Can't Beat The Rich

Ok. Minor gripe here. Why do people with money have to step on the toes of regular people. I mean, if you don't have lots of money, you can't compete when people with money step into your arena. If you got money, buy a yacht. Or a summer cottage. Or better yet, support a charity. Why do you have to show up the middle class? Uhg. That burns me.

We have a family in town that is great at doing just that. They have tons of money and can do whatever they want. But they just have to do what the middle class do only with lots of money.

Ok, here's an example. Several families host college players to give them a home during summer baseball. Most families host 1 or 2 players. The "money people", they host 5. So there are families who don't host because there is no need with the one family taking 5. Their kids won't get to have a baseball "hero" spend the summer with them. The money family does not have young kids. Ok, doesn't directly effect me but is still upsetting. Also, many of the host families have made scrapbooks for their players. For those of you who don't scrapbook, doing one is pretty expensive and very time consuming. For those of us who make these for our players, it makes this a pretty special gift. Well, the last two years, Mrs. Money made scrapbooks for all 5 of her players and then went on to make them for EVERY OTHER player too! So for those of us who thought we were giving something special to our player, it ended up being not so special since she made one up (no expense spared) for our players too. She passes out $100 bills to her players for whatever reason she can contrive too. I can just imaging all the other players cursing their bad luck for being place with a regular family instead of Mrs. Moneybucks.

Last year they had a silent auction for the player's jerseys. The one kid who'd stayed with us for two years had become like family. He didn't even know Mrs. Money and Mrs. Money didn't know him. But she knew he had turned down the draft that year and would be drafted in the coming year so wouldn't ya know, she just had to bet against us for his jersey. Now I know a jersey isn't the end of the world but my whole family had really come to love this kid and it was his last year of eligibility for summer ball even if he weren't moving on to the bigs. We ended up in a bidding war against Mrs. Money for his jersey. Everyone around us was just livid that she would bid against a host family for their own players jersey. We ended up slipping in just before the time limit to win the jersey but it cost us. We used our anniversary money to pay for it. Mrs. Money woudn't've had to give up a thing for it. The kid was really upset that Mrs. Money had done that, not knowing him and just doing it for the prestige of having it when he drafts. He said "Don't worry, I won't forget where I came from". He keeps in touch and calls on holidays and has promised to call the day he gets drafted to tell us where he's going.

I don't know. It just used to be a congenial and familyish atmosphere. But she's cast a shadow on the whole thing. Host families used to get together for BBQ's and swim parties. We all did different things for and with our players but it wasn't competitive or anything. Now though, nothing we do can compare with what she can do. Who wants to do anything just to have her come behind you and do it bigger and better? Mrs. Money seems to have tainted the whole thing throwing her bucks and weight around. I don't begrudge her hosting, but she just has to go and change the whole feel of everything. Instead of being about family, kindness, comraderie and fun, she's made it about money. And we just can't beat the rich at that.