...When All is Said and Dunn

Well, the dream is over, at least for this season. The last of Temple City’s All Star Little League teams has been eliminated from tournament play.

As each Little League year progresses, I get to see a little further around each curve about what happens as you progress. For me it was a total learning experience. This year the curve got a little wider as our team made it to a higher level in tournament play. I got to experience different people, ballparks, snack bars, and umpires. As I spent time at each new venue, I began to realize I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

For example, last week I wrote about two umpires from our district, District 18, and how they were two of the worst umpires I had ever seen. I am pleased to report that our District does not have a monopoly on bad umpires. In fact, the current leader in the bad umpire race has to go to District 16. Primarily because out of the six that worked our games, five should be jailed for impersonating umpires.

One in particular, whom I nicknamed “The Amazing Umpiro” due to his ability to make the strike zone disappear then reappear at will. Now you see it now you don’t. He was only one of the cast of somnambulistic zombies attempting to regulate the games. The Three Stooges umpired our first game at District 16, with Curly returning to umpire each game we played afterward. I felt so blessed, being such a Three Stooges fan and all. Without getting off on a rant here, let me just say that at all of the games at the Sectional Tournament, both teams groaned in horror at the plethora of bad or missed calls.

These guys need to be a bit more attentive in their duties if they are to stay out of harm’s way. I was told that after one of the games an umpire had his tires slashed by the losing team. Although I was not able to confirm this for sure, I could definitely see it happening. While I would never go to that extreme, I can relate to how they felt.

Then there are the snack bars. I am neither a fan of eating or working at the snack bar, but it is a necessary evil for both the fans and the leagues. The fans need to eat and the leagues need to make money, so it’s a win-win situation for both. That is providing that the snack bar puts out a decent product and they keep the prices under control.

Over the past few years, I have heard so many people complain about the snack bars at both Temple City Leagues. After seeing the culinary fare at other leagues over the last month, I can say to those people, you don’t know how good you’ve got it. Especially as far as American League goes.

For those of you who have never been there, Temple City American’s snack bar is set up like a mini restaurant or diner. If you have a good crew working it with you, like I have had this year, you can really jam. By that I mean you can get the people what they want quickly so they can get back to doing what they are there for, to watch the game.

With an indoor grill, outdoor barbecue, double deep fryer, heat lamps, 2 microwaves, two freezers, two refrigerators, and a complete kitchen set up close at hand, they have the capability to do just about anything. It seems like every year they try to come up with something a little different. (Suggestion for next year, ONION RINGS! Destined to be a big seller.) Temple City American’s snack bar is constantly raising the bar. Some of the other snack bars we visited haven’t even put up the bar!

Don’t get me wrong; I am sure that they are doing the best with what they have to work with, but their leagues should give them a hand so they can generate bigger revenues for their leagues. The whole reason that most of these leagues solicit these tournaments is to make money for their league.

Just a suggestion, if you don’t keep your snack bar open for the entire time that there are people at your park you are cheating the league, which in turn cheats the kids. At our last stop, they didn’t really get this concept. The people working the snack bar didn’t arrive at any of the games until the game had already started and then they closed before the last game ended.

The snack bar was horribly understaffed, and on top of that, the workers were forced to use only a microwave and a George Foreman grill. Ah, but they did have Tommy’s Original Chili. I’m sure to replace all of the flavor that George’s grill took out. Nice try.

The Little League season can be all consuming if you allow it to and when it finally comes to a close it can momentarily leave a void. After the last out of the last game was made and the crowd was slowly leaving the field, I heard a verbal exchange between two of our softball league’s biggest supporters, Joe Culbertson and Andie Zubiate. As Joe passed Andie he said, “Well, softball season is over now.” To which Andie responded, “Yeah, what do we do now?”

Whether it was in jest or not, I am not sure, but it did sum up how I was feeling at that moment. After five months of planning your week around practices and games you wonder for a second what you will do to fill the time. But if you have kids, that feeling only lasts a second.

Now that the season has come to an end I will miss it all. The good, the bad, and the tasteless. The latter does not refer exclusively to the food. It also pertains to the bickering and complaining done by many parents over the course of the season. At the time it seemed petty and pointless to me, now that the season is over it seems even more so.

But the slate has been wiped clean and next season we begin fresh once again. The best that we all can do is learn from the mistakes we made this season and try not to repeat them in the next.

The Shrub Speaks: “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe— I believe what I believe is right." -Rome, July 22, 2001