June 13, 2025 • 26 mins
sports for kids in Arkansas plus extra Innings ...Should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame and more
Why Johnny Hates Sports is broadcast live Fridays at 11AM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Why Johnny Hates Sports is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Why Johnny Hates Sports Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-johnny-hates-sports--6486985/support.
Why Johnny Hates Sports is broadcast live Fridays at 11AM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Why Johnny Hates Sports is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Why Johnny Hates Sports Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-johnny-hates-sports--6486985/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicit or implies shall be extended to W FOURCY
Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments
should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for
(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Why Johnny Hates Sports is a best selling book about
kids in sports. It chronicles why, at a very early age,
children are thrust into organized sports long before they have
the necessary skills to feel successful. Fathers and mothers are
asked to be their coach without having any training on
how to coach, and the leagues in which kids play
(00:49):
are governed by volunteers whose main focus becomes scoreboards, championships,
and all star games. Statistics show that close to seventy
percent of kids will have quit by the age of thirteen.
Most said it ceased to be fun, and that's why
Johnny Hates sports.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, and you know what you ever hear things coming
in threes. I'm getting really worried. I'll tell you why.
Yesterday my car went out and I had to get
a few golfers drive me home, one of them being
my son, who got over to the car shop. That's
(01:27):
the first thing. The second thing is this morning, my
friend Lorenzo from Cavitt, Arkansas was supposed to be here
and he didn't show up. And now I'm worried about
what's the third thing that's going to happen today. So
I'm going to try to get through this show before
we get to our special guy, Ross Smith in extra innings.
(01:51):
But so in the meantime, you know, I thought i'd
do a little review of all the different things about
the sports for kids and kind of why we have
why Johnny ate sports And one of the things that
we have been talking about with rec directors from around
the country is about how travel teams destroy what's happening
(02:14):
for recreation play for kids. I remember when our kids
were out playing, you know, people in the neighborhood. You know,
he could have been a truck driver, plumber, whatever happens
to be down the street. He decided that we needed
to have a baseball program for kids. So there was
a field THEREC Department had, but there was no leagues.
(02:36):
They didn't do anything about it. They just let somebody
lease a field. And that's what happened in this case
that so many communities have what I call Billy Jones.
It's father to go out and they get lease direct,
you know, to rent the field, and then all these
(02:56):
people sign up. So now here you have with baseball, football,
and soccer to a great degree, people leasing fields. But
then all of a sudden comes along travel teams. And
then you got these guys that walk in that are
ex soccer players that profess to be professional teachers and organizers.
(03:18):
They haven't had any experience in that, but they go
in and do it anyway. They go into the rec
Department and say, I tell you what, we want to
lease those fields that you're given to these rec leagues,
and we're going to pay you money for that. And
you know where the money's coming from. We're gonna charge
a little bit of a fee to these people. I
(03:40):
have a friend of mine who told me that last
year it costs she and her family fifteen thousand dollars
for them to do travel teams. They traveled here, there
and everywhere, And the whole idea, as you guess, is
that it's based on competition and getting our kids, you know,
(04:03):
to the next level. That's the thing that's so weird
about it. That they can get to the next level.
They think because they are elite players, and I'm not
going to let marry Inn and Billy or Tommy or
whoever it is who has all this talent be wasted.
So they go to the tribal teams, never realizing that
(04:26):
they're going to spend all this money that they could
have saved up and paid for a college tuition because
they thought it was going to be definitely a scholarship.
So a small number, small number of loose kids that
go out there and to get on you know, tribal
(04:47):
teams ever make it. So that's another area that I
think needs to be addressed. And who knows what will
ever happen with those poor kids in the neighborhood who
can't afford all of that to be able to go
out and travel and hopefully they'll get back on the
(05:07):
field somehow that people in the communities will say, hey, yeah,
we need to get those kids back out there. Here's
another topic I'd like to say that, and then it's
kind of harsh when I tell you. But that's why
I think that you sports for kids below the age
of twelve probably is a farce. Yeah, it's a farce.
(05:33):
Why do I say that, because let me tell you.
You can get a seven year old child. Let's say
it's a kid boy seven years old. Did you ever
stop to think that there are early matures and late
matures and the early mature. You can have a seven
(05:54):
year old and that seven year old can be a
late mature and yes, what he can have the body,
strength and everything else that goes with a four year old.
