Boys

The word boys has, in my mind, several connotations. 'Good morning, boys!' is the way I greet my crew members at work each morning. 'Boys will be boys', an explanation for not so nice behavior, is an axiom I have heard all my life. 'The boys against the girls', the way all games of Rook or Spades seem to wind up. The 'boys of summer', referring to professional baseball players, back in my day.

I enjoy, to this day, watching boys play baseball. I think the most fun I have is watching five and six year old boys learning to play T-ball. I admire the coaches. The only place some boys learn discipline and teamwork is on the baseball field, so the pressure is really on the manager to teach these boys the right way to do things. When I was a boy I think the most important thing taught to me was “it does not matter if you win or lose, it is how you play the game!” I believe the boys, on every team, everywhere, would profit in life, if they were taught that truism.