Wow... Did I just nuke the conversation? :o

Loved your post Dave.

I don't think that is true. IMO, it isn't that the parents don't know, it is that many don't want to. Just like getting them to wear face masks on batting helmets or on the field. As long as they can dump responsibility on someone else and maintain the "I'm your friend" facade.

Even at the college level and that is depressing.

And how do they handle failure or disappointment? Sometimes I have to wonder if that may not have an effect on youth and young adults who give up and turn to suicide as an alternative.

Here is that "perception" word again. The word "church" doesn't appear in the constitution and the word "religion" only appears once as it pertains to the government not establishing one and insuring the freedom to express one's belief.

You are really working hard to get on my good side, aren't you ;)

And it starts at the big building in DC and I'm not talking about the one across from Lafayette Square.

Ugh... Tell me about it. Don't get me wrong, I have a good relationship with my mother. However, she was a mother first and a friend second. If I got out of line, she made sure I knew it.

And I don't want to armchair quarterback parents too much, but when I see certain styles of parenting that trouble me as a former psych major, I have to speak up. Some kids are downright rotten. They expect everything to be handed to them, they never hear the word "no," and they are downright disrespectful towards adults. I used to work in a public school district, and seeing these kids drove me nuts. I had to quit.

And when I worked at a local, unnamed university that belongs to the ACC, I saw the same thing. Kids don't know how to spell. Kids don't know college-level math.

I don't know if I'd go that far (having had 3 friends or acquaintances who have committed suicide), but it does affect how resilient a person becomes later in life.

As an atheist, I couldn't care less about a town wanting to put up a Christmas tree. Doesn't bother me in the least. It's a nice time of year, and is a good reminder to call your mother and be nice to your neighbor. What's so damn harmful about that?

If that was my intent, I would've ranted against background checks. Thought about it... ;)

Oprah moved to DC? :confused:

When I grew up, you listened to your elders. You respected your neighbors and ran to their house if you were in trouble. You said "yes, sir" or "yes ma'am" to a policeman/policewoman, and if my parents got a phone call home from the teacher, guess what. I got a spanking.

Earlier tonight I was telling my wife a story about a neighbor of mine that worked the LLWS, I kept referring to him as "Mr. ___ ". I realized that I did not actually know his first name. He was an adult and I addressed him as "Mr."

I do not remember the last time I heard that outside of a classroom, and even there it is getting rare.

The South has still maintained some semblance of respect for elders by referring to people as Mister or Miss + first name (ie., Mr. Dave or Miss Laura). I wish more kids were taught that way...

If this were Facebook, I definitely would have "liked" your posts, Dave & Mike.

Weren't phone calls pretty "public" once upon a time, in the days of party lines??? :D

Yep. My mom confessed that she and her sister used to listen in on neighbors' calls when she was a little girl...

Kind of funny, really, that we're sitting here on the Official Forum ... a social media site ... discussing whether it's right or wrong to post about the game, players, teams on a social media site like Facebook. Ironically, I've been told (especially when I did football in Dallas) that posting on the Official Forum is frowned upon by the higher ups. Guess they didn't want us newbies learning anything or comparing situations.

I think some of that is the paranoia that officials will use these forums to speak poorly of the associations for which they call, disparaging the higher-ups "behind their back" with the water-cooler talk.

Frankly, I can't think of a better way for good information and ideas to get shared, disseminated and discussed en masse. Local umpiring associations typically require officials to attend less than a half dozen clinics at the beginning of the year in order to qualify for assignments. While that's a good start, it's even better to have a venue in which we can keep ourselves sharp by asking each other questions and have them available to everyone.

Sure, there will be the occasional incident in which someone speaks out of turn, but those incidents are the exception and not the norm. There is too much to be gained by having these forums than there is to be lost by an occasional bad apple.

I can recall a few years ago when comments made on this board contributed to an umpire being drummed out of the corps of the local association. I only know what was commented on here about that, but there are those who have first hand knowledge that are still members of this forum.