FOCUS

Cub Scout Roundtable Leaders’ Guide

Play Ball!!  The fans cheer and the excitement builds as your favorite team takes the field.  This month Cub Scouts will take to the field themselves in a Pack ball game or participate in a pack sports tournament.  Outdoor fun will abound for all while learning the value of good sportsmanship.  Speaking of fun – how about hearing some traditional stories of America’s favorite pastime.

CORE VALUES

Cub Scout Roundtable Leaders’ Guide

Some of the purposes of Cub Scouting developed through this month’s theme are:

• Sportsmanship and Fitness, Boys will develop the strength and coordination to throw, catch and hit a baseball.  They will, also, develop stamina and coordination as they run the bases.
• Personal Achievement, Cub Scouts will learn what their abilities are and have a chance to improve them.
• Character Development, Boys will learn how to win or lose graciously and to accept final results with a positive attitude.

The core value highlighted this month is:

• Cooperation, Boys will learn the fun of working as a team.

Can you think of others??? Hint – look in your Cub Scout Program Helps.  It lists different ones!! All the items on both lists are applicable!!  You could probably list all twelve if you thought about it!!

COMMISSIONER’S CORNER

This issue marks two years since I started preparing Baloo’s Bugle.  I didn’t say writing because I don’t write it, YOU all write it.  It is written in your Pow Wow Books and in the letters I see in discussion groups and receive from readers.  Thank you all for helping me and encouraging me.

A two week trip to Europe to see our daughter certainly put a crimp in our usual monthly activities.  I even missed my second RT in the six years I have been Commissioner. Europe was great and I am anxious to get back there and hike the trail along the Apennines in Italy that my daughter showed us.  She and I are planning to do a week or so on that trail before she finishes her studies for a doctor of Physical Therapy. 

Are you ready for your Pack’s Annual Program Planning Conference??  Do you have your Cub Scout Program Helps book?  Has your district run its Program Launch (or whatever you call it) for 2005-2006 (our is June 8, 2005)??  I have my Cub Scout Program Helps but where is Cub Scout Roundtable Planning Guide?  Maybe now that the BSA National Meeting is over it will appear.  I have been told there are changes to the standard agenda for CS RTs this year and am anxious to see what they are.

Here is another Commissioner Dave Pet Peeve – Cub Scouts EARN awards and they are PRESENTED.  Cub Scouts don’t just get awards.  Billy earned his Bear Badge, not Billy got his Bear Badge.  We don’t just give awards to Cub Scouts.  They are not gifts.  The Cubmaster didn’t give Dan his Arrow Point, he presented Dan his Arrow Point.  Also, Rank Awards are entirely different from the others – Sports and Academic belt Loops and Pins, 75^th Anniversary Awards, Leave No Trace Awards, …  I was at a Pack Crossover the other week.  Each Cub’s awards were neatly placed in an envelope.  The content of the envelope was read and the envelope presented to the Cub (not the parent to present to the boy as we teach in Training).  Now you tell me how that boy will know his Bear Badge is different from his Baseball Belt Loop?  We need to think about the subliminal messages carried by our actions.  

You often hear that the Arrow of light is the only badge a Cub Scout earned that he can wear on his Boy Scout uniform.  Well, it is the only Cub Scout badge of rank he can wear permanently on his Boy Scout uniform.  But in actuality there are several items a Cub may have earned that he can wear on his Boy Scout uniform - the Arrow of Light, of course, the youth religious award knot and ribbon, year pins denoting his time of service in Cub Scouting, and Special Awards for Lifesaving or Meritorious Service.  Also, the new oval Webelos badge may be worn until he earns his Scout badge.

If you get a chance go see the movie, “Down and Derby” about Pinewood Derbies.  It will be in limited release throughout the summer until coming out on DVD in the Fall. Check it out at http://www.downandderby.com/home.php .  If they get 1500 E-mails from an area, they will make sure that the movie plays in that area.  Also, there is an address for council’s to E-mail if they wish to set up a special recruiting or fundraising showing of the movie.  My wife and I saw it and thought it was funny.  We think some of the dad’s portrayed in the movie came from our pack J J The ending is great!!  Don Murphy who created the first Pinewood Derby in 1953 is introduced in the movie.  Maybe your pack can do some recruiting if it plays in your area – a pack night at the movie, recruiting posters in the theatre.  Give tickets as prizes for something.  Think about it and write me with ideas so others can try them, too.

