So you saw it better than the Umpire

[JMV JustMyView]

And the majority of the Sunbelt umpires are brutal.

In general, across the board umpires and refs are bad everywhere.

[CajunVic]

There may in fact be way more fan bias than there is bad umpiring.

Remember that at any giving sporting event there may be 3 to 6 officials/umpires and hundreds if not thousands or hundreds of thousands of biased fans.

Fans typically only protest the call of the umpire and they rarely vocally side with the umpire on a call which they like.

This often times unfairly leads to the perception that officials/umpires are bad when truly all they are is human.

[CharlieK]

I played sports growing up and was a little disappointed when my kids didn’t take to it. Until I saw how the parents act now and the ridiculous “living vicariously through children” going on.

[ZoomZoom]

I played sports growing up and was a little disappointed when my kids didn’t take to it. Until I saw how the parents act now and the ridiculous “living vicariously through children” going on.

When the kind of money spent playing serious travel sports (for almost a decade) today approaches the cost of going to college, parents are all expecting that ROI…never looking next to them are parents expecting the same outcome.

But it’s what they have to do. Junior or sis, especially in populated areas, usually won’t come close to making their high school teams without that background.

We let our kids pick their extracurricular activities and made them pick when either/or came up. Best thing we never had XBox/PlayStation in the house.

[CajunRage]

I've talked to a few buddies who played at least high school ball (some with college experience) and we are hoping that the travel ball will die down a bit. I've heard LLL is getting better (like it was before travel blew up) and the thought of concentrated work on improving our sons' game instead of tournaments every weekend is very appealing.

[cjr3888]

I've talked to a few buddies who played at least high school ball (some with college experience) and we are hoping that the travel ball will die down a bit. I've heard LLL is getting better (like it was before travel blew up) and the thought of concentrated work on improving our sons' game instead of tournaments every weekend is very appealing.

LLL, Youngsville PONY, & Broussard PONY are getting better because many travel players are playing both travel & rec. Travel will be getting worse before it gets any better. IMG was just sold to private equity firm Endeavor for $1.25Billion. Most people think of IMG as the school but they also run camps nationwide and a recruiting service. They're about to make a ton of money off parents that will pay to get their kids seen through recruiting services. Most of them don't realize you can simply attend a prospect camp on campus for around $200 and get more out of it than those online services.

[CajunRage]

LLL, Youngsville PONY, & Broussard PONY are getting better because many travel players are playing both travel & rec. Travel will be getting worse before it gets any better. IMG was just sold to private equity firm Endeavor for $1.25Billion. Most people think of IMG as the school but they also run camps nationwide and a recruiting service. They're about to make a ton of money off parents that will pay to get their kids seen through recruiting services. Most of them don't realize you can simply attend a prospect camp on campus for around $200 and get more out of it than those online services.

Well, my son just hit the 13 month mark. So, hopefully things continue in this direction and by the time he's playing age, rec gets back to where it used to be.

[CajunJeaux]

I've talked to a few buddies who played at least high school ball (some with college experience) and we are hoping that the travel ball will die down a bit. I've heard LLL is getting better (like it was before travel blew up) and the thought of concentrated work on improving our sons' game instead of tournaments every weekend is very appealing.

It seems like majority of parents b*$tch about young kids & travel ball pressures (and social media for that matter), but over the years, parents continue to sign up for it.

Hopefully this new wave of parents you speak of can gain some common sense, play rec ball across all sports, and let these pay to play organizations fizzle (at least the young kids who have no business driving more than across town to play, say 6-10 year olds).

Recently heard someone paid $2800 for an 9 year old to play on a baseball team. Something is seriously wrong with those parents decision making....

[CajunJeaux]

LLL, Youngsville PONY, & Broussard PONY are getting better because many travel players are playing both travel & rec. Travel will be getting worse before it gets any better. IMG was just sold to private equity firm Endeavor for $1.25Billion. Most people think of IMG as the school but they also run camps nationwide and a recruiting service. They're about to make a ton of money off parents that will pay to get their kids seen through recruiting services. Most of them don't realize you can simply attend a prospect camp on campus for around $200 and get more out of it than those online services.

I've been told LLL is getting better growth-wise b/c all of these 7,8 and 9 year olds are constantly told how "good" they are, so they think they can easily make Williamsport in the 11-12 year old division.

Apparently LLL got smart and said "no more" to parents showing up and having their kid only play 11 & 12 year old division, then bolting again.

[JMV JustMyView]

I've been told LLL is getting better growth-wise b/c all of these 7,8 and 9 year olds are constantly told how "good" they are, so they think they can easily make Williamsport in the 11-12 year old division.

Apparently LLL got smart and said "no more" to parents showing up and having their kid only play 11 & 12 year old division, then bolting again.

Most travel kids only play LL as a 11 or 12 year old for the chance to play in the world series. That practice has not stopped at all in LL or any other youth organizations.

[CajunRage]

Most travel kids only play LL as a 11 or 12 year old for the chance to play in the world series. That practice has not stopped at all in LL or any other youth organizations.

I was told this is a new rule being implemented at LLL. You have to play 9 and 10yo to be eligible for all-stars in 11 and 12.

[JMV JustMyView]

I was told this is a new rule being implemented at LLL. You have to play 9 and 10yo to be eligible for all-stars in 11 and 12.

LLL as in Lafayette Little League? Maybe that is their own organizations rule but it isn't the rule for Little League in general.