So you're look at his seven year old, would mean
he's really small, doesn't have the skills, and he's playing
(06:15):
against you know a kid that is seven that is
now four years Oh so he's eleven years old, but
he's still seven years old, but he's got a body
of an eleven year old. So he got an eleven
year old playing against a four year old. Now think
of that when you're thinking you got kids playing hockey
(06:40):
or football or size makes a difference. So you got
a kid out there playing football and yeah, they do
weights and because they say, oh well if this kid
waits too much, but you still think about it. You've
got a seven year old that looks like a twelve
(07:01):
year old and they stick him in the position. They say, wow,
this kid's got to be good for our team because
look how he is. And then the poor little kid
that is elite, but you're it's ain't even going to
get on the team. But yet they're both seven years old.
So it becomes a farce. And even in baseball, you know,
(07:22):
you can look at the World Series, a little League
World Series, try to be crazy. So the times I've
seen times where a twelve year old was six foot one,
think about that six foot one being twelve years old
just because you're an early mature And so it becomes,
(07:43):
like I say, it comes really a farce and you
figure it out because I can't. Here's another thing, well,
I asked a question, do you think the guy a
father or a mother to coach your own kids. That's
(08:05):
a good question because here's what happens all across the
country when parents sign their kids up. The scenarios like this.
They go in to where they're signing up and they say, okay,
sign on the line here, yep, I hold your son
(08:27):
I order your daughter, thank you, I'll get done. That
line over to your right. What's that line over there, Well,
that's where you sign up to be a coach. Well,
I don't know anything about coaching. I just want my
kid to learn to play baseball, and I want him
(08:47):
out there and see how good he is. Well, guess what, sir,
your kid isn't going to play unless you coach. So
there he goes, he's over that line, ex giving me
this allergy season are in Florida. So he is over
(09:08):
in that line and he signs up and they tell
him to come out, and all of a sudden he
comes out and says, I don't know what to do,
and he kind of learns of as a baseball coach.
He can just go sit and hide and hide the
dugout and watching the game go on. He don't know
(09:29):
a strategy or anything, except one of the things that
he does know is out in the right field there's
a big scoreboard, and that scoreboard now says your team
is now losing four to three, and the umpire just
calls a strike three on one of your star players,
(09:50):
and you know that it wasn't a stripe, So now
you go running out there screaming and honoring and acting
like an idiot, and then umpire throws you out of
the game, and you're the president of the bank, and
everybody it's sitting in the stands and saying, hey, there's
Tom Jackson, the president of the bank. He just got
(10:12):
thrown out of a game because arguing with the umpire
about whether it was a strike ball because this kid
was at bat. Yeah, that's a scenario. You know, That's
what happens. And so across the country, that's what we have.
Are hundreds and thousands of examples going on right now,
(10:34):
and right now is getting ready for the All Star Games,
the Championships, World Series, and everybody's nervous. I remember when
I was a recreation director and it got to the
beginning and let's say we're still talking baseball, got the
(10:57):
beginning of the Seeds and everybody said, oh, this is great.
People talking about coaches and parents losing perspective in screaming
and hollering. Nobody did that. You know why, because there
are in any standings. There was nobody there saying, oh,
what place's your team in and how does your team look?
(11:20):
You don't care because you don't know you're just there
because that guy down there said go over and sign
up on that line over there to be the coach.
So now season goes on, one game, two games, three games.
Everything's moving along until now it's near the end of
(11:42):
the season and your team's in second place. Now when
the emotions arise. I have seen and I've heard so
many stories in my experience as a recreation professional as
a father of seven kids that played. I heard you
(12:02):
say what he says, he has seven kids, give me
and my wife. I had seven kids. Every one of
them played one kind of sport or the other, and
every single one of them I have one kind of
a problem or another. I always tell the story. Can
you imagine this? My daughter softball team, their coach at
the end of the season. That coach told the players,
(12:27):
are you ready for this to go into the drug
store and steal so for me did and you know what,
he got off with it and he was still coaching.
Don't ask me how they let this kind of thing
go vibe, but that's how it happens in a few sports.
So here we go with kids. Let me see whether
(12:51):
another thing is all star teams mentioning all star teams
are All Star teams really important? Now? You know? Because
what happens? Who do you think gets on the All
Star teams? Now the under season going on, it's time
(13:14):
for reflecting the All Star teams. And what happens is
you never remember that coach Billy's father. Yeah he's the coach,
and so it gets who he signs up to be
on the All Star team. Well, Billy has been sitting
(13:36):
on the bench. You know. They got into three games
and in the two games he fumbled the ball across
the team a win. But his father nominates him for
the All Star team. So all hell breaks loose, parents
screaming he can't do that. You know why? He justifies it.
