Which youth sports parents are the worst? (1 Viewer)

[Braktastic]

No. He was wearing shorts and crocs, and a wife beater t-shirt.

Man, you all need to cut Politician Spock some slack. The fact this 12 year-old ##### was wearing Crocs alone is enough to make the ####er cry.

That said, there's no way I would be involved in a league rec or otherwise where board members children umped games. Ridiculous. How many of these "umps" know kids on the teams involved and can be imparitial let alone know the rules they're officiating.

 

[roadkill1292]

No. He was wearing shorts and crocs, and a wife beater t-shirt.

Man, you all need to cut Politician Spock some slack. The fact this 12 year-old ##### was wearing Crocs alone is enough to make the ####er cry.

That said, there's no way I would be involved in a league rec or otherwise where board members children umped games. Ridiculous. How many of these "umps" know kids on the teams involved and can be imparitial let alone know the rules they're officiating.

Learning that it happened in the championship game made me stop and re-evaluate things. I'm looking at Spock in a whole new light now. It's entirely possible that he's not actually bat#### crazy like everybody thinks.

 

[Bull Dozier]

No. He was wearing shorts and crocs, and a wife beater t-shirt.

Man, you all need to cut Politician Spock some slack. The fact this 12 year-old ##### was wearing Crocs alone is enough to make the ####er cry.

That said, there's no way I would be involved in a league rec or otherwise where board members children umped games. Ridiculous. How many of these "umps" know kids on the teams involved and can be imparitial let alone know the rules they're officiating.

Learning that it happened in the championship game made me stop and re-evaluate things. I'm looking at Spock in a whole new light now. It's entirely possible that he's not actually bat#### crazy like everybody thinks.

Absolutely. We're talking about winning here.

 

[Mark Davis]

My first job ever was working at the city park 3 nights a week when I was in 7th grade. A buddy of mine worked with me, we kept the press box, scoreboard, and scorebook for 2 little league games per night. These were the 8-9 year olds. I work today as a ticket broker but I've never been cussed and threatened as much cumulatively since then as I was the two years I worked there. We did our job but people would argue about scores, etc. Had people threaten to come up there and "whip our ***" and stuff like that. Grown men would do this. This was back in '87 and '88 so I'm sure it's gotten much worse now.

 

[pittstownkiller]

Hockey and it's not close.

Yeah, this would be a blowout if everyone was exposed to youth hockey.

I think I know what you mean as my new found exposure to lacrosse has made me realize how much of a pain hockey parents are. Everytime someone on our team hits the ground they are screaming for a foul yet if their kid whacks someone with a stick or shoves someone to the ground and gets called for it they ##### to the refs "let them play". They surprising thing to me, at least on my son's team, is the moms are way worse than the dads. I think these moms see their little boys out there and get worked up when another player lays a finger on them. The moms are absolutely brutal to the officials whereas the dads only seem to yell at their own kids.

Oh yeah, hockey moms are legendary. I guess it's because they have so much time and money invested in it.Or because they're bat#### crazy.

Yes, hockey moms are nuts, but they are fun to party with on the road...

 

[L5UT1ger]

White corner for more P.S. greatness. Thanks.

 

[Jobber]

Baseball

I used to ump 8-12 year olds.

Parents were brutal. But you would have thought the coaches were trying to win the World Series.

Several occations had parents/coaches follow me out to my car.

Come on, they are kids

I wish my kids played baseball in your league.

Our league hires kids to umpire the games. My 9 year old was playing in the championship game of the end of the season tournament when the batter from the other team hit a dribbler up the first base line. The batter must have assumed it was going to go foul, because he just stood there looking at it while the catcher went to go get it. Once the batter listened to his coach to run, he began running and knocked over the catcher who was bent over trying to pick up the ball. Having been knocked over, he didn't recover in time to pick up the ball and throw him out. Ump calls the batter safe it first.

The coach of our team of course challenges and wants the batter called out for interference. Ump refuses saying that the runner has the right of way. The ump is probably 12 or 13 years old, and obviously has been taught to never change a call. So the coach gives up. But I remembered seeing the rule that any runner is out when he interferes with a fielder attempting to field a batted ball in print on the league's website. I pulled out my iPad, and low and behold it was easy as pie to find the rule. So I show it to the coach, who in turn takes my iPad on to the field to show it to the ump.

