The shittier the news gets, the more I love baseball. I watched another great game in the Little League World Series last night: Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West vs. Rhode Island’s Cumberland Americans. Cumberland battled JRW’s batting powerhouse until the final out, but couldn’t pull out the winning run.
What was really amazing was the speech coach Dave Belisle gave to his boys after the loss:
After losing to Jackie Robinson West 8-7, Dave Belisle gathered his Cumberland American team from Rhode Island to let them know that even though they lost, it’s not a reason to be upset or disappointed.
As most of the kids in the huddle cried, Belisle made them all lift their heads and look him in the eye as he told them to be proud because they had their hometown “jumpin’, the whole state jumpin’, you had New England jumpin’, you had ESPN jumpin’.” He also told them the only reason he would cry after this run is because he won’t be coaching them.
Aww. ESPN was smart enough to leave the camera on for the entire speech, and all I could think about was all the damaged men I know whose dads weren’t there for them. I know we still have such men, because they were all on Twitter during this speech, calling him “soft” and “an example of the pussification of sports.”
But there were also guys on Twitter who said they played hockey for Coach Belisle’s many state championship teams, and they responded by calling him “a coach I’d run through brick walls for.”
If you coach sports (or if you’re a parent), here’s the whole speech. Memorize it, and when your kids fail, use it. You could do worse.
“There is no crying in baseball you losers. Suck it up and move along. How are you ever going to survive in the “real world” if you have a mental breakdown just because you didn’t win a stupid baseball game?” That’ what Dave Belisle should have said. He did these kids no favor by patting them on their tiny little heads and telling them that the world still loves them even if they did choke in the end. Bah humbug. And don’t ever show your chubby, hairless, little faces in Rhode Island again you weenies. I probably shouldn’t volunteer to coach a little league team should I?
Fuck those turds. The only lessons worth learning in sports is how to handle tough times, the losses. I cheered when my kids won at whatever they were doing, but I cheered them too when they lost. Easy talk, to sit in the stands and be a dick. It takes the stuff to go out and try again, and again and again and again. That makes the win even sweeter and, more importantly makes a kid a magnanimous winner. That’s something my kids had at twelve that those critical bitches will never have.