17 inches
Oct 13, 2021 18:25:23 #
LogicallyRight
Loc: Chicago
Passed along on the Internet
Twenty years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA's convention.
While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh, man, worth every penny of my airfare.”
Who is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter; I was just happy to be there. In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate.
Seriously, I wondered, who is this guy? After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage.
Then, finally … “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”
Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”, more of a question than answer.
“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause. “Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.
“That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”
“Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident. “You’re right!” Scolinos barked.
“And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?” “Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison.
“Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?”........“Seventeen inches!” “RIGHT!
And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues? “Seventeen inches!”
“SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?”
Pause. “They send him to Pocatello !” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter.
“What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'”
Pause. “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? or when our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him? Do we widen home plate? "
The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!”
Pause. Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag. “This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?”
Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross. “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves! And we allow it.”
“And the same is true with our government. Our so-called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss while we just watch.”
I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curve balls and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.
“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: "If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools & churches & our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”
With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside, “…We have dark days ahead!.”
Note: Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including mine. Meeting him at my first ABCA convention kept me returning year after year, looking for similar wisdom and inspiration from other coaches. He is the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches."
And this my friends is what our country has become and what is wrong with it today, and now go out there and fix it! "Don't widen the plate."
How does this affect us today? The Republican Party is failing us and widening home plate. And it must be stopped and we must restore America to 17 inches.
And the first step in doing that is to build a strong Conservative/Republican Party that will stand for our Freedom and America in stopping the Democrat Party, the so called Progressives, the Socialists, the Communists, and the leftists. They have widened home plate beyond belief, many years ago, and still are trying to further widen home plate. They are stretching it so far it will split in two.
Consider all of their actions from removing God from everything they do, except when it is yet another attack against God. And the latest attacks on home plate are the woke movements, Critical Race Theories, BLM a Marxist movement, support of antifa while they are themselves the future and present Nazis. Excessive extremism of their Union affiliates the worst of them are the teachers. Their teacher supporters who no longer teach but brainwash our children and grandchildren in leftist, socialist ideology and other extremism without our consent. And their stupid weakening of character and strength with safe spaces, so they can cry and hug teddy. Excessive tax increases on the wealthy and corporations which are only passed down on the poor and middle class with higher costs and inflation, hurting them the most. Their imposition in our private lives with now wanting to check our bank accounts for every transaction as low as $600. With their vaccine mandates for an unproven experimental vaccine that isn't really a vaccine, and it weakens over time, and its long term effects are totally unknown, and its side effects range from deaths for thousands to life long infirmities to mild reactions. And lock downs that have robbed people of freedom and jobs and destroyed businesses with no proven benefits. To inflation that will rob you of the value of fixed assets while costing more for goods everywhere. To the slow degradation of our military to the point where our adversaries are becoming an increasing threat. To the downgrading of our military with mandates for drugs that is causing a brain drain and experience drain of our military personal. To the surrendering of our military to the mixed up alphabet crowd of misfits and mental cases.
And don't forget their obvious partnerships with most of the media, and their constant barrage of lies and misinformation, and hiding or mislabeling of the real truths, while constantly putting down at every opportunity those that would protect America and save our freedom. This they do with a barrage of lies and misrepresentations of the real truths. Their over emphasis on Climate Change, that is mostly beyond our control or blame, and surely the fault of the rest of the world like China and India above America.
And don't forget the obvious partnerships with Social Media and their censorship of people from a President of the United States of America to all of their users, American citizens, with mislabeled lies and disinformation.
I'm sure I missed so many ways that the Democrat Party, the so called Progressives, the Socialists, the Communists, and the leftists and media are destroying America and our future. I'm sure those on the Right, who are right, might mention so many more things.
What are some of the solutions? Strong families with two married heterosexual parents. Involvement with your children's education to protect them, and ensure they are getting an education in the three Rs and Civics and the Constitution. Respect for our flag over all others. Respect for our country over all others, when our leaders earn that respect for us. And demand that from them, and we aren't getting that from the current Democrat leadership. Freedom of the States to act on state issues, and not having Federal intervention or control. Congress making laws that apply to themselves as equally as they apply to all of us. Building things in American again. Buying things made in America, when reasonably possible. Fair and honest elections devoid of the fraud of the past, especially 2020, with enlightened, registered, legal voters. Control of Immigration especially at out southern border, starting with finishing the wall, and deporting all illegal entries as soon as caught. School choice with a partial voucher that follows the student. All curriculum must be approved by the parents who over rule school boards and teachers without question. No masking of students in schools. No forced mandates of a Covid vaccine in schools. No mandates of Covid vaccines throughout industry, and especially our military. No vaccine passports allowed in public accommodations.