(14:00):
He says, Look, I've been out here doing this all
year long. I got to be at the bank running
the bank and like a rush home, go out there
with these kids, and nah, I'm not no, no, Billy,
He's only All Star team. So that's when I all
(14:22):
Star teams become such a force in so many cases
because so much argument. So I get to my last
episode before hopefully I have time for my friend Ross
to come in to do our next segment, which is
(14:43):
a new segment. But before I do. Let me go
through one more time with some of the original listeners
that ask the question why does Johnny hate sports? Johnny
hates sports because at six years old, his father or
(15:04):
his mother says, well, everybody down the street is signing
their kids up for Little leig So Johnny, you're going
to play Little League baseball this year, or it could
be football or soccer or whatever. And Johnny doesn't know
whether he wants to play or not. He just says, yeah,
(15:27):
I guess so if Charlie and whoever else, if my
friends are playing, I guess I'll go out and play.
So that's the first thing that happens. I really apologize
for this allergy deal I got. But so Johnny goes
(15:48):
out there. He doesn't want to play baseball. Did you
ever stop to think if it was your kid. He
really likes drama, wants to being a play in school,
likes music, wants to play music. Nobody ever told him
he wants to play sports, except his mother or father.
(16:08):
You're gonna play sports. So he gets out there and
he's one of those kids that don't have the skills
to be able to catch and through and cake an
hit and all of that. So that's what happens, and
that's why he hates sports. The other thing is, like
(16:29):
I mentioned, he goes out there and his dad's a coach,
or he's got another coach, isn't his dad? And his
dad says, oh, let's see, I'll coach, and like I
said before, he loses his own perspective of what it's
(16:49):
all about and he starts screaming at his kid, screaming
at the umpire, screaming of people in the stands, And
so Johnny doesn't like it because he's prus to death.
And the last thing is the league's sign up. These
are all a group of people, Like I say, they
give you a psychiatrist, they could be a dishwasher or
(17:12):
plumber truck forever. They all make up the board of
directors of this this volunteer league that they organize, and
the only thing they got in mind is somebody's got
to win the championship. We're gonna have a scoreboards and
standings and all star teams, and Johnny wants no part
of that. And that's why Johnny ates sports. So we're
(17:36):
going to cut here right now for I think whatever
our engineer at one's got next on the list. We're
going to go to that, hopefully.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
In this best selling book, a child, while failing to
live up to his father's expectations, is shamed and humiliated
beyond belief. He vows to never allow his own son
to face the same.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Well, we've decided to start a new feature, and maybe
in today is a good time to do it because
I can't talk, and the new feature is. People kept saying, hey,
the book that he wrote is called Billy Jones's Father,
What is that all about? And I thought, you know
(18:26):
what I've seen people, I've done it byself, a riding
a car, and I listened to these things, you know,
the greatest Crimes in America and whatever stories, and I thought, yeah,
maybe somebody would like to hear a different chapter at
a time of the book. So let me start with
doing the first part of the book, and we'll play
it a little bit each week, and you can hear
(18:49):
and then you find out as the story goes on. Now,
this story starts with my friend Sarah. They're out in
Texas because a lot of problems. They decide that they're
gonna move to North Carolina. So one if we could
turn on maybe we could let the listers. Hear what
happens in the first chapter of Billy Jones's Father.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Oh my Lord, Dad, Sarah cried out in her Texas
drawl as the sign saying welcome to North Carolina appeared.
This shore isn't Texas. Breathing in the fresh smell of
thousands of azaleas and rhododendrons with their spicy clove odor
lining the highway, she couldn't contain herself. I think I'm
already beginning to like North Carolina. In the distance, mountain
(19:38):
after mountain, looking like an ocean filled with hurricane sized waves,
welcomed the Tobins to their new home. We're in Carolina,
an over excited Jeff, saying out get that, James Taylor
CD Sarah, I want to hear Carolina in my mind.
As soon as the song came on, the family of
three began to join along, sounding like a bunch of
teenagers on their way to the beach, while drowning out
(20:00):
poor James Taylor with their exuberance. Those are the Blue
Ridge Mountains, aren't they, Dad asked Sarah. Other than when
she went off to college, Sarah had never been too
far from home. They sure are, kid, Jeff said, as
his wife Amanda sat full of thought about what lay ahead.
