I shit you not…my son has never played on a professional basketball team but he went up against Vito (2 yrs at Syracuse)…an Itallian white kid who is an adept ball handler and an even better shot maker…even from the perimiter…

David held his own…it was a push…this Vito, who I assume is a good kid, is 24 and spent 2 years under Syracuse’ jurisprudence….David still held him at a push….and he is merely 16!!!

Me being the father that I am, I am like…”Stick his ass Vito!!”…but it didnt happen.

My son never ceases to amaze me…

My name? The lawnmower!

…I already mentioned it sir.

What happened with Dave was a freak thing.

He did screw up….once…

Thanks for the link on the rotator cuff…I need that myself.

Sounds like he could be a track star, as well. Or a defensive back, with that speed.

I have coached him since was a tot…he has been switch hitting since he was 3 yrs old…he should have an early release for time served after growing up with me.

I know about the curveball thing..trust me. I am all about pitching mechanics. The one thing I tried to instill in him was to throw the fastball…and LOCATE the fastball. Every pitch you throw comes in relation and contrast to the fastball…and how well you can locate.

Just like real-estate…location, location…and I forget the 3rd word.

When I was coaching I always had my boys loosen’ up with regular exercises to actually help the rotator cuff. They are simple exercises…but as a coach you also need to keep kids at pitch counts relative to their age.

What happened with Dave was a freak thing. I didnt even know he was throwing and he came in and described what he felt and it terrified me.

…if he was a horse, I would just take him out back and shoot him….but since he is my son…damn, I’ll just have to think about it some more.

One other thing concerns me though. He is complaining of an injury that sounds like it might be the rotator cuff.

One small piece of advice: keep a handle on that curve ball. It’s atrocious on the arm of a growing youngster (God did not make the human body to withstand the mechanics of a curve ball….ask any physician) and I know one guy who had a 92 MPH heater in high school where he often performed before MLB scouts, until overuse destroyed his shoulder & put a kink in his elbow, to the point of him having surgery as a teenager, which ruined a professional career & landed him not in the majors, but toiling on a small college baseball team, often wondering “what could have been”.

Seriously, watch that arm. Curveballs aren’t for youngsters. Put that thing in his back pocket until he turns 16, no matter how important some game seems - it’s not as important as his shoulder/elbow.

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So, are you going to serve as his agent?

…thanks Buck!

And of all his abilities it is the ability to con people that will be the most important.

He will just need to hone the ability not be be conned.