He returns shaking his head, and as he hands my iPad back to me he says the ump is now changing his story and says no contact between the batter and the catcher happened, and the catcher just fell over on his own. Shocked, I said pretty loudly "WHAT?!?! Everyone here saw the collision!!!!" At that point pretty much everyone turned their attention to the ump... who began to start crying.

The inning came to an end, and as soon as it did, the umpire pulls out a cell phone and calls someone. As he is talking he is gasping for air, because he's crying even more than before. Minutes later, someone from the league shows up and tells me I must leave.

My son's team ended up winning, but I didn't get to see it.

The ump should have told you to **** up a rope.

 

[Al O'Pecia]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

 

[Deranged Hermit]

This year we had a parent pull his kid off the team because the boy wasn't playing every inning. I told to him that, before the season started, I explained to everyone, him included, that EVERYONE was playing and EVERYONE was going to sit at some point. He said, "Well, Joey is so talented, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to bench him". 'Joey' at the time was hitting sub-.200 through 6 games, walked twice, struck out 7 times and had one run scored. Played a very good CF though, good fundamentals, so I generally just dropped him down in the lineup (of course Dad wanted to know why he wasn't hitting lead off).

I told him to do what he thought he needed to do, but the rule stands. He followed through with his threat and signed the kid up for a travel team.....where he sits the bench almost exclusively.

Even after all the dad's #####ing and moaning, I'd have taken the kid back in a second if the dad asked me, but that never happened.

 

[Pipes]

This year we had a parent pull his kid off the team because the boy wasn't playing every inning. I told to him that, before the season started, I explained to everyone, him included, that EVERYONE was playing and EVERYONE was going to sit at some point. He said, "Well, Joey is so talented, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to bench him". 'Joey' at the time was hitting sub-.200 through 6 games, walked twice, struck out 7 times and had one run scored. Played a very good CF though, good fundamentals, so I generally just dropped him down in the lineup (of course Dad wanted to know why he wasn't hitting lead off).

I told him to do what he thought he needed to do, but the rule stands. He followed through with his treat and signed the kid up for a travel team.....where he sits the bench almost exclusively.

Even after all the dad's #####ing and moaning, I'd have taken the kid back in a second if the dad asked me, but that never happened.

I feel bad for Joey....he's going to burn out on baseball and maybe all sports by the time he's a teenager.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

This year we had a parent pull his kid off the team because the boy wasn't playing every inning. I told to him that, before the season started, I explained to everyone, him included, that EVERYONE was playing and EVERYONE was going to sit at some point. He said, "Well, Joey is so talented, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to bench him". 'Joey' at the time was hitting sub-.200 through 6 games, walked twice, struck out 7 times and had one run scored. Played a very good CF though, good fundamentals, so I generally just dropped him down in the lineup (of course Dad wanted to know why he wasn't hitting lead off).

I told him to do what he thought he needed to do, but the rule stands. He followed through with his treat and signed the kid up for a travel team.....where he sits the bench almost exclusively.

Even after all the dad's #####ing and moaning, I'd have taken the kid back in a second if the dad asked me, but that never happened.

I feel bad for Joey....he's going to burn out on baseball and maybe all sports by the time he's a teenager.

Yup, but I'm seeing this stuff more and more. One kid on my team plays school ball, league ball and two travel teams. He has no room to have a life.

 

[Mario Kart]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

Where is the World Star reference? Video grade of "D" because of that.

 

[sbonomo]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

Where is the World Star reference? Video grade of "D" because of that.

Sounds like the loud mouth idiot dad got what he deserved. And, he needs to work on his fully mounted defense...he didn't have to eat 3/4 of those punches.

 

[SIDA!]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

Where is the World Star reference? Video grade of "D" because of that.

Gotta love video in portrait taken by someone who sounds like they are illiterate and unable to actually keep the guys in the center of the frame.

 

[Quez]

NOTHING is worse than baseball dad.

 

[belljr]

We've been lucky so far with softball.

I try hard to not be softball dad

 

[avoiding injuries]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

Where is the World Star reference? Video grade of "D" because of that.

Gotta love video in portrait taken by someone who sounds like they are illiterate and unable to actually keep the guys in the center of the frame.

I thought the van was going to run over them since it was the only object being filmed for half the video.