She was excited about her new life and wondered what
kind of impact she could have on a small town
(20:23):
like Torret Hills as a child psychologist. No sooner had
they rounded a hill that had blocked the late afternoon
sun shining in their eyes, a sign popped up saying
exit twenty four to Torret Hills. While taking the exit,
a sky high, drone like vision of small town America
lay in the distant valley. Below a water tank with
(20:44):
big black letters saying welcome to Torret Hills. Urged Sarah
to say so loud that the folks in town could
probably hear her. We made it. They had reached their
new hometown, and welcoming them were gigantic red maple trees
waving like blankets in the breeze. Torret Hills was a
typical small town in North Carolina, with a population of
(21:06):
twenty four thousand, most of whom worked in the tobacco industry.
Jeff had been hired by the national medical firm First
Med as their local representative physician for the town. Three
Sarah look for twenty six Brentwood Street on your cell phone.
That's the address of our new home, Jeff said, and
excited Amanda eye the colonial style homes when Sarah yelled,
(21:28):
out there it is dad. Sure enough. Right in the
middle of Brentwood Street stood a two story home covered
with ivy. It didn't take long before the three unpacked
their initial belongings and began to settle into their new home.
On their first Monday in town, Jeff left early to
visit his new office at first med Amanda, anxious to
(21:49):
begin her journey as the town's only child psychologist, scoured
the office space ads in the Torret Hills Times. As
for Sarah, she sought to seek out the local recreation
apartment for any employment available. It didn't take long she
could see the sign above the recreation facility, a mere
block from her house, saying torrit Hills Parks and Recreation.
(22:11):
Sarah wasn't one to waste time. She dressed and was
almost out the door when Amanda said, Wow, you're not
even going to eat breakfast before you go. No time
for that, mom, Sarah answered, A stitch in time saves nine.
Walking in the recreation front door, Sarah was met with
a voice sounding more like Scarlett O'Hara than scarlet herself.
(22:32):
Good morning, ma'am, said the voice, reminding Sarah that she
was in the south. Good morning to you, Sarah replied,
I just moved in from out of town, Texas, to
be exact, I was wondering if there might be any
employment openings. Just then, around the corner came a lady
who looked to be in her mid thirties, dressed like
she was about to enter a hog tying event. Hey there,
(22:54):
I'm Emma Stewart. I couldn't help but overhear that you're
looking for employment. Come at the right time if you
have the right credentials. I do, Sarah said, as she
grabbed a resume from her backpack. Well great, Emma said,
as she glanced at Sarah's resume. Why don't you come
to my office and have a little chat about what's available.
Feeling enthused, Sarah sat down in Emma's office and glanced
(23:18):
at the number of trophies strewn about. Wow, there must
be a big event going on with all these trophies,
Sarah said, four. You're looking at a small number of
trophies that we will be giving out this year, trophies
for every sport you can imagine. We give them to
kids in the three to the five year old division
up to the sixteen to eighteen year olds. This town
(23:38):
is crazy about sports. Well, it sounds like I came
to the right town. My background is in sports, Sarah said.
Looking through Sarah's resume, Emma's eyebrows raised as she noticed
the number of awards Sarah had gained playing all sports.
You certainly are qualified, especially with the degree you got
in recreation, Emma said. I need an assistant to cover
(24:01):
a lot of details that are getting overwhelming for me.
That is, if you're interested. Absolutely, Sarah replied, while almost
coming out of her seat. I'm ready to start whenever
you want. Well, it's Friday. How about we start on Monday,
Emma noted with a smile. Great, Sarah answered, as if
she had just won the state lottery.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, there you have the first episode and the first
chapter of Ty Jones's Father, and I can't wait for
you to listen to the next part because what Sarah
runs into is Billy Jones's father. You're gonna like this character.
(24:47):
He's something else. So all right, So, as I started
out the early part of the show, today is not
one of those days. My car broke down. Yesterday I
had a guest that didn't show up for the first session.
(25:08):
My internet broke down. That's why I would use my
cell phone. And now I'm hoping that my friend Ross
is going to be on. It's doomsday and I don't
know what. Oh, I know why. Today's Friday the thirteenth.
I never thought of it. Yeah, I'll use that as
(25:30):
an excuse. So nobody's there, my guest and my special
guests for extra innings. Ross, No, he's not here either.