I could go on and on. I will look forward to your right recommendations to add on.
Logically Right
Twenty years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA's convention.
While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh, man, worth every penny of my airfare.”
Who is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter; I was just happy to be there. In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate.
Seriously, I wondered, who is this guy? After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage.
Then, finally … “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”
Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”, more of a question than answer.
“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause. “Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.
“That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”
“Seventeen inches,” they said, sounding more confident. “You’re right!” Scolinos barked.
“And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?” “Seventeen inches!” we said, in unison.
“Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?”........“Seventeen inches!” “RIGHT!
And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues? “Seventeen inches!”
“SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?”
Pause. “They send him to Pocatello !” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter.
“What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.'”
Pause. “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? or when our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him? Do we widen home plate? "
The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!”
Pause. Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag. “This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?”
Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross. “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves! And we allow it.”
“And the same is true with our government. Our so-called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss while we just watch.”
I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curve balls and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.
“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: "If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools & churches & our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”
With that, he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside, “…We have dark days ahead!.”
Note: Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including mine. Meeting him at my first ABCA convention kept me returning year after year, looking for similar wisdom and inspiration from other coaches. He is the best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever known because he was so much more than a baseball coach. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches."
And this my friends is what our country has become and what is wrong with it today, and now go out there and fix it! "Don't widen the plate."
How does this affect us today? The Republican Party is failing us and widening home plate. And it must be stopped and we must restore America to 17 inches.
And the first step in doing that is to build a strong Conservative/Republican Party that will stand for our Freedom and America in stopping the Democrat Party, the so called Progressives, the Socialists, the Communists, and the leftists. They have widened home plate beyond belief, many years ago, and still are trying to further widen home plate. They are stretching it so far it will split in two.
Consider all of their actions from removing God from everything they do, except when it is yet another attack against God. And the latest attacks on home plate are the woke movements, Critical Race Theories, BLM a Marxist movement, support of antifa while they are themselves the future and present Nazis. Excessive extremism of their Union affiliates the worst of them are the teachers. Their teacher supporters who no longer teach but brainwash our children and grandchildren in leftist, socialist ideology and other extremism without our consent. And their stupid weakening of character and strength with safe spaces, so they can cry and hug teddy. Excessive tax increases on the wealthy and corporations which are only passed down on the poor and middle class with higher costs and inflation, hurting them the most. Their imposition in our private lives with now wanting to check our bank accounts for every transaction as low as $600. With their vaccine mandates for an unproven experimental vaccine that isn't really a vaccine, and it weakens over time, and its long term effects are totally unknown, and its side effects range from deaths for thousands to life long infirmities to mild reactions. And lock downs that have robbed people of freedom and jobs and destroyed businesses with no proven benefits. To inflation that will rob you of the value of fixed assets while costing more for goods everywhere. To the slow degradation of our military to the point where our adversaries are becoming an increasing threat. To the downgrading of our military with mandates for drugs that is causing a brain drain and experience drain of our military personal. To the surrendering of our military to the mixed up alphabet crowd of misfits and mental cases.
And don't forget their obvious partnerships with most of the media, and their constant barrage of lies and misinformation, and hiding or mislabeling of the real truths, while constantly putting down at every opportunity those that would protect America and save our freedom. This they do with a barrage of lies and misrepresentations of the real truths. Their over emphasis on Climate Change, that is mostly beyond our control or blame, and surely the fault of the rest of the world like China and India above America.
And don't forget the obvious partnerships with Social Media and their censorship of people from a President of the United States of America to all of their users, American citizens, with mislabeled lies and disinformation.
I'm sure I missed so many ways that the Democrat Party, the so called Progressives, the Socialists, the Communists, and the leftists and media are destroying America and our future. I'm sure those on the Right, who are right, might mention so many more things.
What are some of the solutions? Strong families with two married heterosexual parents. Involvement with your children's education to protect them, and ensure they are getting an education in the three Rs and Civics and the Constitution. Respect for our flag over all others. Respect for our country over all others, when our leaders earn that respect for us. And demand that from them, and we aren't getting that from the current Democrat leadership. Freedom of the States to act on state issues, and not having Federal intervention or control. Congress making laws that apply to themselves as equally as they apply to all of us. Building things in American again. Buying things made in America, when reasonably possible. Fair and honest elections devoid of the fraud of the past, especially 2020, with enlightened, registered, legal voters. Control of Immigration especially at out southern border, starting with finishing the wall, and deporting all illegal entries as soon as caught. School choice with a partial voucher that follows the student. All curriculum must be approved by the parents who over rule school boards and teachers without question. No masking of students in schools. No forced mandates of a Covid vaccine in schools. No mandates of Covid vaccines throughout industry, and especially our military. No vaccine passports allowed in public accommodations.
