Blind & Idiot Coach

[Thawk]

12u AAU game yesterday.  Last game of a 3-game round robin set.  Hot day, humid, players, parents, everyone wants the game to go quickly and be over.  Well, almost everyone. 

VTHC for some reason felt like he had to open his mouth every 2 seconds.  His RH pitchers were trying so hard to get me to call strikes on pitches that were ending up in the LH batter's box on RH hitters.  almost every time they threw the pitch in that spot, the catcher was reaching across his body and over to catch it.  And every time the VTHC would ask his catcher "are you setting up outside?" catcher would shake his head "No", and the coach would gripe about it saying that the it had to be a strike since the catcher caught it in the middle of his chest.  Never mind the fact he took two steps over to get there, but apparently he ignored that small detail. 

So we get close to the time limit the coaches agreed upon at the plate conference (no new inning after 1:45), Top 5, HT up by at least 5 runs.  I tell both coaches last AB for VT.  We roll through the top of the 5th, I look at my watch, we have less than 5 minutes to cutoff.  Talk to the HTHC, he says he's good, so I'm ready to call the game.  All of the sudden, VTHC starts crying saying that we should play out the inning, there's still time left.  HTHC looks bewildered, but agrees.  Then, out of no where, VT takes the field, needs no warm-ups, and before I even put the ball in play, pitcher is firing the pitch in.  Immediately I call "no pitch" and step out.  VTHC starts crying that if I want the pitcher to hold up, I have to put my hand up.  Fine, you want to play that game, let's play.  So every pitch I'm taking a few extra seconds holding up the pitcher.  HT does down 1-2-3, VTHC gets his players running off the field and says "OK, we get one more AB, let's kill 'em!"  I look at my watch and see 1:47 elapsed.  Game over.  VTHC starts crying saying "really, 2 minutes, you're gonna call it over 2 minutes?  We're supposed to be out here to help the kids practice and learn".  I say nothing, but as I and my partner walk off I hear him cry to the other coach, "you wanna keep going with out the umps since they're a bunch of quitters?" 

Where was this desire to speed up the game earlier when you batters were taking forever to get up to AB, I had to keep telling them to keep a foot in the box, and you called a lengthy timeout EVERY inning to talk with your players or cry about something.  Never mind the fact that your players gave up at least 4 runs on mental mistakes in the field.  My partner and I got back to our cars and just started laughing.  We couldn't help ourselves.

[grayhawk]

[KenBAZ]

Help us out GHawk. The OP did seem a little like a twisted string but Is that what you wanted to say?

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[grayhawk]

1 hour ago, KenBAZ said:

Help us out GHawk. The OP did seem a little like a twisted strung but Is that what you wanted to say?

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That coach was given WAY too much rope.

[Thawk]

15 hours ago, grayhawk said:

That coach was given WAY too much rope.

If it wasn't Sunday, and it wasn't a "friendly game" yeah I probably would have tossed him.  But I was honestly trying not to laugh at his ignorance and attempt to make everyone (himself included) believe he was a baseball know it all.  Dealt with this coach in the past, so I knew what to expect, just not that extent.  One moment I didn't put in the original post was the in the 1st inning the HT pitcher threw a pickoff to 1B, and the VTHC started crying saying it was a balk because the pitcher didn't "gain ground"  If I was a parent on the other team, I would have walked over to him, thrown a rule book in his lap and said "read this, and stop making a fool of yourself."