Why would a coach do this? (The Softball Zone Radio Show Thread of the Week)

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Have to agree with Okie on this. CZ came on the radio show last night and publicly apologized. I also chatted with him separately, and I know he's learned a lot from this experience. As I shared on the show last night, I know I did some pretty stupid stuff earlier in my coaching career, and I think this Forum is a good place to really help us put things in perspective. Let he who is without fault cast the first stone ...

 

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Im thinking maybe we have reached the point ,were this thread needs to end.Yes some mistakes were made by coach's,parents,umpires.But tearing down people,org's people's investments in the game we enjoy,is a bit over the top.If your out of the game and got nothing else to do than rip on people get a life.If your part of the game a coach parent org leader your time could be coming when you make your public mistake,is this what you want,when it happands? The kids are probably allready over it ,lets do the same.

I personaly am sick and tired of threads ending. I think its BS that we give people a pass and wipe their butt and shut down threads. If more people took a stand garbage like this and would stop. This isnt about making a mistake its about a mindset. I dont even want my team playing against this guy, and have several other teams that feel the same.

 

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Have to agree with Okie on this. CZ came on the radio show last night and publicly apologized. I also chatted with him separately, and I know he's learned a lot from this experience. As I shared on the show last night, I know I did some pretty stupid stuff earlier in my coaching career, and I think this Forum is a good place to really help us put things in perspective. Let he who is without fault cast the first stone ...

Jeff I listened to the show and you guys never once questioned his mindset. you nd Ricky gave him a pass off the rip because he said sorry. I am not comfortable with the character he has displayed over the last 2 weeks ontop of the fact that the persident of the org is his partner in the same company that last weeks radio show had an issue with. IMO

 

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Hawks ... you are right ... we did accept his apology, and probably did give him a bit of a pass. Part of the reason I think was because of the separate conversations we both had with him, which we didn't go into all of the details on. You and others are certainly entitled to your opinions about him, but I have just always been one to forgive someone who seems very genuinely apologetic. I will be surprised if we don't see a different CZ on here and on the field in the future. No doubt he is going to be walking on eggshells for awhile ...

 

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If the apology would have been unconditional and truly shown contrition, I think most would have been accepting of it. But instead of us hearing "I'm sorry. I got caught up in a moment. I embarrassed myself, my team, and my organization and I ruined what should have been a special moment for a little girl", we got long-winded ramblings centered around some supposed misunderstanding of the rule and trying to lay equal blame on the umpire. I don't have a dog in this fight but what I have heard so far is not a true apology, it is an excuse.

 

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Hawks ... you are right ... we did accept his apology, and probably did give him a bit of a pass. Part of the reason I think was because of the separate conversations we both had with him, which we didn't go into all of the details on. You and others are certainly entitled to your opinions about him, but I have just always been one to forgive someone who seems very genuinely apologetic. I will be surprised if we don't see a different CZ on here and on the field in the future. No doubt he is going to be walking on eggshells for awhile ...

Sorry coachjwb - I have to side with Hawks and the 11 other emails I have received from people on this one. This is nothing personal about CZ. I have absolutely no idea who he is. This is strictly about the situations in question. He just happens to be the point person.

We are not talking about playing the clock as a coach or any of the other stupid unknowingly coaching blunders young inexperienced coaches make. Knowingly breaking rules and crushing 10u players is not something everyone does early in their coaching careers. People have used the word mindset to explain it - and I tend to agree to a certain extent. But what has transpired over the last month tied to CZ, his team, Organization and softball business is not a simple mindset that can be changed because people have called him out. Those things are personality traits. Traits learned over a lifetime. Traits ingrained in coaches, teams, Organizations and businesses. Changing personality traits like that is darn near impossible.

I wish I would have known he was going to be on the show last night - I would have called in from the practice field. No free passes would have been given. The day we as a softball community give free passes to people that knowingly break rules that can add increased injury risk to players, and to people that want to interject themselves in the game at the expense of 10u PLAYERS, is the day I want out of the sport.

Just like the rest of the folks here I will leave it at that unless more crazy stuff comes up. coachjwb we can all accept apologies from people when we see fit to do that. And that is cool. But even then people are accountable for their actions.

 

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Backstop ... you might want to listen to the podcast of last night's show ... TalkShoe - Call - The Softball Zone Radio Show ... the apology was very much of "I'm sorry. I got caught up in a moment. I embarrassed myself, my team, and my organization and I ruined what should have been a special moment for a little girl"

 

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Re: Why would a coach do this?

the other thread covers the details that will eventually go down in the Hall of Shame of OFC history .

We have one of those?. Seems all the tools ive been reading about so far the hall of shame will be one of the biggest wings in the building. Add another one to the roles

 

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Re: Why would a coach do this?

We have one of those?. Seems all the tools ive been reading about so far the hall of shame will be one of the biggest wings in the building. Add another one to the roles

Leave it to my short fat friend to sum it all up in a nutshell.......

 

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Backstop ... you might want to listen to the podcast of last night's show ... TalkShoe - Call - The Softball Zone Radio Show ... the apology was very much of "I'm sorry. I got caught up in a moment. I embarrassed myself, my team, and my organization and I ruined what should have been a special moment for a little girl"

I did listen. It is still an excuse and NOT an apology. He started off with "I did what I did because I misunderstood a rule". That's all I needed to hear.

