Baby-head
Baby-head,
that is what we used to call them. Them
being those kids where winning was all important and who would do anything to
win.
Play a
friendly game of pick-up basketball, and the Baby-head argued every play. Without baby-heads, kids self-refereed. If you clearly double dribbled, walked or
hacked another player you called it on yourself.
“Yeah, yeah, steps, my bad.”
“Sorry, my foul, I hacked you.”
Granted the walk
had to be obvious and the hack was never ticky-tack, but we still called them
on ourselves.
The
baby-heads called them on others. They
called close infractions, ticky-tack fouls, and they argued forever. Much of the time players just gave in to the Baby-head.
These were games that would not be
reported on in the paper, these were games to twenty and then choose sides for
a new game. We tended to just let Baby-head
have his way…who really cared.
In a neighborhood
baseball game, on a close play, there was an unwritten rule, “Tie goes to the runner.” With Baby-head it was never a tie. “I beat the throw, no tie!” Or “You were out, no tie.”
Baby-head
knew all the rules and would use them and nit-pick when ever it helped him
win. Sometimes he would make up a rule,
or argue the interpretation of a rule. He
did this especially in baseball where so many different variables could happen
on any play.
If someone
batted out of order, Baby-head would wait for the at-bat result before deciding
to call the infraction or not. If he
thought someone missed a base or his foot came off the bag, Baby-head was there
to argue.
Who would try
the hidden baseball trick? Baby-head.
Who had a receiver
loiter by the sideline like he wasn’t in the football game only to sprint for an
undefended TD pass? Baby-head.
Most kids didn’t
pay that much attention to the score.
Baby-head did, he kept score and he had a selected memory which was
always in his favor.
If you were
a kid growing up playing neighborhood pick-up games, you know who Baby-head
was. Every neighborhood had a Baby-head. The guy that threatened to leave with the
only ball or bat if he didn’t get his way…that’s right, Baby-head!
I suppose
eventually these Baby-heads grew up. I wonder
what became of them.
No need to wonder what happened to them. Just give a bit of thought and see how many adults act the same way.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'll give you your desired answer: They did indeed grow up, split into teams...let's call them, oh, I dunno, Democrats and Republicans...and moved to Washington, DC, where they take turns seeing who could be the biggest baby-heads. :)
ReplyDeleteGood answer!
DeleteYou know what happened to them, and we don't like them any better today than we did then.
ReplyDeleteAnd my attitude is if baby-heads want to go home for not getting their way, let them!
No comment. Don't want to get myself into trouble or appear to be a baby-head.
ReplyDeleteI think most grown-up baby-heads spend the majority of their time attending high school sporting events.
ReplyDeleteThey really can ruin a fun day can't they. I have to admit my favorite player from years ago, Mike Lowell, did the hidden ball trick,twice. At the time I was delighted but I guess it wasn't too sportsmanlike. I still like him though.
ReplyDeleteYep. We had one.
ReplyDeleteThey grew up to be CEO's of big corporations, or even worse, politicians!!
ReplyDeleteThe guys I played pickup games with didn't call fouls on ourselves; the general rule was 'no autopsy, no foul'. But there were one or two guys who'd call a foul whenever the amazing move they planned didn't work out like they wanted it to, whether they got touched or not. . .
ReplyDeleteHeh. . . what Lowandslow said. . .