The Foul Ball Heard Around The World

Last week, all media outlets extensively depicted the infamous incident where a three year old burst into tears while attending a Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees baseball game due to a failed attempt at catching a foul ball. A couple sitting next to the kid caught the ball, and the whole drama started. With their excitement, the couple was unaware of the crying toddler so they did not hand the ball over to the kid but rather celebrated their catch. Today, we also know that they actually have seven children, so why would they even hand the ball over as opposed to bring it home for one of their own kids. Based on some news reports, the kid parents were also fine with the couple not handing over the ball. That should had been the end of the story, but the negative reaction of the Yankees announcing team, most baseball fans in the stadium, and fans watching the game at home developed into a vicious attacked against the couple who unaware of it all, were still celebrating their catch.

The foul ball heard around the world.

As the kid cried on national television, we had to endure two sports announcers going over and over on what now has become their most unprofessional and unfounded attack against the couple. The sport announcers went in a rant of why the couple had to hand over the ball, which at times, even seemed as fueled by hate or a personal vendetta. The announcers rallied the fans, and the fans immediately took their disapproval of the couple’s action to social media and they were condemned.  As the whole drama unfolded, I wondered if this was actually people caring for the kid because he was crying or about parents that usually feel a sense of entitlement where the entire world must submit to every command their kid has.  I am going on a limb here and will candidly say that I am certain is the later. Seriously, when did the trend started where we are supposed to educate children  under the premise that if they do a little crying or whining, they will certainly get what they want and a lot more?  Worst of all, when did it became acceptable for the entire World to be submitted to a parents failed attempt in educating their kids? You might think I am rambling now, but as I write these lines, there is new movement spreading through the United States where some restaurants are getting hundreds, and sometimes thousands of requests, to ban the admission of kids. Restaurants as the famous McDain’s in Monroeville Pennsylvania have implemented a no kids under six allowed policy. You can search on the internet for hotels that do not allow kids and you will be surprised at how many hits you will get. This month Malaysia Airlines announced that they would be restricting children in their most demanding zones.  

This is not an uprising against children around the World. This is certainly an uprising against irresponsible parents. Parents who cannot teach manners to their kids but then feel that we all have to share the responsibility of their failures. We are exposed to these lousy parents every day, and I even have some emotional scars to show:  

• As the time I was at a midnight showing in a movie theater when all of a sudden, and to everyone’s surprise, a baby started crying. The mother blatantly refused to leave the theater spoiling the entire movie for all of us.
• Last week, very early in the morning, when I was on a train to Philadelphia and a kid sitting two rows away decided to watch his DVD’s without any headphones sharing with everyone his extremely loud cartoons. When another passenger gently approached the mother to ask her if she could lower the volume on the DVD player, she was verbally insulted.
• The kid who in a restaurant decided to play with his action figure by throwing it up in the air while his parents when about their business. As we all watched in expectation, the toy ended hitting a man dining on a table nearby. When the man politely asked the kid to stop throwing the toy, we were shocked with the father’s immediate burst and call to action: “Hey, don’t tell my kid what to do!”

I could go on with similar scenarios, and I am sure you could share a lot more, but if you read these situations and you could not find anything wrong with them, maybe you should ask yourself if you are part of the problem. The problem exposed with that foul ball was not a greedy couple who would not give the ball to a crying kid. The problem was not a spoiled crying kid. The real problem was the sports announcers and the fans loudly crying foul because down in their core, they might actually be Spoiled Brat Parents.