 

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I've expressed my opinions quite strongly in the past about how important I think safety is in the game, how I feel about bat rolling/shaving, how I felt about this home run being taken away, and how I feel about adults interjecting themselves into kids' games. I'm not condoning any of these actions, just like I'm not condoning some of the other things that have either been written on here or actions on the field by others that I have seen or heard about in the past. Hell, I have made a ton of mistakes in my life as well. But when a man stands up and makes a public apology, I am going to accept it 9 times out of 10, at least until if and when he gives me reason later to suspect that it wasn't genuine. There was an opportunity given last night for anyone who listened to or called into the show to address CZ directly, but it didn't happen and there actually were a fair amount of people listening in probably primarily due to the thread of the week topic. However, I did not know CZ was going to call in and I was having some major technical (internet) issues during the show last night that I was trying to resolve so I will admit to being partially distracted. We probably could have asked some more pointed questions, but so could have the listeners, and hopefully we will all better use this vehicle in the future. In the meantime, I am personally done commenting on this situation.

 

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I listened to the recording unfortunately

 

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In the meantime, I am personally done commenting on this situation.

Perfect time for a segue into a thread hijack

I had a base umpire this weekend make my pitcher remove one of your signals wristbands, due to a complaint by the opposing team that it was a distraction to their hitters. I didn't put up a fuss, and had her remove it by request from the umpire.

I found out later that it wasn't a request per the head coach (who is the only one tasked with discussing any potential conflicts with the umpires...as we are briefed about at every ground rules pre-game conference), but it was a parent that was whining about it in right field...

 

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Perfect time for a segue into a thread hijack

I had a base umpire this weekend make my pitcher remove one of your signals wristbands, due to a complaint by the opposing team that it was a distraction to their hitters. I didn't put up a fuss, and had her remove it by request from the umpire.

I found out later that it wasn't a request per the head coach (who is the only one tasked with discussing any potential conflicts with the umpires...as we are briefed about at every ground rules pre-game conference), but it was a parent that was whining about it in right field...

wad it the same color as the ball?

 

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I've expressed my opinions quite strongly in the past about how important I think safety is in the game, how I feel about bat rolling/shaving, how I felt about this home run being taken away, and how I feel about adults interjecting themselves into kids' games. I'm not condoning any of these actions, just like I'm not condoning some of the other things that have either been written on here or actions on the field by others that I have seen or heard about in the past. Hell, I have made a ton of mistakes in my life as well. But when a man stands up and makes a public apology, I am going to accept it 9 times out of 10, at least until if and when he gives me reason later to suspect that it wasn't genuine. There was an opportunity given last night for anyone who listened to or called into the show to address CZ directly, but it didn't happen and there actually were a fair amount of people listening in probably primarily due to the thread of the week topic. However, I did not know CZ was going to call in and I was having some major technical (internet) issues during the show last night that I was trying to resolve so I will admit to being partially distracted. We probably could have asked some more pointed questions, but so could have the listeners, and hopefully we will all better use this vehicle in the future. In the meantime, I am personally done commenting on this situation.

There was only about 6 or 7 listeners when CZ was on. Just an FYI.

 

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wad it the same color as the ball?

The wristbands are black.

 

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I have to side with okie and jwb's comments. I personally feel the most sorry for the girl that hit the home run because you have some on this post who want to somehow perpetuate the idea that she is a "victim," and that she had her dreams shattered, achievement "ruined" ... it goes on and on ....! Who would teach a 10 year old to think that way? She hit a home run in a game! No one can make the ball come back over the fence... celebrate this kid's achievement and move on! What she did was a great thing and no coach or ump is going to take that away from her!
For an adult to come on this site and claim "it is all about the girls," but then post multiple comments tearing down an organization of young women, their coach (publicly call him names I would never want my 10 y/o to see), and insist this young girl is a victim is anything but being "about the girls." Like you Jeff, I could DEFINITELY see myself making a similar mistake while coaching in a close game against a super talented team like the slammers. The fact is, in the heat of the moment we do not get to look at an OFC post and 50 people's opinions to tell us how to think. We do what we think is right and sometimes we make a mistake. One poster on here points out how unsophisticated and green most of us 10u coaches are. Well... if that is truly the case here is our opportunity to learn. Please let this thread be about that instead of a personal vendetta and pot shots at a person who will quite frankly seal his own fate (good or bad) in this game without anyone else's help. Forgive and move on!

 

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The wristbands are black.

Very odd request.

 

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One quick note on the wristbands ... while my wristbands are black, the windows on the bands are clear plastic and it is conceivable that they could reflect some sunlight, though that is a reach. And we certainly saw a lot of pitchers even in the WCWS wearing them. My preference is however that younger pitchers not wear them and, while working with a college team on such a system, came up with a way to do a pitch-calling system without the pitcher wearing one.

 

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I listened to the recording unfortunately

Hawks-Ferrigno could you please have Doug Lenos call me. I have try finding his Phone # online but can't find it. Or you can PM his #, I had his phone # on my phone but have changes phone over and lost most of my contact info.. Tell Him Ricky Moorehead from OFC want to talk to him, we talk a couple of years ago I'm sure he will remember the problem back then.


Thanks