leagues run it opposite: 2 games for 1 practice and they barely practice before the first game. And they blame it on the weather. Just push back opening day, and have less games throughout the season. There’s no rule about when you have to play games and how many you should play. There’s just over competitive parents and boards who are placing their own desires over what their kids really need. Parents/Boards: You may want to watch games. But what your kids really need, more than anything, is significantly more quality practice time. I'm walking away from our first weekend of play trying to figure out what to do. Do I contact the league and ask them if they are interested in my suggestions? Do I create my own “level appropriate” rules and let the other coach know before the start of the game? Do I just power through this season with the existing format and just try and make it as fun as possible? I'm not sure of the answers, but I AM SURE that after a few games of standing around in the dirt, the majority of those kids will come to the realization that “baseball just isnt that much fun”. They will realize there are more stimulating, action packed activities where they can be far more involved and find more success. They will continue to quit baseball, like they are across the country. I love coaching. I love it at all levels. I find it fun. It was tough for me to enjoy that experience. Mainly because Im coming off seasons of SpeedBall which are so drastically different that it feels like an entirely different sport. It’s hard for me to just relax into the experience when knowing it could be significantly better with the most minor tweaks. Overall, I left feeling sad for the kids. I so badly want them all to learn, grow and fall in love with baseball. But the format that they are playing is the opposite of what they need. I hope my passion for revitalizing youth baseball is evident, not as criticism but as an invitation to explore innovative ways, like SpeedBall, to enrich our children's experiences. You know Im well past brainstorming solutions and have already launched 10 SpeedBall Leagues with dozens more starting in 2024/2025. It’s only a matter of time before youth baseball nationwide adopts a new, better, different model that actually serves kids and doesnt drain the fun out of the game. I spread these messages to inspire others and serve as the catalyst for youth baseball transformation. What are your thoughts? What do you think I should do? What do you think youth baseball and softball needs? (mainly rec) I read every comment and would love to hear from you. Your disgruntled, baseball obsessed Twitter/X friend, 👨‍✈️Captain Fun #baseball #littleleague #homerun #travelball #summercamp #fun #baseballseason #littleleaguebaseball #softball #mlb #speedball #legendsbaseball #sports

@espn What a misleading stat. This would mean something if every NBA player entered the league at 18 years of age.

So far in year 21, LeBron has scored 1,274 points. That's more than every other player's point total in their 21st NBA season combined 😳 (1,230 points).

@urbanbirder @OlympusUK @LeicaBirding @TravWriters I live a little under half that elevation and Reserva Ecologica Antisana had me sucking for oxygen!

Memories of 2023 Giant Hummingbird I was 4,000 metres up puffing for air trying to film this hummer with a handheld camera! 🥴 Antisana, Ecuador - November 2023 @OlympusUK @LeicaBirding @TravWriters

@planetJoseph …and they continue to vote to require less of these.

@planetJoseph We deal with this in the HVAC field. The industry wants Utah to require more certifications for installers and service technicians, more regulations on design and sizing of equipment installed…but all the state gov cares about is $$$.

More things that reek of corruption in the beehive state. The Utah Way.

Animals that have gone extinct in the last 100 years

@HotshotWake @WasatchSnow I don’t, nor will I ever understand the decision to protect cabins and homes (that can be rebuilt in less than a year) and not protect certain natural features that take 100+ years to develop. If your going to let them burn, then let them burn.

From a Canadian firefighter who knows what’s going on: #canada #wildfire #smoke (Worth the read) “I know you may know, but people need to know and understand that most Canadian wildfire management agencies have fire “zonation” policies similar to Alaska. This means in large areas of their jurisdictions, especially in the northern part of the country, wildfires are left to run there natural course w little or no direct action or suppression. We’ll protect values at risk, ie. infrastructure, communities, critical habitat or culturally significant features on the landscape, we’ll map them and maybe try to burn them to natural barrier, fight one flank and let the rest roll (limited action) but we are not putting them out. On many of the fires we don’t even try. A number of these fires are huge boreal gobblers (I am currently assigned to a 250,000 ha fire, well over 600,000 acres and you could fit the org. chart on one side of a beer can). The only thing that is going to put out this fire out and many across the country is winter, 5 months from now. It’s going to be a long, smoky summer for everyone. You have a wide reach, it would be great if you can help people understand these dynamics in the Canadian wildfire scene when they’re bitching about the smoke. Cheers 🍻 and thanks.” Pretty decent picture of what’s going on. Thanks for the insight. In the industry we call this letting a fire “Do its thing”. It’s especially common in these vast boreal forests. Siberia does the same thing. Identify hazards and values at risk, mitigate, let it go. Cheers.

Cardinals Fact: Ozzie Smith has the highest career defensive WAR in the history of MLB! Ozzie Smith - 44.2 Mark Belanger - 39.5 Brooks Robinson - 39.1 Cal Ripken - 35.7 Joe Tinker - 34.3 #STLCards

@RockNRoLL_85 Seger.

Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger?

@historyrock_ Mick used to follow the Beatles around like a lost puppy and in paraphrasing John’s words “wanted to be a Beatle”. That’s all you need to know to answer this question.

Chapter 23 of the MOST difficult questions in music history… John Lennon or Mick Jagger?

And another indicator of why STL is the best baseball city in the world.

@crockpics Lodi

What is your favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival song?

@planetJoseph Sorry to hear this, Joseph. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with Scott over the last 15+ years. They will be missed.

I was an angry 16-year-old who didn’t want a new dad. And he loved me anyway, and was a Good Man through and through. Then my heart changed, maybe it grew. And I realized there’s room for him to be my father, too. Rest in peace, Scott. Proud to have been, in part, raised by you.

@BensHoops @THEGUNTHER63 Was that your car keys that just fell out of your pocket?

I get a lot of questions about @THEGUNTHER63 and will just let you know he’s still one of my favorite people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.

@jmjones Well, if you only had to get through 8 innings he would have.

In his playing career, Yadier Molina never caught so much as a no hitter, let alone a perfect game. So, of course, it took him less than six months to manage one.

@crockpics ‘Running to Stand Still’

U2 released The Joshua Tree, March 9, 1987. Favorite track?

No matter your alliance, coach’s teach, teachers teach. Ron Washington of the Braves teaches Pete Alonso of the Mets a few fielding drill during the All Star Game

As discussed by @Frank_Cusumano and Andy Van Slyke on The Press Box, the list of U.S. cities who have produced the most professional athletes. Check out #1😏