Thoughts about the H.B. Tournament

"Beggars can't be choosey..." And THEY were definitely begging! Well, there's much to be said about the old cliche especially when it deals with people other than yourself. I suppose there's much to be said about the tournament our Mustangs team played in over the weekend. What started out to be a great couple of games both Saturday and Sunday, and after a hard fought three-game series that lead to the championship game, one would think at that level the officials would be fair. One would think! I never experienced such bad officiating the way that I did on Sunday. Not only were the "blues" exercising poor judgment, but the opposing team's fans were obnoxious and classless. I'm sure they must have thought that of us but quite frankly "who gives a ...", well...uh, you know! So much "jawing", so much crying and whining were to be had by both sides, but one thing that was for certain was the one-sided calls favoring the other team. Because I consider myself a classy person and highly commend our Mustangs organization, I will not disclose the team's name (but only that it has something to do with the letter "X") or make mention of their small town affiliation with Bakersfield...NO!, not at all. Home plate umpire "loved" his job so much...too much if you ask me. His strike zone changed so much which got the best of me after a while. Especially since we teach our boys not to swing at bad pitches and since we pride our coaches in teaching plate discipline only to be warped by the umpire's distorted view of home plate. My grandma could have made better calls than he did! (Sorry Grandma!) Not to mention the field umpire who, at one point, called across the diamond to one of the tournament officials, walked across the field to talk with this official, walked all the way back to his original spot behind 1st base...and his slight interruption in the game had absolutely NOTHING to do with OUR game at all but rather of someone else's game earlier in the day! They were two clowns making their guest appearances at the circus. Amazing! Coming in 2nd place is not such a bad thing really...only I know the boys are somewhat tired of it! I know they long for a 1st place trophy...and they play like a 1st place team, no doubt. Just one more reason to work hard at it...one more motivational factor...to strive for the gold! In closing, I must say...THIS is where we would rather be. THIS, as parents and fans, is why we support our team, our boys and our coaches...to ALWAYS be in the game, to ALWAYS be a contender, and to ALWAYS be the team to beat! GO MUSTANGS!!!!