Obligatory Softball Predictions for the New Year

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

This is the time of year when newspaper, tabloids, magazines, TV shows, blogs and everyone else like to throw out their predictions for the coming year. It makes sense — we all like to take a peek into the crystal ball hoping we'll gain some sort of advantage above everyone else.

Yet you don't have to be a psychic to make some predictions. Especially when it comes to maximizing your softball performance. So with that in mind, here are my predictions for the coming year.

1. Players who work hard in the off-season will be more successful than those who don't. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll win more games or even hit/pitch/field better — a lot of factors enter into it — but relative to their past performance they will do better. And they'll set themselves up for more success in the future.

2. Pitchers who rely on speed alone will find it easy to win games but difficult to win championships, especially at the older levels.

3. Failling 7 out of 10 times as a hitter will still make you a star.

4. Slower but smart baserunners will help their teams more than lightning-fast players who don't have a clue how the game is played.

5. Someone's not going to be happy with their daughter's high school coach.

6. Someone's not going to be happy with their daughter's college coach.

7. Someone's not going to be happy with their daughter's travel coach.

8. In some cases, the previous three will be the same person.

9. An umpire will miss a call at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, and a coach will blame him/her for the team losing. Never mind what happened in the other six innings.

10. Somebody's mom is going to embarrass her by asking a question you would ask a five-year-old while she's in the dugout with her team.

11. Little sisters everywhere are going to build the foundation of the careers while they watch their big sisters' games. They won't even know it, but they'll be picking up techniques and strategies by osmosis.

12. Coaching decisions made in split seconds in the heat of a game will be second-guessed ad nauseum if they turn out to be the wrong ones. It's always easier to determine whether a decision was a good one when you already know the outcome.

13. Lindsay Lohan will end up back in jail/rehab again. Not softball-related, but too easy not to include.

14. Some girls will only make the All Star team because their mom or dad is the coach. And the corollary — some moms and dads will only coach so they can make sure their daughters make the All Star team. Too many people will care either way.

15. A few know-it-alls will criticize the commentary on softball games on TV instead of just being glad TV is covering fastpitch softball at all.

16. The Discuss Fastpitch Forum will continue to grow and be the best place to come for softball discussions. (Gotta throw in one for the home team.)

17. Parents will continue to happily spend more on a bat than on books for their children. If their taxes go up by as much as a CF4 costs, they'll complain to high heaven too.

There you go — my predictions for 2011. I think it's pretty safe to say they will come true.

Anyway, that's the way I see it. How 'bout you?