 

[AcerFC]

For anyone voting anything other than hockey, you have never been to a youth hockey game

 

[AAABatteries]

Not sure if it is the worst but one of the things I noticed back when I was reffing kid's soccer is that your typical American parent still doesn't understand many of the basic laws of soccer.

Just because a kid ends up on the ground doesn't mean an infraction occured.

You reffed soccer? Surprising.

 

[Peak]

NOTHING is worse than baseball dad.

I don't know...we had a Baseball Mom and Dad tandem on our team. Very similar situation to what DH spoke about above. The kid was fast and athletic, but didn't have a strong arm and wasn't hitting very well. He was lead-off due to his speed the beginning of the year, but due to the lack of hits and increasing strikeouts, he dropped to 8th. The parents thought he was the best on the team and should be a catcher, pitcher and starting 2nd baseman. The kid couldn't make the throw from C to 2nd cleanly, nor could he find a strike zone when pitching. The parents complained that this was due to lack of playing time in the games, even though the kid received work during practices but still couldn't get any better. It was so bad that the parents on our team began sitting away from these two due to them constantly berating the coaches during the games, and even got to the point where they would keep track of how many "dropped pitches" the other catchers had and speaking loud enough for all parents to hear them.

At the end of our league year, the coach does one-one-one meetings with the parents to discuss their child's progress, the season in general, what's in store for next year, and any questions the parents have on the team, coaching staff, playing time, etc. These parents announced to anyone that would listen that they had 3 notebook pages filled with bullet point notes on their "issues" with the team and specific coaches during our last league game. They were obnoxious!

Our coach sent out a "state of the union" type of email this week to inform us of Fall Ball, Winter conditioning and what to expect next year. Not surprisingly, neither the player or his parents are listed on the team roster/contact list. I heard that they "decided" to pull their son from the team and play for a different coach next year. I feel sorry for that other team. As soon as they see that the player is missing some basic fundamentals and that the parents are helping at home, the coaches will be in the same predicament our team was in this year.

These parents didn't seem to understand that not every kid is an all-star player, and that some hard work off the field and at home could have helped their son succeed. Instead they complained to the coaches from their folding chairs and ostracized other team parents. The worst part is that the boy told my son that he didn't really like to play baseball and that he loved a different sport - but his parents are making him play baseball because they did when they were his age (softball and baseball). I have no doubt this kid is great in his other sport, but he is being forced onto a baseball diamond to live out his parent's dreams.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

NOTHING is worse than baseball dad.

I don't know...we had a Baseball Mom and Dad tandem on our team. Very similar situation to what DH spoke about above. The kid was fast and athletic, but didn't have a strong arm and wasn't hitting very well. He was lead-off due to his speed the beginning of the year, but due to the lack of hits and increasing strikeouts, he dropped to 8th. The parents thought he was the best on the team and should be a catcher, pitcher and starting 2nd baseman. The kid couldn't make the throw from C to 2nd cleanly, nor could he find a strike zone when pitching. The parents complained that this was due to lack of playing time in the games, even though the kid received work during practices but still couldn't get any better. It was so bad that the parents on our team began sitting away from these two due to them constantly berating the coaches during the games, and even got to the point where they would keep track of how many "dropped pitches" the other catchers had and speaking loud enough for all parents to hear them.

At the end of our league year, the coach does one-one-one meetings with the parents to discuss their child's progress, the season in general, what's in store for next year, and any questions the parents have on the team, coaching staff, playing time, etc. These parents announced to anyone that would listen that they had 3 notebook pages filled with bullet point notes on their "issues" with the team and specific coaches during our last league game. They were obnoxious!

Our coach sent out a "state of the union" type of email this week to inform us of Fall Ball, Winter conditioning and what to expect next year. Not surprisingly, neither the player or his parents are listed on the team roster/contact list. I heard that they "decided" to pull their son from the team and play for a different coach next year. I feel sorry for that other team. As soon as they see that the player is missing some basic fundamentals and that the parents are helping at home, the coaches will be in the same predicament our team was in this year.

These parents didn't seem to understand that not every kid is an all-star player, and that some hard work off the field and at home could have helped their son succeed. Instead they complained to the coaches from their folding chairs and ostracized other team parents. The worst part is that the boy told my son that he didn't really like to play baseball and that he loved a different sport - but his parents are making him play baseball because they did when they were his age (softball and baseball). I have no doubt this kid is great in his other sport, but he is being forced onto a baseball diamond to live out his parent's dreams.

