In 1987, my JR year in HS, our Centerfielder got booted from our team just before the playoffs for getting caught dipping in the locker room before going to practice by a teacher. It likely cost our team a legitimite shot at a League Championship.
None of us were mad at him, shoot 80% of the team used smokeless tobacco.
The best part was our coach at the awards banquet with all of the parents, administrators and many teachers present. "We learned a lot this year as team; and as a baseball coach I learned a very important lesson... I used to think America was about baseball, apple pie and chewing tobacco... well it isn't; it is about baseball, apple pie and following the rules!"
I still laugh about that little speech and I guarantee that coach is still mad at the teacher not the player about the suspension!
We were WAY LESS PC then!
Posts: 337 | Location: Florida | Registered: December 08, 2006
PC has nothing to do with losing your tongue and jaw to Cancer. Looking the other way when kids are dipping is as bad as looking the other way if they had a bottle of Gin.
Guess what? the kids are still using dip, and coaches are still looking the other way and the Oncologist are still raking it in. So apparently Political Correctness has not separated the dip from the field.
Posts: 99 | Location: va | Registered: July 10, 2009
Originally posted by fsmjunior: "We learned a lot this year as team; and as a baseball coach I learned a very important lesson... I used to think America was about baseball, apple pie and chewing tobacco... well it isn't; it is about baseball, apple pie and following the rules!"
I still laugh about that little speech and I guarantee that coach is still mad at the teacher not the player about the suspension!
We were WAY LESS PC then!
Today, tobacco in any form is not only contrary to school athletic policy, it is, in most states, against state law to possess or use on school property.
Winking at those who violate policy and law is not character building. When I played, that was a major consideration of my coaches. We were held to the rules and those who enforced them were not subject to ridicule. They were respected.
Posts: 932 | Location: Nine Western States | Registered: April 20, 2008
Originally posted by fsmjunior: "We learned a lot this year as team; and as a baseball coach I learned a very important lesson... I used to think America was about baseball, apple pie and chewing tobacco... well it isn't; it is about baseball, apple pie and following the rules!"
I still laugh about that little speech and I guarantee that coach is still mad at the teacher not the player about the suspension!
We were WAY LESS PC then!
Today, tobacco in any form is not only contrary to school athletic policy, it is, in most states, against state law to possess or use on school property.
Winking at those who violate policy and law is not character building. When I played, that was a major consideration of my coaches. We were held to the rules and those who enforced them were not subject to ridicule. They were respected.
C'mon it was 20 + years ago and I find it a telling tale of how times have changed. My son is now a JR in HS, the same age I was then. I would be upset with he and his coach if I knew they were condoning Tabacco use.
However it is STILL AMUSING to me at our coaches reaction AND how this shows how much has changed. Jimmy, with all do respect, don't take what I wrote as saying we were right or wrong, only a story of the "GLory Days"... because everyday that passes makes me more sure we would have won that Championship ... really we would have!
BTW, not one player of 24 on my son's varsity team dips.
Posts: 337 | Location: Florida | Registered: December 08, 2006
FsmJunior...think this is the part that people might take issue with.....I agree was was once consider okay...we now know better as demonstrated by your son's varsity team.
"If Your Ship Does Not Come In, Swim Out to Meet it"
Originally posted by fsmjunior: "We learned a lot this year as team; and as a baseball coach I learned a very important lesson... I used to think America was about baseball, apple pie and chewing tobacco... well it isn't; it is about baseball, apple pie and following the rules!"
I still laugh about that little speech and I guarantee that coach is still mad at the teacher not the player about the suspension!
We were WAY LESS PC then!
Today, tobacco in any form is not only contrary to school athletic policy, it is, in most states, against state law to possess or use on school property.
Winking at those who violate policy and law is not character building. When I played, that was a major consideration of my coaches. We were held to the rules and those who enforced them were not subject to ridicule. They were respected.
C'mon it was 20 + years ago and I find it a telling tale of how times have changed.
I played HS and collegeball 30 years ago. I also am amazed at the change, but in the opposite direction.
We were held to the rules...rigidly. I see kids skate on violations today. Worse, I see some parents who expect them to skate.
Posts: 932 | Location: Nine Western States | Registered: April 20, 2008
Originally posted by fsmjunior: In 1987, my JR year in HS, our Centerfielder got booted from our team just before the playoffs for getting caught dipping in the locker room before going to practice by a teacher. It likely cost our team a legitimite shot at a League Championship.
None of us were mad at him, shoot 80% of the team used smokeless tobacco.
The best part was our coach at the awards banquet with all of the parents, administrators and many teachers present. "We learned a lot this year as team; and as a baseball coach I learned a very important lesson... I used to think America was about baseball, apple pie and chewing tobacco... well it isn't; it is about baseball, apple pie and following the rules!"
I still laugh about that little speech and I guarantee that coach is still mad at the teacher not the player about the suspension!
We were WAY LESS PC then!
HAHA that's funny. I started dipping back in 1990. Guess who I got my first dip from. Yep my HS baseball coach.
Bad Habits: If you aren't correcting them you are coaching them.
Posts: 56 | Location: Tennessee | Registered: September 29, 2009
That is one of the grossest things I've ever seen or been around. It drives me nuts! I think several of our baseball players dip and I know some of the football players do too. I know many of the football coaches do. This summer when I was interning in minor league baseball, it seemed like our clubbie and the athletic training staff members were the only ones who DIDN'T dip. Absolutely disgusting!
"The Harder You Work, The Harder It is to Surrender"
Posts: 1433 | Location: Waterloo, IL--Cape Girardeau, MO | Registered: February 05, 2006
I am not chiding anyone or want to give that impression, but young boys read this board. Please don't give them the wrong idea that dipping is nothing but a wonderful experience because that's what I am reading from some of you...
Started chewing around age 9 as all the old time baseball players I grew up around did the same; spitting and cussing just like they did. I mean to tell you I was a bad man at age 9.
Even chewed as a catcher...good enough to spit through the bars on the mask and not miss a beat. Yessir, I was a chewing,spitting and cussing bad man at age 10.
At age 12, I had the world by the b@lls on a downhill drag 'cause I was a bad man and could spit and cuss with the best of 'em.
Then the day came....I was catching and chewin',spittin' anda cussin' (did I tell ya I was a bad man)and the one thing happened that I wasn't ready for.
The dreaded cup shot. Not too far left or right but dead sweet center and low. Cha-ching. Didn't plan on swallowing my chaw but thats what happened right then and there. I promptly turned several shades of green but puke-green is probably the best description.
The worst part wasn't the pain or losing my lunch but the absolute hysteria from both dugouts from the other kids/coaches. Real tough for a bad man at age 12 to handle.
Jimmy03: ITA. In some areas of the country, this is still a problem. I haven't seen it on our team, but we have played other teams with kids that have the obvious circle outline in their back pockets. Amazingly, I saw the bulging back pocket at a couple of showcases this fall!
It is against the law to have tobacco products on school property in our state. Coaches that are looking the other way are doing their kids a disservice. It's not about the tobacco use, it's about the character of the program and the players themselves. There is no excuse today for looking the other way when your players are breaking the law.
Posts: 135 | Location: Smalltown in Virginia | Registered: November 20, 2009
... really we would have! 
