"Baseball Dads" - the reality TV show... Would it work?

[Ursa Major]

This one is just for fun. Thanks to the "Showcase Daddy" thread and the follow-up from Ctheusa and Clayadams, the thought of what would go into a "Baseball Dads" reality TV show (a la "Dance Moms") has been circulating in my pea brain. They brought this up as follows:

Originally Posted by clayadams

I'm still in for a reality TV show. This stuff is great. Dance Moms... MOOOOVE OVER, we've got baseball dads.

I have said this for years, some one should pitch the idea. All the antics I have seen with parents in youth sports,it would make a great reality show. should be on ESPN....

It would be tempting. The value is (a) you get Dads getting equal time as against the 'Dance Moms', (b) Dads are funnier because they're used to suppressing their emotions - they may go twenty years without showing emotions to their wives but get wrought up twice a week at their kids' games, and (c) you have the involvement of spouses - from what I've seen the fathers in the "Moms" reality shows are wimps who just stay out of the way to avoid getting run over by the Mom juggernauts, whereas baseball moms are usually either (i) the voices of reason telling the fathers to calm down, or (ii) even more zealous than the dads. (And, unlike Dance Moms, you have the element of danger - ever seen the reaction of a mom who thinks her kid is being thrown at intentionally?)

The problem with such a reality show would be the problem with baseball - you never know when a kid (other than a pitcher) is going to have his moment. A camera can know that the penultimate moment of the week for a dancer or beauty show contestant will be the 90 seconds she'll be on stage. In baseball, a kid may go 1-for-3 and have one grounder hit to him, so what does that say about how the kid did? And, unless you have a camera focused on a kid for two hours, it's hard to know when a ball will be hit to him or her in the field. (Yeah, it could be a her... That would make a great premise - the politically correct liberal Dads wanting to make sure the boys didn't dis her versus the crusty conservatives who feel that she doesn't belong on the field.

Anyway, anyone have archetypes/stories/thoughts/premises/anecdotes that could go into such a show?

[omg]

Ha ha. Just remember to give me my 10% and also a 2% finder fee for "discovering" you know who.

[Jake Patterson]

This one is just for fun. Thanks to the "Showcase Daddy" thread and the follow-up from Ctheusa and Clayadams, the thought of what would go into a "Baseball Dads" reality TV show (a la "Dance Moms") has been circulating in my pea brain. They brought this up as follows:



It would be tempting. The value is (a) you get Dads getting equal time as against the 'Dance Moms', (b) Dads are funnier because they're used to suppressing their emotions - they may go twenty years without showing emotions to their wives but get wrought up twice a week at their kids' games, and (c) you have the involvement of spouses - from what I've seen the fathers in the "Moms" reality shows are wimps who just stay out of the way to avoid getting run over by the Mom juggernauts, whereas baseball moms are usually either (i) the voices of reason telling the fathers to calm down, or (ii) even more zealous than the dads. (And, unlike Dance Moms, you have the element of danger - ever seen the reaction of a mom who thinks her kid is being thrown at intentionally?)

The problem with such a reality show would be the problem with baseball - you never know when a kid (other than a pitcher) is going to have his moment. A camera can know that the penultimate moment of the week for a dancer or beauty show contestant will be the 90 seconds she'll be on stage. In baseball, a kid may go 1-for-3 and have one grounder hit to him, so what does that say about how the kid did? And, unless you have a camera focused on a kid for two hours, it's hard to know when a ball will be hit to him or her in the field. (Yeah, it could be a her... That would make a great premise - the politically correct liberal Dads wanting to make sure the boys didn't dis her versus the crusty conservatives who feel that she doesn't belong on the field.

Anyway, anyone have archetypes/stories/thoughts/premises/anecdotes that could go into such a show?

Very interesting thoughts!!

On some level it would be fun to produce and watch....

But I can't help thinking that the more we watch the "Dance Mom's," the Kardashians, "Baseball Dads,"and every other show that glorifies the worse of our society the more we validate the behavior.

OK - sorry for taking a serious turn....

[ctheusa]

new dad and son to team last season 14u, couple months of indoor training couple weeks on the dirt then first tourney first game, kids batting in the 7 hole.Dad approaches coach as game is getting ready to start and wants to know why his son is batting seven. All before a pitch has been thrown.Just the begining of his antics for the year. tune in next week when Daddy blows a cork because Johny didnt start a game.

[tg643]

There is very little reality about reality shows. What ever end result the director wants is how he will tell the people to act. A friend's son was on a reality show. He's a good kid. They told him to act more arrogant or they would replace him.

[cps]

Ha ha. Just remember to give me my 10% and also a 2% finder fee for "discovering" you know who.

But “you know who” will want to develop his own storyline and write his own script…..but wait, this will be a reality TV show. Never mind.

[CircleChange11]

I wouldn't support the show because of the effect it might have on kids. Kids don't need their young learning experiences broadcasted on national TV (my main objection of the LLWS), and they surely don't need their personal relationship with their dad (good or bad) exploited for profit.