In my case, this was a 13-15 year old team so many have the expectation that the 'best' players will play every inning because most coaches have abandoned the 't-ball' mentality of everyone plays. I will not do that. Yeah, the better kids will play 75% of the time. That being said, they know they will sit a few innings in a blow out where they may otherwise only sit one inning. The 'lesser' talents paid their money to be on the team and they deserve to play.

 

[coyote5]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

Where is the World Star reference? Video grade of "D" because of that.

Oh s**t Oh s**t Oh s**t Oh s**t Oh s**t

 

[Jayrod]

I've been a part of Youth sports from every side; player, referee, coach and parent.

Our area leagues do a pretty good job of keeping parents under control nowadays, but I had a rough experience when I was in HS reffing a girls 1st & 2nd basketball grade game.

Had a coach/dad whose team hadn't lost all year in the finals of the year end tournament. His daughter is their best player but she gets in foul trouble being too aggressive on steals. With about a minute left, she fouls out and they are down like 4 pts. Guy loses his mind. We go to resume play and on his teams next possession the ball gets stolen on a nice clean defensive play. He starts yelling at me, "Be a man! Call the foul!!" He yells it like four times and is following me down the court to the other bench.

I'm stunned at first but finally see he isn't calming down, so I blow my whistle and call a T. The league administrator is working the scorers table and tells the coach that the league rule is that he has to leave if he gets a T. Coach refuses to leave and so the Admin says forfeit, games over.

I got out of there immediately. Apparently the scene after I left got crazy. There were parents yelling at the coach and the admin and each other. Kids were crying and two moms actually got into a fight. I kinda wish I'd seen that, but I'm glad I didn't stay as I would have been stuck in the middle of all of it.

 

[Mr. Know-It-All]

I have not had experience with youth hockey or youth lacrosse, but baseball has been the worst both as a parent of rec league kids, parent of a travel team kid, 15 year coach of rec league and 5+ year coach of travel team.

The problem is deciding who is worse, rec team parents or travel team parents...it is a close race.

Travel team parents whine a lot, send a lot of e-mails and make a lot of phone calls inquiring why little Johnny All-Star isn't playing SS, pitching enough, hitting cleanup, etc. They will also simultaneously complain that we play too many games or not enough games. They will also complain about lack of development of certain skills, while not showing up at practices if it is inconvenient.

Rec league parents don't whine as much but generally have little to no knowledge of the game, but make up for that by questioning every coaching move, lineup decision, etc. The added bonus to rec league is it is a real melting pot for social misfits and there have been countless shouting matches between parents of same team, opposing team, umpires, coaches, etc. Last year in our 12-13 rec league we had cops called as a parent was brawling with an assistant coach. Stay classy, San Diego.

 

[Charlie Steiner]

I turned into one of these the other night. My son's 16U team was playing the last game on the schedule (which for their purposes was something to do between weekend showcases), and my son is on 2nd as a pinch runner and another runner is on 3rd with 1 out. There was only one section of bleachers, so parents of both teams had to sit together. For the most part, it was fairly pleasant; parents mostly cheered good plays for their team and that was about it, but the only dad from the other team starts the kind of chatter reserved either for playoff/championship games or what's exhibited by previously mentioned rec league parents. Turns out he's the father of the opposing pitcher, and he's saying stuff like "they can't hit your stuff" or "they don't want to swing". So right after he makes the latter comment, the batter hits a drive deep to center field. It was a can of corn, easy out but deep enough to score the run from 3rd. My son tags from 2nd and gets there pretty easy, so I knew what was coming. Just as I was telling my dad that I expected that dad was going to call for an appeal, sure enough he starts calling out "he left early! Appeal it! He left early!" Normally I'm pretty objective about game stuff when my son is involved, and I was pretty sure he didn't leave early. To my chagrin, I hear myself chiming in "no, he didn't" It wasn't heated, but nonetheless I was taken aback by the fact that I felt compelled to say something. The worse part to me was that when the ump called him out, I called out--didn't yell but I was loud enough for the ump to hear me--"don't let the fans make up your mind for you!" There were no more words between any of us after that, but the next inning, a foul ball goes into the woods behind their bench, and my son jumps up to go get it, which takes him by the bleacher. As he's passing us, I call out to him "you left the bench early, you're out!" It took another inning or so but that dad got up and stood behind the backstop the rest of the game, which wasn't long as my son's team won by slaughter.

