Until You're Not a Dumbass.....

I spent a brief stint in the United States on a baseball scholarship. It was something that I had always wanted to do, and in another entry, I'll tell you more about it. This particular post is about one of my many memorable experiences there.
We had just started outdoor practices again. The weather had cleared, and it was permitted that teams could go back outside.
On this particular day, we were spending some time working on bunt defense. As a corner infielder, knowing my role, and executing properly is very important, so this was something we practiced often.
We had worked on all of our different plays during indoor workouts during the winter, and it was time to put all that work into on-field execution.
Our coach called out a play, and everybody ran to where they were supposed to be, like clock work. Apparently, I had done my role incorrectly.
"STOP!" yelled my coach, "now where, where are you supposed to be Canada?" I responded to my coach by telling him that I was where I was supposed to be. WRONG. We were going to do it again.
The simulation took place again, and I went to where I was supposed to be. "Wrong again Canada! Let's try it one more time, don't screw this up."
I asked one of the other players where I was supposed to be, and as quickly as he could, he explained my positioning on the different varied situations that could occur. The third simulation started, and once again, I was out of position.
This may sound like I am a complete idiot, but with 6 different bunt plays, and variables within each, sometimes you make mistakes.
"Damnitt Canada! You must be a dumbass!" my coach shouted in an attempt at public humiliation "I think you need to go and run the dumbass out of yourself! Get going!"
I was furious. How long was I supposed to run for? Would he tell me when I wasn't a dumbass anymore and I could get back to practice? I was sure I hadn't made a mistake. But what coach says, goes, I got into the outfield, and began running my poles.
With each pole, I became more and more angry. "I can't believe he is making me run for this shit!" I thought to myself. I spent a lot of time thinking of witty and smart ass things to say to him when I got a chance.
I kept running, and running, and running. I was getting exhausted. You see, our field did not take water very well. When the outfield got wet, it became a swamp, so running was often difficult as we had to trench through muck.
After about an hour and a bit of running the dumbass out of myself, my coach jumped into his gator (an ATV type vehicle with a cab on the back) and drove out to meet me on the opposite side of the field. He planned on making me run over to meet him, and I obliged.
As I ran up to my coach, I was panting in an attempt to regain my breathe, and my coach asked a simple question.
"So Canada, you still a dumbass?" That question set me off. Angered by having to run for so long when I didn't think I had done anything wrong, and then receiving a real smart ass question from my coach, I decided I would respond in a very inappropriate manner.
"I don't know coach, I'm sure there is still some dumbass left." Although I was bent over, anticipating that I was going to vomit, on the inside, i was jumping with joy and thinking "HA HA! Take THAT!"
Shaking his head, and laughing to himself, my coach won that battle of witts. "Well Canada, that surely was a dumbass response. So you clearly need some more running".
He gave me a sip of water and sent me on my way.
We practiced for 3 1/2 hours that day, and I think I ran for almost the entire time. I was not happy, and I didn't talk to my coach for the rest of the week.
He later apologized after one of the seniors told him that I was in the right position for the play my coach was calling out. My coach thought he was asking me to do something else.
Looking back, however, there were a lot of reasons that I think my coach sent me out there. For one, it was definately a punishment. I kept screwing up, and I deserved to be punished for it. Most coaches would do the same.
Another reason, was it gave him an opportunity to calm down. This is his job, in reality, and if the team under performs, his job is at risk. He expected us to do the best we could do all the time, and clearly, he felt I was not doing the best I could do at that point.
It was also in an attempt to isolate me from the situation. Take a step back, and think about what was going on. Forget about the personal frustration involved in making the errors, and focus on how to make sure the mistake didn't happen again.
The next week, we worked on some bunt defense again, and after my turn had passed my coach yelled "Canada, are you still a dumbass?"
I shot back him, angered that he was accusing me of making a mistake, and fearing the possibility of running the dumbass out of myself again, "Coach! THIS IS WHERE I'M SUPPOSED TO BE!"
"Then I guess you ain't a dumbass anymore, all that running must have helped." He smiled at me and told the team to get ready for batting practice.
It was his way of apologizing for making me run, and letting me know that I had done well. I laughed it off, and took the jokes about being a dumbass from the guys for the rest of the day.
The running really wasn't that bad physically, mentally it allowed me to calm down about the situation. I had stepped back, and was able to think about things in order to prevent making that mistake again. So I would like to encourage everybody to run until they aren't a dumbass anymore. Let's face it, we all boot a bunt play now and then, and sometimes, a 3 hour run can make sure we stop making those mistakes.