I recall one game where my dad was ejected for how he was yelling at me during a mound visit. No kid deserves to have that recorded and played nationally. In order to be a popular show it would need to have extreme personalities, and the ones that would suffer would be the kids and the rest of the families.

I always thought reality TV was something for people to do when they got tired of gossiping. In regards to reality TV, I choose reality over TV. I'd rather take my boys to the diamonds than watch Baseball dads.

Being a dad and coach is hard enough. Trying to keep the roles separate and the emotions in check, without having a camera following you around adding additional pressure.

[The Flush]

I haven't looked for the thread, but I also suggested this show concept a while back. As entertaining as I think it would be, I can't see it be very successful.

[TexAg]

I haven't looked for the thread, but I also suggested this show concept a while back. As entertaining as I think it would be, I can't see it be very successful.

Agree. I don't think Dads, or males in general, are the target audiences for these types of reality shows and this one won't attract the female audience.

[CircleChange11]

If it were going to be a show, I'd prefer to see a variety of dads ...

a dad of a major leaguer - their relationship and how its changed over the years
a dad of a minor leaguer trying to make it to the next level - how stressful it can be for both son and dad; kid may get homesick
a major league player as a dad - trying to be there for his family, but always away or distracted.
a dad of a HS player - maybe even father as coach of son, maybe even dad is coach, son is catcher (Oooh boy), where both are of the age that they can vocalize the challenge of separating dad/son and coach/player, and lessons learned together throughout the years.
a dad of a youth player

finally ...

a dad of a t-baller.

I may change my view on this based on how it is done. It might be very interesting to see how the dad/son relationship dynamic changes (if at all) as the player progress and matures. I still think it's interesting that a major league player will call his dad sometimes to find out what he's doing wrong or to ask for advice.

Don;t rule out women viewers out of hand, moms tune in to watch boys. Watching boys and their dads might be more interesting to women than men. I'm guessing there are lots of female viewers to Friday Night Lights?

[JJA]

Agree. I don't think Dads, or males in general, are the target audiences for these types of reality shows and this one won't attract the female audience.

Not so sure about that. Sons of Guns is a pretty popular reality show and being about gun building isn't exactly female territory in theory, but a lot of females love the show. It's all about how the show is put forth.

I absolutely believe a show like this could be popular. There are enough different angles I could forsee occurring that it could last for a few years I imagine.

[TexAg]

Not so sure about that. Sons of Guns is a pretty popular reality show and being about gun building isn't exactly female territory in theory, but a lot of females love the show. It's all about how the show is put forth.

I absolutely believe a show like this could be popular. There are enough different angles I could forsee occurring that it could last for a few years I imagine.

You're right. I don't watch much TV, so I was strictly thinking of the Dance Moms/Real Housewives/Bachelor type of shows since that's what my wife watches.

[clayadams]

Of course it could be successful. You have cameras following a known team with troublesome parents. In typical (fake) reality TV, there would be some extra hamming it up for the cameras. Coming from the 9u level, I've seen plenty of teams with a few horrid moms and dads. Ours has been pretty good so far. Dare I say, it's the travel ball moms that are bad. Get a group of women together and LOOK OUT!

[Jake Patterson]

Of course it could be successful. You have cameras following a known team with troublesome parents. In typical (fake) reality TV, there would be some extra hamming it up for the cameras. Coming from the 9u level, I've seen plenty of teams with a few horrid moms and dads. Ours has been pretty good so far. Dare I say, it's the travel ball moms that are bad. Get a group of women together and LOOK OUT!

How about "Baseball GRANDdads!" Check this story out. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highsc...150350150.html

[CircleChange11]

Of course it could be successful. You have cameras following a known team with troublesome parents. In typical (fake) reality TV, there would be some extra hamming it up for the cameras. Coming from the 9u level, I've seen plenty of teams with a few horrid moms and dads. Ours has been pretty good so far. Dare I say, it's the travel ball moms that are bad. Get a group of women together and LOOK OUT!

Last night we watched the 30 for 30 documentary of Kirkland, WA LL team featuring Cody Webster ... the 1982 team that beat Taiwan.

Cody was launched into superstardom.

The following years as he played and teams geared up to beat the "Great Cody Webster", the parents of other teams were all over him calling him "Fat Boy", "Fat Mother F---er", "Fat Piece of S---" and things of that nature, to a kid that was already sensitive about his weight/size.

He left baseball the following year, came back, left again. Played 1 year of college and quit.

When his teammates, as grown men, were interviewed about how adults treated Cody a couple of them teared up thinking about how much abuse a 12-13yo kid took from adults just being really, rally, good and a little overweight.

As he put it "turns out I was really good at 12, and not that great at 18." and he was fine with that. It was the adults that weren't.

----------------------------------------------

The guys that coached the little league team quit their jobs so the team could practice all year long. They practiced 3 hours a day and 8 hours on Saturdays.

----------------------------------------------

I remember seeing something similar with dads quitting their jobs and excessive/extreme hour practice throughout the year in a documentary about Tom's River, NJ (IIRC) and the LLWS.

This is what I recall when people are complaining about how bazaar and excessive travel ball parents are. The parents are the same when the kid is in LL, just no one outside of their town sees it.