Baseball & Pinewood Derby

Today was a busy day for Jacob and I.  It was the opening day for baseball here.  Jacob is back playing for the first time in three years.  I'm the assistant coach.  His coach, Mark, was his basketball coach as well. 

This year is the 50th year of the Bangkok Baseball Softball Association running a baseball league in Thailand.  They kind of make a big deal about opening day here, and not just because this was the 50th year.  They had a ceremony at 11:30 where they announce all the teams.  The U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, Eric John, threw out the first pitch.  In the past he's given speeches, but not this year.  Then they had hot dogs, Gatorade and chips for the kids and coaches.  It was nice.

Jacob's baseball game began at 1:00.  Jacob got hits his first two times at bat.  The first time I was a bit worried that he was going to strike out.  He had four strikes (they get 5) when the coach adjusted the pitching machine because it was pitching too high.   I had to cut out at 1:50 because the other thing that was going on was the Pinewood Derby.

I was the announcer for this year's Pinewood Derby.  In addition to racing their derby cars, officers from the U.S. Army did uniform inspections for the scouts.  It was really nice that they came dressed in their own dress uniforms to show the boys how it should be done.  Jacob had one point deducted because he was missing the slider for his kerchief. 

Jacob did well in the race itself.  He finished first in his den.  The winner from each of the dens (total of 8) raced in the finals.  Jacob placed 4th I believe. 

Not everyone was pleased that the finals were comprised of the winners from the dens.  Someone approached me and asked if it would be the den winners or the people with the 8 fastest times.  She didn't seem happy when I said that it was the den winners.  She explained that her son placed second in the den, but his time was faster than any other winner besides the one from her den.  I just smiled and said "that's how we do it."  She certainly wasn't pleased.  I saw her have the same conversation with at least 4 or 5 people, including the pack master.  My guess is that she had that conversation with many people, and while she may not have used the term "unfair", it was certainly implied. 

Would it be better to take the top 8 times?  Maybe. I'm not sure why our pack does it the way we do; perhaps tradition, ease, or some limitations on the older software we use.  Truthfully, I don't care; its not really a big deal.