Put me in, coach!

Oh, put me in, Coach -
I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach -
I'm ready to play today;
Look at me,
I can be Centerfield.
--- John Fogerty, Centerfield

At our game Saturday, I laughed out loud on two occasions. At one point, probably the largest (weight-wise) 8-year-old I've ever seen was on the other team. This child was jolly, if you get my drift. He was a riot, too. I pitch to our boys on the coach-pitch team, so I'm in the field with the opponent's defense. At one point, I had retrieved a ball that went short and turned to return to the pitcher's mound and saw the other team's centerfielder lying in grass with his glove off and one shoe off. I had to stop laughing and turn to the other dugout to yell at the coach that his centerfielder was Shoeless Joe and gloveless Joe, too. The umpire looks at me (dead serious) and says, don't worry about it, he's been like that the whole game. Keep playing.

Then, later, the little guy playing catcher had an enormous shirt on and the ball I pitched actually went into the back of his jersey, entering his shirt through the arm hole under his armpit. This time, I almost couldn't stop laughing. It was just so funny to watch his coach walk over and reach his hand down the kid's shirt to retrieve the ball.

Occasionally, I find joy in coaching. Now, my soccer team of 4- to 6-year-olds may be another story.