I don't know what happened, but something serious happened, So
I guess we're going to have to close out one
and finish up the end of it.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
This program is sponsored by sir Der Publishing in the
interest for better sports for kids, Better kids for life.
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicit or implies shall be extended to W FOURCY
Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments
should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for
(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Why Johnny Hates Sports is a best selling book about
kids in sports. It chronicles why, at a very early age,
children are thrust into organized sports long before they have
the necessary skills to feel successful. Fathers and mothers are
asked to be their coach without having any training on
how to coach, and the leagues in which kids play
(00:49):
are governed by volunteers whose main focus becomes scoreboards, championships,
and all star games. Statistics show that close to seventy
percent of kids will have quit by the age of thirteen.
Most said it ceased to be fun, and that's why
Johnny Hates sports.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, and you know what you ever hear things coming
in threes. I'm getting really worried. I'll tell you why.
Yesterday my car went out and I had to get
a few golfers drive me home, one of them being
my son, who got over to the car shop. That's
(01:27):
the first thing. The second thing is this morning, my
friend Lorenzo from Cavitt, Arkansas was supposed to be here
and he didn't show up. And now I'm worried about
what's the third thing that's going to happen today. So
I'm going to try to get through this show before
we get to our special guy, Ross Smith in extra innings.
(01:51):
But so in the meantime, you know, I thought i'd
do a little review of all the different things about
the sports for kids and kind of why we have
why Johnny ate sports And one of the things that
we have been talking about with rec directors from around
the country is about how travel teams destroy what's happening
(02:14):
for recreation play for kids. I remember when our kids
were out playing, you know, people in the neighborhood. You know,
he could have been a truck driver, plumber, whatever happens
to be down the street. He decided that we needed
to have a baseball program for kids. So there was
a field THEREC Department had, but there was no leagues.
(02:36):
They didn't do anything about it. They just let somebody
lease a field. And that's what happened in this case
that so many communities have what I call Billy Jones.
It's father to go out and they get lease direct,
you know, to rent the field, and then all these
(02:56):
people sign up. So now here you have with baseball, football,
and soccer to a great degree, people leasing fields. But
then all of a sudden comes along travel teams. And
then you got these guys that walk in that are
ex soccer players that profess to be professional teachers and organizers.
(03:18):
They haven't had any experience in that, but they go
in and do it anyway. They go into the rec
Department and say, I tell you what, we want to
lease those fields that you're given to these rec leagues,
and we're going to pay you money for that. And
you know where the money's coming from. We're gonna charge
a little bit of a fee to these people. I
(03:40):
have a friend of mine who told me that last
year it costs she and her family fifteen thousand dollars
for them to do travel teams. They traveled here, there
and everywhere, And the whole idea, as you guess, is
that it's based on competition and getting our kids, you know,
(04:03):
to the next level. That's the thing that's so weird
about it. That they can get to the next level.
They think because they are elite players, and I'm not
going to let marry Inn and Billy or Tommy or
whoever it is who has all this talent be wasted.
So they go to the tribal teams, never realizing that
(04:26):
they're going to spend all this money that they could
have saved up and paid for a college tuition because
they thought it was going to be definitely a scholarship.
So a small number, small number of loose kids that
go out there and to get on you know, tribal
(04:47):
teams ever make it. So that's another area that I
think needs to be addressed. And who knows what will
ever happen with those poor kids in the neighborhood who
can't afford all of that to be able to go
out and travel and hopefully they'll get back on the
(05:07):
field somehow that people in the communities will say, hey, yeah,
we need to get those kids back out there. Here's
another topic I'd like to say that, and then it's
kind of harsh when I tell you. But that's why
I think that you sports for kids below the age
of twelve probably is a farce. Yeah, it's a farce.
(05:33):
Why do I say that, because let me tell you.
You can get a seven year old child. Let's say
it's a kid boy seven years old. Did you ever
stop to think that there are early matures and late
matures and the early mature. You can have a seven
(05:54):
year old and that seven year old can be a
late mature and yes, what he can have the body,
strength and everything else that goes with a four year old.