How about the “Drive for Five”

Drive for 5 is a program to recognize Cub Scout Packs that recruit 5 Scouts over their previous year end membership total. Cub Scout packs whom do this will receive one pinewood derby car for each scout in their pack (plus some other goodies I am told). The car kits are being supplied by Chevrolet, the National Sponsor of the Pinewood Derby.  I don’t have many details now because our council is rolling this out at the June Program launch sessions.  And a web search only found me one council with info.  But ask your Commissioners and Execs about if you haven’t heard anything yet.

Months with similar themes to

Play Ball

Voyageur Area Council

THOUGHTFUL ITEMS FOR SCOUTERS

Many thanks to Scouter Jim from Bountiful, Utah, who has volunteered to prepare this section of Baloo for us each month.  He’s another “Regal” Bob White, too.  You can reach him at bobwhitejonz@juno.com   CD

June Theme Prayer

Cub Scout Roundtable Leaders’ Guide

As we learn to play together, let us remember that we need to respect others and to do our best.      AMEN

PRAYER OF THE SPORTSMAN

Dear Lord, in the battle that goes on through life,
I ask but a field that is fair:
A chance that is equal with all in the strife,
If I should win, let it be by the code
With my faith and my honor held high,
If I should lose, let me stand by the road
And cheer as the winners go by.

—Brayley.

A SPORTSMAN’S PRAYER

Dear God: Help me to be a sport in this little game of life. I don’t ask for any easy place in the lineup, play me anywhere you need me. I only ask for the stuff to give you 100 per cent of what I’ve got. If all the hard drives seem to come my way, I thank you for the compliment. Help me to remember that you won’t ever let anything come my way that you and I can’t handle. And help me take the bad breaks as part of the game. Help me to understand that the game is full of knocks and knots and trouble, and make me thankful for them. Help me to get so that the harder they come, the better I like it.

“And, O God, help me always to play on the square. No matter what the others do, help me to come clean. Help me to study the Book so that I will know the rules and to study and think a lot about the greatest player that ever lived and the other great players that are told about in the Book. If they found that the best part of the game was helping other guys who were out of luck, help me to find it too. Help me to be a reg’lar feller with the other players.

“Finally, O God, if fate seems to upper-cut me with both hands and I’m laid on the shelf in sickness of old age or something, help me to take that as part of the game too. Help me not to whimper or squeal that the game was a frame-up or that I had a raw deal.

“When in the falling dusk I get the final bell, I ask for no lying complimentary stones, I’d only like to know you feel that I’ve been a good, game guy.       

—By George H. Brimhall.

What I learned from Officiating Youth Sports

Scouter Jim, Great Salt Lake Council

It is just a game and it is personal.  For every little boy and girl playing sports, it is personal.  They may look tough on the outside, but they are still tender on the inside.   Be positive with the boys you work with, never berate of criticize them.  I would always rather hear, “You’ll do better next time,” rather than, “That’s not the way I taught you.”  The fragile spirits of the children are crushed by the latter while they are encouraged to try to do better by the earlier. 

Winning isn’t everything, sportsmanship is.  I once officiated a Pop Warner football game where one team had a special needs player.  They asked if they could put him in as a deep safety on defense.  While they were playing defense they played with twelve players against eleven.  The opposing coach was thrilled to be playing against “such a worthy opponent.”  He received the “Good Turn” coin I tried to give away each week to the best sport of the day.

Opponent and enemy isn’t the same thing.  Too many times rivalries form and players playing against each other forget that a game is not a war.  I once did a softball game where one team did not have a pitcher for a second game.  The other team lent them a couple of theirs.  The first pitcher hit three of her own players in the first inning with pitched balls.  Both coaches keep encouraging her to do her best, even against her own teammates.  After the first inning, the opposing team lent them one of their best pitchers to finish the game.  At the end of the game, both coaches parted friends.

Character Counts!  The most important thing I have learned in my years of officiating youth sports it that character counts.  The most important thing coaches, and Scout leaders either for that fact, can teach, is that it is more important to be try your best; be courteous to other players, coaches and officials; and to be a good sport.  Sometimes the biggest winners are the ones on the teams with the fewest points when the game is over.

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF SPORTSMANSHIP

1. Thou shalt not quit.
2. Thou shalt not alibi.
3. Thou shalt not gloat over winning.
4. Thou shalt not be a rotten loser.
5. Thou shalt not take unfair advantage.
6. Thou shalt not ask odds thou art unwilling to give.
7. Thou shouldst always be ready to give thine opponents the shake.
8. Thou shouldst not under-estimate an opponent, or over-estimate thyself.
9. Remember that the game is the thing, and that he who thinks otherwise is a mucker and not true sportsman.
10. Honor the game thou playest, for he who playeth the game straight and hard wins even when he loses.