I guess the reason I bring this up at all is that even when we think we're above such behavior, we sometimes let our guard down. I guess I'll have to be glad it didn't get any worse.

 

[belljr]

No offense but you got upset because he said "they can't hit your stuff"?

 

[sbonomo]

I turned into one of these the other night. My son's 16U team was playing the last game on the schedule (which for their purposes was something to do between weekend showcases), and my son is on 2nd as a pinch runner and another runner is on 3rd with 1 out. There was only one section of bleachers, so parents of both teams had to sit together. For the most part, it was fairly pleasant; parents mostly cheered good plays for their team and that was about it, but the only dad from the other team starts the kind of chatter reserved either for playoff/championship games or what's exhibited by previously mentioned rec league parents. Turns out he's the father of the opposing pitcher, and he's saying stuff like "they can't hit your stuff" or "they don't want to swing". So right after he makes the latter comment, the batter hits a drive deep to center field. It was a can of corn, easy out but deep enough to score the run from 3rd. My son tags from 2nd and gets there pretty easy, so I knew what was coming. Just as I was telling my dad that I expected that dad was going to call for an appeal, sure enough he starts calling out "he left early! Appeal it! He left early!" Normally I'm pretty objective about game stuff when my son is involved, and I was pretty sure he didn't leave early. To my chagrin, I hear myself chiming in "no, he didn't" It wasn't heated, but nonetheless I was taken aback by the fact that I felt compelled to say something. The worse part to me was that when the ump called him out, I called out--didn't yell but I was loud enough for the ump to hear me--"don't let the fans make up your mind for you!" There were no more words between any of us after that, but the next inning, a foul ball goes into the woods behind their bench, and my son jumps up to go get it, which takes him by the bleacher. As he's passing us, I call out to him "you left the bench early, you're out!" It took another inning or so but that dad got up and stood behind the backstop the rest of the game, which wasn't long as my son's team won by slaughter.

I guess the reason I bring this up at all is that even when we think we're above such behavior, we sometimes let our guard down. I guess I'll have to be glad it didn't get any worse.

So you are "that guy" - You should probably sit in a section by yourself....ETA - If the leaving early was close enough to call this was a mistake by your son...deal with it. the fact that you kept the conversation going is out of line.

 

[VA703]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

this guy filmed that

 

[Charlie Steiner]

No offense but you got upset because he said "they can't hit your stuff"?

I wasn't upset about any of this; the other team wasn't very good and this was the last scheduled game, so there wasn't anything on the line. It was when he started yelling for an appeal that my son left early was when I spoke up. It was like a reflex. Normally I let stuff like this roll off my back, which is why I was troubled that I said anything at all.

And to sbonomo, I'm not "that guy", and the 'coversation' ended after my comment to the ump. If the comment to my son as a joke is something that 'kept the conversation going', that's too bad; the whiny dad got his way, and I got to make light of it.

 

[sbonomo]

No offense but you got upset because he said "they can't hit your stuff"?

I wasn't upset about any of this; the other team wasn't very good and this was the last scheduled game, so there wasn't anything on the line. It was when he started yelling for an appeal that my son left early was when I spoke up. It was like a reflex. Normally I let stuff like this roll off my back, which is why I was troubled that I said anything at all.

And to sbonomo, I'm not "that guy", and the 'coversation' ended after my comment to the ump. If the comment to my son as a joke is something that 'kept the conversation going', that's too bad; the whiny dad got his way, and I got to make light of it.

Did you say it loud enough for the ump to hear you? Other's around you to hear you? I sure the ump appreciated your humor right? Sounds like it was a close/judgement call either way which means there is at least a 50% chance you were wrong. I am sure you were probably the only one that gave a chit because it was your kid. Keep your mouth shut and let them play the game.

 

[E-Z Glider]

We had a little-league game last year where one of the parents posted something on FB about their kids playing a team whose parents were all a bunch of white trash and somehow (friend of a friend) the other side found out about it. The game was postponed and the cops had to be called.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Softball Dads (Bloody Conclusion)

Where is the World Star reference? Video grade of "D" because of that.

