Friday, Jun. 05, 2009

Is it really an honor?

The Red Light District -- Annie Fowler's Ams blog -- has taken a day trip to the Out of Bounds blog after listening to Rene Ferran bemoan the listings of all-league teams from throughout the state.

The Western Hockey League does it right. When picking an all-league team there is one goalie, two defensemen and three forwards on the first team. Same for the second team. There is no honorable mention team.

In hockey, one goalie, two D-men and three forwards is all you can play at one time. These players are 16 to 20 years old. Pretty much high school age, and they can handle the truth — that just 10 players will earn honors. These 10 players are chosen out of a pool of nearly 500 from 22 teams. End of discussion. No crying, bitching or phone calls from mommy and daddy.

But, high school sports are a whole other beast.

In the dark of night in a dingy corner of a school library, baseball and softball coaches are putting four pitchers and two catchers on the first team. Or, because there are four really good outfielders, one will be listed as a first-team utility player, even though he/she has never played anywhere but the outfield. Someone needs to take a stand — or learn to count.

Or, as the SW Washington League Evergreen Division found necessary to do — put the same girl as a catcher and DH on the all-league first team. Really? This is 1A softball. I’m sure that gal is catching nearly every inning. She can’t DH for herself. But apparently being a DH for one game during the season gives her another certificate to put in the scrapbook.

Locally, the CBBN Cascade Division had tie for the last spot on the first team for outfield. You should have only three outfielders, but the CBBN softball coaches found it necessary to have six first teamers instead of having a tie-breaker. These meetings are closed to the public, to athletes and their parents, so who would know. Move three of those players to the second team and move on.

In one league, there were so many first and second-team players that the honorable mention team had three players. Three? Apparently the 13 girls on the first team and 15 on the second team were just too good for — God forbid — the honorable mention team.

Not everyone can be all-league, but in the age of stroking egos and preventing phone calls from parents, we have created a No Athlete Left Behind all-league team.

What happened to earning your spot on an all-league team? Showing up for practice and having a rah-rah attitude, but a .123 batting average in 12 plate appearances should not earn you anything. But coaches go to bat for those kids and a few suckers at the table give them a nod for honorable mention in exchange for six outfielders and six infielders that include three shortstops.

Honestly. You can only field nine players at a time (10 with a DH that is also the catcher). Coaches need to take a stand, count to nine and go to the second team.