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them"

James Baldwin

"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own."  Ben Sweetmand

A Cub Scout Prayer

Circle Ten Council

Oh Lord that I will do my best, In prayer, I come to thee.
Help me to help others everyday and at all times lead me.
To honor Mother and Father and to obey the Cub Scout Law, too.
This I ask that I may be a loyal Cub Scout true.  Amen.

Sportsmanship Quotes:

Baltimore Area Council

 “Games are not so much a way to compare our abilities as a way to CELEBRATE them.” ...Pat Farrington

“How we play the game may turn out to be more important than we imagine. For it signifies nothing less than our way of being in the world.” ...George Leonard

“True games do not divide us into winners and losers, but cause us to EMBRACE each other. They give everyone the chance to experience the feeling of full and even membership in the play community.” ...George Leonard

ONE LAST THING

Abbott & Costello: Who’s On First?

Baltimore Area Council

Many are not aware that Abbott & Costello are the first non-baseball-playing celebrities ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame! This would be very hard for the Cub Scouts to do, but a couple of adult leaders could have fun with it.

Abbott:       Well Costello, I’m going to New York with you. The Yankee’s manager gave me a job as coach for as long as your on the team.

Costello:     Look Abbott, if your the coach, you must know all the players.

Abbott:       I certainly do.

Costello:     Well you know I’ve never met the guys. So you’ll have to tell me their names, and then I’ll know who’s playing on the team.

Abbott:       Oh, I’ll tell you their names, but you know it seems to me they give these ball players now-a-days very peculiar names.

Costello:     You mean funny names?

Abbott:       Strange names, pet names...like Dizzy Dean...

Costello:     His brother Daffy

Abbott:       Daffy Dean...

Costello:     And their French cousin.

Abbott:       French?

Costello:     Goofé

Abbott:       Goofé Dean. Well, let’s see, we have on the bags, Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third...

Costello:     That’s what I want to find out.

Abbott:       I say Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third.

Costello:     Are you the manager?

Abbott:       Yes.

Costello:     You gonna be the coach too?

Abbott:       Yes.

Costello:     And you don’t know the fellows’ names.

Abbott:       Well I should.

Costello:     Well then who’s on first?

Abbott:       Yes.

Costello:     I mean the fellow’s name.

Abbott:       Who.

Costello:     The guy on first.

Abbott:       Who.

Costello:     The first baseman.

Abbott:       Who.

Costello:     The guy playing...

Abbott:       Who is on first!

Costello:     I’m asking you who’s on first.

Abbott:       That’s the man’s name.

Costello:     That’s who’s name?

Abbott:       Yes.

Costello:     Well go ahead and tell me.

Abbott:       That’s it.

Costello:     That’s who?

Abbott:       Yes.   (Pause)

Costello:     Look, you gotta first baseman?

Abbott:       Certainly.

Costello:     Who’s playing first?

Abbott:       That’s right.

Costello:     When you pay off the first baseman every month, who gets the money?

Abbott:       Every dollar of it.

Costello:     All I’m trying to find out is the fellow’s name on first base.

Abbott:       Who.

Costello:     The guy that gets...

Abbott:       That’s it.

Costello:     Who gets the money...

Abbott:       He does, every dollar of it. Sometimes his wife comes down and collects it.

Costello:     Who’s wife?

Abbott:       Yes.   (Pause)

Abbott:       What’s wrong with that?

Costello:     Look, all I wanna know is when you sign up the first baseman, how does he sign his name?

Abbott:       Who.

Costello:     The guy.

Abbott:       Who.

Costello:     How does he sign...

Abbott:       That’s how he signs it.

Costello:     Who?

Abbott:       Yes.   (Pause)

Costello:     All I’m trying to find out is what’s the guys name on first base.

Abbott:       No. What is on second base.

Costello:     I’m not asking you who’s on second.

Abbott:       Who’s on first.

Costello:     One base at a time!

Abbott:       Well, don’t change the players around.

Costello:     I’m not changing nobody!

Abbott:       Take it easy, buddy.

Costello:     I’m only asking you, who’s the guy on first base?

Abbott:       That’s right.

Costello:     Ok.

Abbott:       All right.   (Pause)

Costello:     What’s the guy’s name on first base?

Abbott:       No. What is on second.

Costello:     I’m not asking you who’s on second.

Abbott:       Who’s on first.

Costello:     I don’t know.

Abbott:       He’s on third, we’re not talking about him.