So you're look at his seven year old, would mean
he's really small, doesn't have the skills, and he's playing
(06:15):
against you know a kid that is seven that is
now four years Oh so he's eleven years old, but
he's still seven years old, but he's got a body
of an eleven year old. So he got an eleven
year old playing against a four year old. Now think
of that when you're thinking you got kids playing hockey
(06:40):
or football or size makes a difference. So you got
a kid out there playing football and yeah, they do
weights and because they say, oh well if this kid
waits too much, but you still think about it. You've
got a seven year old that looks like a twelve
(07:01):
year old and they stick him in the position. They say, wow,
this kid's got to be good for our team because
look how he is. And then the poor little kid
that is elite, but you're it's ain't even going to
get on the team. But yet they're both seven years old.
So it becomes a farce. And even in baseball, you know,
(07:22):
you can look at the World Series, a little League
World Series, try to be crazy. So the times I've
seen times where a twelve year old was six foot one,
think about that six foot one being twelve years old
just because you're an early mature And so it becomes,
(07:43):
like I say, it comes really a farce and you
figure it out because I can't. Here's another thing, well,
I asked a question, do you think the guy a
father or a mother to coach your own kids. That's
(08:05):
a good question because here's what happens all across the
country when parents sign their kids up. The scenarios like this.
They go in to where they're signing up and they say, okay,
sign on the line here, yep, I hold your son
(08:27):
I order your daughter, thank you, I'll get done. That
line over to your right. What's that line over there, Well,
that's where you sign up to be a coach. Well,
I don't know anything about coaching. I just want my
kid to learn to play baseball, and I want him
(08:47):
out there and see how good he is. Well, guess what, sir,
your kid isn't going to play unless you coach. So
there he goes, he's over that line, ex giving me
this allergy season are in Florida. So he is over
(09:08):
in that line and he signs up and they tell
him to come out, and all of a sudden he
comes out and says, I don't know what to do,
and he kind of learns of as a baseball coach.
He can just go sit and hide and hide the
dugout and watching the game go on. He don't know
(09:29):
a strategy or anything, except one of the things that
he does know is out in the right field there's
a big scoreboard, and that scoreboard now says your team
is now losing four to three, and the umpire just
calls a strike three on one of your star players,
(09:50):
and you know that it wasn't a stripe, So now
you go running out there screaming and honoring and acting
like an idiot, and then umpire throws you out of
the game, and you're the president of the bank, and
everybody it's sitting in the stands and saying, hey, there's
Tom Jackson, the president of the bank. He just got
(10:12):
thrown out of a game because arguing with the umpire
about whether it was a strike ball because this kid
was at bat. Yeah, that's a scenario. You know, That's
what happens. And so across the country, that's what we have.
Are hundreds and thousands of examples going on right now,
(10:34):
and right now is getting ready for the All Star Games,
the Championships, World Series, and everybody's nervous. I remember when
I was a recreation director and it got to the
beginning and let's say we're still talking baseball, got the
(10:57):
beginning of the Seeds and everybody said, oh, this is great.
People talking about coaches and parents losing perspective in screaming
and hollering. Nobody did that. You know why, because there
are in any standings. There was nobody there saying, oh,
what place's your team in and how does your team look?
(11:20):
You don't care because you don't know you're just there
because that guy down there said go over and sign
up on that line over there to be the coach.
So now season goes on, one game, two games, three games.
Everything's moving along until now it's near the end of
(11:42):
the season and your team's in second place. Now when
the emotions arise. I have seen and I've heard so
many stories in my experience as a recreation professional as
a father of seven kids that played. I heard you
(12:02):
say what he says, he has seven kids, give me
and my wife. I had seven kids. Every one of
them played one kind of sport or the other, and
every single one of them I have one kind of
a problem or another. I always tell the story. Can
you imagine this? My daughter softball team, their coach at
the end of the season. That coach told the players,
(12:27):
are you ready for this to go into the drug
store and steal so for me did and you know what,
he got off with it and he was still coaching.
Don't ask me how they let this kind of thing
go vibe, but that's how it happens in a few sports.
So here we go with kids. Let me see whether
(12:51):
another thing is all star teams mentioning all star teams
are All Star teams really important? Now? You know? Because
what happens? Who do you think gets on the All
Star teams? Now the under season going on, it's time
(13:14):
for reflecting the All Star teams. And what happens is
you never remember that coach Billy's father. Yeah he's the coach,
and so it gets who he signs up to be
on the All Star team. Well, Billy has been sitting
(13:36):
on the bench. You know. They got into three games
and in the two games he fumbled the ball across
the team a win. But his father nominates him for
the All Star team. So all hell breaks loose, parents
screaming he can't do that. You know why? He justifies it.
