:cry:Is it me, or do none of these kids want to play baseball anymore? Half of the high schools cannot even find enough players. They're going to the middle schools to find kids to play.

Edited February 19, 201016 yr by Birdsfan

Where are you located?

When I was growing up I remember waking up at 10 A.M. every single morning to go play basketball, wiffle ball, or football in the neighborhood with my friends. If it was raining, we'd play ping pong or something. Now a lot kids wake up and play video games and watch television all day long. Things have changed.

NKY. Not all the schools just some of the smaller schools. I know some of the smaller schools is a # thing. I know for a fact that one of the small A schools freshman team has 5 kids that want to play.

If you're basing it on the number of teams (and therefore kids) playing in SWOL and other various leagues, I'd say no. SWOL grows larger every year at all age groups.

Well I think football is America's game now. I would even say a lot of 14/15 year olds are more into basketball now. 4 hour baseball games are brutal.

Yes there are some number issues at a few small schools in Northern Ky. I mean the age of some players playing varsity (Silver Grove is a prime example) is very young; but, if you look at the number of teams in summer leagues at 11-14 year old range, those select leagues are growing. However, I will say the commitment to play baseball at the high school age and above is becoming an issue in a few places, due to kids being bored with baseball compared to other things. It is a shame really.

Edited February 19, 201016 yr by Birdsfan

When I was growing up I remember waking up at 10 A.M. every single morning to go play basketball, wiffle ball, or football in the neighborhood with my friends. If it was raining, we'd play ping pong or something. Now a lot kids wake up and play video games and watch television all day long. Things have changed.

 

Agree, I'm not old at all and during the summer when I was a kid we would wake up at 9 in the morning and play backyard baseball till 12 or so, then go swim all day. That was just about everyday and my neighborhood always had kids running around playing football, baseball, and basketball. Seems like things have changed a lot recently.

 

To answer the question maybe kids are just getting more lazy. I would agree that maybe baseball isn't the most popular sport anymore but I would bet more kids play baseball then football in their youth.

In Olive Hill the death of baseball (we never had much of it anyways) IMO was due to too many parents being too involved. Teams were stacked, all-star teams were only made up of coaches kids. I remember the last year that I played baseball, my team won our league yet all of our players were the ones who were on the bench during all-stars. It's too political in my area, and that's bad considering how political basketball and football can be but still don't compare to how baseball is ran.

In Olive Hill the death of baseball (we never had much of it anyways) IMO was due to too many parents being too involved. Teams were stacked, all-star teams were only made up of coaches kids. I remember the last year that I played baseball, my team won our league yet all of our players were the ones who were on the bench during all-stars. It's too political in my area, and that's bad considering how political basketball and football can be but still don't compare to how baseball is ran.

 

Is Olive Hill West Carter? Just wondering because we played them last year as a traveling team and they were flat out loaded, had about 6 kids that could pitch.

Just a guess, but are kids (and their parents) getting tunnel vision with regards to a certain sport? When I was in high school, we had a lot of kids that would letter in 3 sports each year. There was football, cross country and golf in the fall...wrestling and basketball in the winter...and track, baseball and tennis in the spring. No matter what your body type, you were likely able to participate in at least 2, if not 3 sports during the school year.

 

Now it seems like a lot of kids "focus" on just one sport. If you're going to play basketball, you don't dare play football....and so on. It's a shame, because I think kids miss out on the various aspects of the other sports.

Maybe at a school like Silver Grove where the numbers are so low that they don't even have football but if you look at the Boone, Ryles, Conner, Holy Cross, CovCath Beechwood, Dixie the numbers are there.

 

Baseball is a game where the average size kid can play. You don't have to be huge like in football or tall like in Basketball, you can be a smaller sized kid and be a star. While maybe the younger fans think it is boring, it's more because they don't understand the game and how it is played that is the cause of it. Sit with me during a game, and you will never be bored, as I will show you the shortstop moving to his left or the third baseman moving in on the pitch. It's what you don't understand that boring, not what you understand.

Well I think football is America's game now. I would even say a lot of 14/15 year olds are more into basketball now. 4 hour baseball games are brutal.

 

I went to a Bengals game this year. First NFL game I had ever been to and it was terrible. Much rather watch baseball any day of the week over that. But everybody is different.

I went to a Bengals game this year. First NFL game I had ever been to and it was terrible. Much rather watch baseball any day of the week over that. But everybody is different.

 

Judging by your avatar I guess so. :lol: Try sitting through a 4 hour and 30 mins Reds/Indians game with 8 relievers used. Not much tops football live have to disagree there.

Maybe at a school like Silver Grove where the numbers are so low that they don't even have football but if you look at the Boone, Ryles, Conner, Holy Cross, CovCath Beechwood, Dixie the numbers are there.

 

Baseball is a game where the average size kid can play. You don't have to be huge like in football or tall like in Basketball, you can be a smaller sized kid and be a star. While maybe the younger fans think it is boring, it's more because they don't understand the game and how it is played that is the cause of it. Sit with me during a game, and you will never be bored, as I will show you the shortstop moving to his left or the third baseman moving in on the pitch. It's what you don't understand that boring, not what you understand.

 

:ylsuper: Very well said TOG. From what I have heard Ryle Dixie and Conner have each had 50+ kids come out for tryouts. The numbers are there :thumb: Great post.