Costello:     Now how did I get on third base?

Abbott:       Why you mentioned his name.

Costello:     If I mentioned the third baseman’s name, who did I say is playing third?

Abbott:       No. Who’s playing first.

Costello:     What’s on base?

Abbott:       What’s on second.

Costello:     I don’t know.

Abbott:       He’s on third.

Costello:     There I go, back on third again!   (Pause)

Costello:     Would you just stay on third base and don’t go off it.

Abbott:       All right, what do you want to know?

Costello:     Now who’s playing third base?

Abbott:       Why do you insist on putting Who on third base?

Costello:     What am I putting on third.

Abbott:       No. What is on second.

Costello:     You don’t want who on second?

Abbott:       Who is on first.

Costello:     I don’t know.

Together:     Third base!   (Pause)

Costello:     Look, you gotta outfield?

Abbott:       Sure.

Costello:     The left fielder’s name?

Abbott:       Why.

Costello:     I just thought I’d ask you.

Abbott:       Well, I just thought I’d tell ya.

Costello:     Then tell me who’s playing left field.

Abbott:       Who’s playing first.

Costello:     I’m not...stay out of the infield!!! I want to know what’s the guy’s name in left field?

Abbott:       No, What is on second.

Costello:     I’m not asking you who’s on second.

Abbott:       Who’s on first!

Costello:     I don’t know.

Together:     Third base!   (Pause)

Costello:     The left fielder’s name?

Abbott:       Why.

Costello:     Because!

Abbott:       Oh, he’s center field.   (Pause)

Costello:     Look, You gotta pitcher on this team?

Abbott:       Sure.

Costello:     The pitcher’s name?

Abbott:       Tomorrow.

Costello:     You don’t want to tell me today?

Abbott:       I’m telling you now.

Costello:     Then go ahead.

Abbott:       Tomorrow!

Costello:     What time?

Abbott:       What time what?

Costello:     What time tomorrow are you gonna tell me who’s pitching?

Abbott:       Now listen. Who is not pitching.

Costello:     I’ll break your arm if you say who’s on first!!! I want to know what’s the pitcher’s name?

Abbott:       What’s on second.

Costello:     I don’t know.

Together:     Third base!   (Pause)

Costello:     Gotta catcher?

Abbott:       Certainly.

Costello:     The catcher’s name?

Abbott:       Today.

Costello:     Today, and tomorrow’s pitching.

Abbott:       Now you’ve got it.

Costello:     All we got is a couple of days on the team.   (Pause)

Costello:     You know I’m a catcher too.

Abbott:       So they tell me.

Costello:     I get behind the plate to do some fancy catching, Tomorrow’s pitching on my team and a heavy hitter gets up. Now the heavy hitter bunts the ball. When he bunts the ball, me, being a good catcher, I’m gonna throw the guy out at first. So I pick up the ball and throw it to who?

Abbott:       Now that’s the first thing you’ve said right.

Costello:     I don’t even know what I’m talking about!   (Pause)

Abbott:       That’s all you have to do.

Costello:     Is to throw the ball to first base.

Abbott:       Yes!

Costello:     Now who’s got it?

Abbott:       Naturally.   (Pause)

Costello:     Look, if I throw the ball to first base, somebody’s gotta get it. Now who has it?

Abbott:       Naturally.

Costello:     Who?

Abbott:       Naturally.

Costello:     Naturally?

Abbott:       Naturally.

Costello:     So I pick up the ball and I throw it to Naturally.
Abbott:       No you don’t you throw the ball to Who.

Costello:     Naturally.

Abbott:       That’s different.

Costello:     That’s what I said.

Abbott:       Your not saying it...

Costello:     I throw the ball to Naturally.

Abbott:       You throw it to Who.

Costello:     Naturally.

Abbott:       That’s it.

Costello:     That’s what I said!

Abbott:       You ask me.

Costello:     I throw the ball to who?

Abbott:       Naturally.

Costello:     Now you ask me.

Abbott:       You throw the ball to Who?

Costello:     Naturally.

Abbott:       That’s it.

Costello:     Same as you! Same as YOU!!! I throw the ball to who. Whoever it is drops the ball and the guy runs to second. Who picks up the ball and throws it to What. What throws it to I Don’t Know. I Don’t Know throws it back to Tomorrow, Triple play. Another guy gets up and hits a long fly ball to Because. Why? I don’t know! He’s on third and I don’t give a darn!

Abbott:       What?

Costello:     I said I don’t give a darn!

Abbott:       Oh, that’s our shortstop.

.