I could go on and on. I will look forward to your right recommendations to add on.
Logically Right
Oct 13, 2021 18:32:54 #
LogicallyRight wrote:
Passed along on the Internet br br br Twenty yea... (show quote)
No no please stop.
Who won the Election ?
Oct 13, 2021 18:33:52 #
LogicallyRight wrote:
Passed along on the Internet br br br Twenty yea... (show quote)
I thought for sure you were headed for something along the lines of what we don't do when a republican loses an election...we do not change the rules and say there was election fraud without proof, but we are not certifying this win.
Oct 13, 2021 18:40:22 #
LogicallyRight wrote:
Passed along on the Internet br br br Twenty yea... (show quote)
I’m so glad to be aware of that coach. Wish we had many more like him. The only thing I’m moved to add is let’s put more faith and importance in our Constitution. It’s being ignored. Our forefathers would have agreed with Coach Scolinos.
Oct 13, 2021 18:56:29 #
LogicallyRight
Loc: Chicago
Milosia2 wrote:
No no please stop.
Who won the Election ?
Who won the Election ?
***Who won the Election ?
>>>No one. It was stolen and America lost.
Oct 13, 2021 18:57:41 #
LogicallyRight
Loc: Chicago
woodguru wrote:
I thought for sure you were headed for something along the lines of what we don't do when a republican loses an election...we do not change the rules and say there was election fraud without proof, but we are not certifying this win.
You are slipping as low ans Milosa
Oct 13, 2021 18:59:11 #
LogicallyRight wrote:
Passed along on the Internet br br br Twenty yea... (show quote)
Logically Right, Most certainly the post of the day, week, month, year.
Oct 13, 2021 18:59:48 #
LogicallyRight
Loc: Chicago
Carol Kelly wrote:
I’m so glad to be aware of that coach. Wish we had many more like him. The only thing I’m moved to add is let’s put more faith and importance in our Constitution. It’s being ignored. Our forefathers would have agreed with Coach Scolinos.
Thanks. We're right and Right and so was that Coach. To bad the trolls will never understand.
Oct 13, 2021 19:00:31 #
Milosia2 wrote:
No no please stop.
Who won the Election ?
Who won the Election ?
Quit widening the plate!!!
Oct 13, 2021 19:01:16 #
woodguru wrote:
I thought for sure you were headed for something along the lines of what we don't do when a republican loses an election...we do not change the rules and say there was election fraud without proof, but we are not certifying this win.
You too. Quit widening the plate!!!
Oct 13, 2021 19:10:12 #
LogicallyRight wrote:
Thanks. We're right and Right and so was that Coach. To bad the trolls will never understand.
Your message went right through the skulls of the godless leftist tools here and didn't hit a thing.
Hats off to Coach John Scolinos.
Oct 13, 2021 19:23:50 #
Milosia2 wrote:
No no please stop.
We understand - common sense and ethical values hurt your head.
Seek professional help.
Oct 13, 2021 19:30:51 #
woodguru wrote:
I thought for sure you were headed for something along the lines of what we don't do when a republican loses an election...we do not change the rules and say there was election fraud without proof, but we are not certifying this win.
Hillary Clinton claims presidential election was 'stolen' from her
https://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-claims-presidential-election-220135269.html
Oct 13, 2021 19:41:13 #
LogicallyRight
Loc: Chicago
American Vet wrote:
Hillary Clinton claims presidential election was 'stolen' from her
https://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-claims-presidential-election-220135269.html
https://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-claims-presidential-election-220135269.html
She's blamed everyone else and it didn't stick. Might as well try that one.
Trouble is, she was the one who funded the conspiracy to fix the election. So how does that theory work?
Oct 13, 2021 19:45:23 #
LogicallyRight
Loc: Chicago
skyrider wrote:
Logically Right, Most certainly the post of the day, week, month, year.
Thanks. Flattery will get you somewhere. Now where do I send the money ;-)
Just kidding. But really, thanks.
It is just to bad that we can't make a dent on any of the leftists on here. They are just so throughly brainwashed in that leftist ideology that they can't see anything, but it is all Trump's fault. They seem to be totally devoid of logic or common sense.
Cheers and have a nice evening.
LR
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