(14:00):
He says, Look, I've been out here doing this all
year long. I got to be at the bank running
the bank and like a rush home, go out there
with these kids, and nah, I'm not no, no, Billy,
He's only All Star team. So that's when I all
(14:22):
Star teams become such a force in so many cases
because so much argument. So I get to my last
episode before hopefully I have time for my friend Ross
to come in to do our next segment, which is
(14:43):
a new segment. But before I do. Let me go
through one more time with some of the original listeners
that ask the question why does Johnny hate sports? Johnny
hates sports because at six years old, his father or
(15:04):
his mother says, well, everybody down the street is signing
their kids up for Little leig So Johnny, you're going
to play Little League baseball this year, or it could
be football or soccer or whatever. And Johnny doesn't know
whether he wants to play or not. He just says, yeah,
(15:27):
I guess so if Charlie and whoever else, if my
friends are playing, I guess I'll go out and play.
So that's the first thing that happens. I really apologize
for this allergy deal I got. But so Johnny goes
(15:48):
out there. He doesn't want to play baseball. Did you
ever stop to think if it was your kid. He
really likes drama, wants to being a play in school,
likes music, wants to play music. Nobody ever told him
he wants to play sports, except his mother or father.
(16:08):
You're gonna play sports. So he gets out there and
he's one of those kids that don't have the skills
to be able to catch and through and cake an
hit and all of that. So that's what happens, and
that's why he hates sports. The other thing is, like
(16:29):
I mentioned, he goes out there and his dad's a coach,
or he's got another coach, isn't his dad? And his
dad says, oh, let's see, I'll coach, and like I
said before, he loses his own perspective of what it's
(16:49):
all about and he starts screaming at his kid, screaming
at the umpire, screaming of people in the stands, And
so Johnny doesn't like it because he's prus to death.
And the last thing is the league's sign up. These
are all a group of people, Like I say, they
give you a psychiatrist, they could be a dishwasher or
(17:12):
plumber truck forever. They all make up the board of
directors of this this volunteer league that they organize, and
the only thing they got in mind is somebody's got
to win the championship. We're gonna have a scoreboards and
standings and all star teams, and Johnny wants no part
of that. And that's why Johnny ates sports. So we're
(17:36):
going to cut here right now for I think whatever
our engineer at one's got next on the list. We're
going to go to that, hopefully.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
In this best selling book, a child, while failing to
live up to his father's expectations, is shamed and humiliated
beyond belief. He vows to never allow his own son
to face the same.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Well, we've decided to start a new feature, and maybe
in today is a good time to do it because
I can't talk, and the new feature is. People kept saying, hey,
the book that he wrote is called Billy Jones's Father,
What is that all about? And I thought, you know
(18:26):
what I've seen people, I've done it byself, a riding
a car, and I listened to these things, you know,
the greatest Crimes in America and whatever stories, and I thought, yeah,
maybe somebody would like to hear a different chapter at
a time of the book. So let me start with
doing the first part of the book, and we'll play
it a little bit each week, and you can hear
(18:49):
and then you find out as the story goes on. Now,
this story starts with my friend Sarah. They're out in
Texas because a lot of problems. They decide that they're
gonna move to North Carolina. So one if we could
turn on maybe we could let the listers. Hear what
happens in the first chapter of Billy Jones's Father.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Oh my Lord, Dad, Sarah cried out in her Texas
drawl as the sign saying welcome to North Carolina appeared.
This shore isn't Texas. Breathing in the fresh smell of
thousands of azaleas and rhododendrons with their spicy clove odor
lining the highway, she couldn't contain herself. I think I'm
already beginning to like North Carolina. In the distance, mountain
(19:38):
after mountain, looking like an ocean filled with hurricane sized waves,
welcomed the Tobins to their new home. We're in Carolina,
an over excited Jeff, saying out get that, James Taylor
CD Sarah, I want to hear Carolina in my mind.
As soon as the song came on, the family of
three began to join along, sounding like a bunch of
teenagers on their way to the beach, while drowning out
(20:00):
poor James Taylor with their exuberance. Those are the Blue
Ridge Mountains, aren't they, Dad asked Sarah. Other than when
she went off to college, Sarah had never been too
far from home. They sure are, kid, Jeff said, as
his wife Amanda sat full of thought about what lay ahead.
