Winning or whining?

Winning or whining?

Lou Piniella’s recent outburst reminded me of a discussion my father had with me when I was young and complaining about everything from balls and strikes to being safe or out in close plays on the base paths.

My father said to me, “ Son, if you’re going to get a hit then do it in such a way that NO ONE can doubt what you have just accomplished. Hit a clean line drive, out run the throw to first by several steps, never leave your efforts up to the judgment of another person, do your job well enough so that SOMEONE ELSE DOES’NT HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION on the outcome of your play!
When you stand at the plate and let a pitch go by, you no longer have control of the outcome of the play, but have to resign yourself to decision of another individual! If you leave it up to someone else, accept their decision because you have just placed your fate in their hands.
IF THAT BALL IS ANYWHERE WHERE YOU CAN GET YOUR BAT ON THE BALL KNOW HOW TO HIT IT! Most pitched balls can be hit by a batter who knows what the hell their doing, looking to an umpire to decide your fate is almost as bad as handing the ump your bat and saying, “here, do it for me“.
“When I played semi-pro ball son, and there was a close play at first, even if I thought I was safe (when being called out) I walked back to the dugout with the thought that I can do better than that. If the play was THAT CLOSE that the UMP had to make a bang-bang decision, then I didn’t want it.
I was only satisfied with efforts that clearly showed what I was capable of doing! When you see a ballplayer running to an Umpire to complain about a decision, I want you to picture yourself running to your mommy crying and whining, because that is just what your doing!! It’s pathetic when someone cries and complains to another individual, when in fact, if that person had accomplished what they set out to do and did it well, they wouldn’t have anything to complain about in the first place!
Same thing applies to pitching. If you’re a pitcher needing to get someone out take it to them! If your going to rely on the umpire to call those corner nipping strikes you’re going to have some long innings!
If you can’t throw strikes over the plate without getting the hell pounded out of you then you need to find another position to play. Good pitchers can get hitters to miss balls that are pitched right over the plate. Changing speeds and angles can give a batter fits! If you are a confident pitcher YOU GO AFTER THE HITTERS, you don’t RUN AWAY FROM THEM! Most of all, you cannot rely on mama umpire to make the calls for you! Get in there and PUNCH THEM OUT!!!
This philosophy applies to all sports.
TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU ACCOMPLISH, if you put an honest effort into what you do and have pride in HOW YOU ACCOMPLISH THINGS you will NEVER have a bad call to deal with in your life!! Umpires are human beings and have a job to do; their job is to decide the outcome of a play when the people involved in it aren’t able to clearly show who deserves to receive the benefits of the play just completed .
BOXERS have a sense of what needs to be done when it comes to going into an opponent’s hometown for a fight. You better beat the crap out of your opponent if you’re going to win, leave it to the judges and you might as well play the lottery.
TAKE YOUR GAME AND YOUR FAITH INTO YOUR OWN HANDS.
DON’T LET SOMEONE ELSE DECIDE THE OUTCOME OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS!
TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR EFFORTS AND WORKMANSHIP.
MOST OF ALL DON’T COMPLAIN WHEN YOU LEAVE IT UP TO SOMEONE ELSE TO DECIDE THE ‘RESULTS’ OF YOUR OWN EFFORTS!!
YOU TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE, YOUR GAME, AND YOUR SITUATION.
And NEVER COMPLAIN when you leave it up to someone else, when you had the chance to DO IT YOURSELF!