[PeteBooth]

I too have experienced similar.

IMO, there is simply too much baseball. Baseball for me runs from the last week in March to the end of October , First week in November.

here's what happens. A kid plays HS ball until the end of May, First week in June if his his team makes the sectionals.

In my area, Legion ball starts June 2nd and goes to the end of July. Legion plays approx a 45-50 games season plus the state Tournaments.

For those that do not make the legion teams there is still plenty of other leagues in which to join.

IMO, these kids are simply Burnt out come the last 2 weeks of July. You are right, they really do not want to be there.

During my era, we played all the sports not just focusing on one. Also, even if a kid wants to play the other sports etc. it becomes political for him making the HS team. In addition to coaching HS ball, some HS coaches also have a summer travel team and "Encourage' their HS players to join.

In Summary: There is simply too much baseball and kids become burnt out. Also, as the "heat" rises so do the tempors. In addition, we live in a world in which the motto is "Blame it on the officials" no matter what sport.

Let's take the OU Oregon fiasco. Yes both the on field and replay officials made a bad call but the bottom line was this: Where was the OU defense during the last 3-4 minutes of the game? Oregon scored "at will".

If memory serves (before the on side kick) Oregon trailed by 13 points and proceeded to march right down the field in a short period of time. Did the officials let them do this or was it a bad job by the defense?

We could go on and on. The point is eventually you do get tired of bad play, bad coaching, partners who don't give a rats you know what. Also, even though it comes with the territory eventually one gets tired of the whining etc.

Pete Booth