She was excited about her new life and wondered what
kind of impact she could have on a small town
(20:23):
like Torret Hills as a child psychologist. No sooner had
they rounded a hill that had blocked the late afternoon
sun shining in their eyes, a sign popped up saying
exit twenty four to Torret Hills. While taking the exit,
a sky high, drone like vision of small town America
lay in the distant valley. Below a water tank with
(20:44):
big black letters saying welcome to Torret Hills. Urged Sarah
to say so loud that the folks in town could
probably hear her. We made it. They had reached their
new hometown, and welcoming them were gigantic red maple trees
waving like blankets in the breeze. Torret Hills was a
typical small town in North Carolina, with a population of
(21:06):
twenty four thousand, most of whom worked in the tobacco industry.
Jeff had been hired by the national medical firm First
Med as their local representative physician for the town. Three
Sarah look for twenty six Brentwood Street on your cell phone.
That's the address of our new home, Jeff said, and
excited Amanda eye the colonial style homes when Sarah yelled,
(21:28):
out there it is dad. Sure enough. Right in the
middle of Brentwood Street stood a two story home covered
with ivy. It didn't take long before the three unpacked
their initial belongings and began to settle into their new home.
On their first Monday in town, Jeff left early to
visit his new office at first med Amanda, anxious to
(21:49):
begin her journey as the town's only child psychologist, scoured
the office space ads in the Torret Hills Times. As
for Sarah, she sought to seek out the local recreation
apartment for any employment available. It didn't take long she
could see the sign above the recreation facility, a mere
block from her house, saying torrit Hills Parks and Recreation.
(22:11):
Sarah wasn't one to waste time. She dressed and was
almost out the door when Amanda said, Wow, you're not
even going to eat breakfast before you go. No time
for that, mom, Sarah answered, A stitch in time saves nine.
Walking in the recreation front door, Sarah was met with
a voice sounding more like Scarlett O'Hara than scarlet herself.
(22:32):
Good morning, ma'am, said the voice, reminding Sarah that she
was in the south. Good morning to you, Sarah replied,
I just moved in from out of town, Texas, to
be exact, I was wondering if there might be any
employment openings. Just then, around the corner came a lady
who looked to be in her mid thirties, dressed like
she was about to enter a hog tying event. Hey there,
(22:54):
I'm Emma Stewart. I couldn't help but overhear that you're
looking for employment. Come at the right time if you
have the right credentials. I do, Sarah said, as she
grabbed a resume from her backpack. Well great, Emma said,
as she glanced at Sarah's resume. Why don't you come
to my office and have a little chat about what's available.
Feeling enthused, Sarah sat down in Emma's office and glanced
(23:18):
at the number of trophies strewn about. Wow, there must
be a big event going on with all these trophies,
Sarah said, four. You're looking at a small number of
trophies that we will be giving out this year, trophies
for every sport you can imagine. We give them to
kids in the three to the five year old division
up to the sixteen to eighteen year olds. This town
(23:38):
is crazy about sports. Well, it sounds like I came
to the right town. My background is in sports, Sarah said.
Looking through Sarah's resume, Emma's eyebrows raised as she noticed
the number of awards Sarah had gained playing all sports.
You certainly are qualified, especially with the degree you got
in recreation, Emma said. I need an assistant to cover
(24:01):
a lot of details that are getting overwhelming for me.
That is, if you're interested. Absolutely, Sarah replied, while almost
coming out of her seat. I'm ready to start whenever
you want. Well, it's Friday. How about we start on Monday,
Emma noted with a smile. Great, Sarah answered, as if
she had just won the state lottery.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, there you have the first episode and the first
chapter of Ty Jones's Father, and I can't wait for
you to listen to the next part because what Sarah
runs into is Billy Jones's father. You're gonna like this character.
(24:47):
He's something else. So all right, So, as I started
out the early part of the show, today is not
one of those days. My car broke down. Yesterday I
had a guest that didn't show up for the first session.
(25:08):
My internet broke down. That's why I would use my
cell phone. And now I'm hoping that my friend Ross
is going to be on. It's doomsday and I don't
know what. Oh, I know why. Today's Friday the thirteenth.
I never thought of it. Yeah, I'll use that as
(25:30):
an excuse. So nobody's there, my guest and my special
guests for extra innings. Ross, No, he's not here either.
I don't know what happened, but something serious happened, So
I guess we're going to have to close out one
and finish up the end of it.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
This program is sponsored by sir Der Publishing in the
interest for better sports for kids, Better kids for life.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.