And no "he leakin', he leakin'!"

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Not sure if it is the worst but one of the things I noticed back when I was reffing kid's soccer is that your typical American parent still doesn't understand many of the basic laws of soccer.

Just because a kid ends up on the ground doesn't mean an infraction occured.

You reffed soccer? Surprising.

Why? I might even do it again this year after about a 9 year layoff.

 

[Jayrod]

We had a little-league game last year where one of the parents posted something on FB about their kids playing a team whose parents were all a bunch of white trash and somehow (friend of a friend) the other side found out about it. The game was postponed and the cops had to be called.

"##### call me white trash?!? Where she get off? I'm a cut her!"

 

[Pipes]

I turned into one of these the other night. My son's 16U team was playing the last game on the schedule (which for their purposes was something to do between weekend showcases), and my son is on 2nd as a pinch runner and another runner is on 3rd with 1 out. There was only one section of bleachers, so parents of both teams had to sit together. For the most part, it was fairly pleasant; parents mostly cheered good plays for their team and that was about it, but the only dad from the other team starts the kind of chatter reserved either for playoff/championship games or what's exhibited by previously mentioned rec league parents. Turns out he's the father of the opposing pitcher, and he's saying stuff like "they can't hit your stuff" or "they don't want to swing". So right after he makes the latter comment, the batter hits a drive deep to center field. It was a can of corn, easy out but deep enough to score the run from 3rd. My son tags from 2nd and gets there pretty easy, so I knew what was coming. Just as I was telling my dad that I expected that dad was going to call for an appeal, sure enough he starts calling out "he left early! Appeal it! He left early!" Normally I'm pretty objective about game stuff when my son is involved, and I was pretty sure he didn't leave early. To my chagrin, I hear myself chiming in "no, he didn't" It wasn't heated, but nonetheless I was taken aback by the fact that I felt compelled to say something. The worse part to me was that when the ump called him out, I called out--didn't yell but I was loud enough for the ump to hear me--"don't let the fans make up your mind for you!" There were no more words between any of us after that, but the next inning, a foul ball goes into the woods behind their bench, and my son jumps up to go get it, which takes him by the bleacher. As he's passing us, I call out to him "you left the bench early, you're out!" It took another inning or so but that dad got up and stood behind the backstop the rest of the game, which wasn't long as my son's team won by slaughter.

I guess the reason I bring this up at all is that even when we think we're above such behavior, we sometimes let our guard down. I guess I'll have to be glad it didn't get any worse.

So you are "that guy" - You should probably sit in a section by yourself....ETA - If the leaving early was close enough to call this was a mistake by your son...deal with it. the fact that you kept the conversation going is out of line.

Not to defend Charlie but that other fan was way out of line by yelling at the ump he left early. If that umpire was a high school kid, like many times they are, he likely didn't see the kid leave early or wasn't 100% sure but was influenced by the peanut gallery. Charlie's comment was uncalled for but as a coach of 13 year olds there is nothing more upsetting to me when a young umpire is influenced by a fan or an opposing coach. It happens quite a bit. In our league the head coaches and umps have a plate meeting before the game to discuss the rules. Even though it's old hat I always tell the umpire to be loud and decisive in his calls even if he isn't 100% sure make a decisive call and we'll live with it. Any hesitation on the umps part you inevitably hear someone yell out "got em" or "safe" a split second before the ump makes a call. I don't ever remember a kid making the opposite call when that happens.

 

[sublimeone]

No offense but you got upset because he said "they can't hit your stuff"?

I wasn't upset about any of this; the other team wasn't very good and this was the last scheduled game, so there wasn't anything on the line. It was when he started yelling for an appeal that my son left early was when I spoke up. It was like a reflex. Normally I let stuff like this roll off my back, which is why I was troubled that I said anything at all.

And to sbonomo, I'm not "that guy", and the 'coversation' ended after my comment to the ump. If the comment to my son as a joke is something that 'kept the conversation going', that's too bad; the whiny dad got his way, and I got to make light of it.

Did you say it loud enough for the ump to hear you? Other's around you to hear you? I sure the ump appreciated your humor right? Sounds like it was a close/judgement call either way which means there is at least a 50% chance you were wrong. I am sure you were probably the only one that gave a chit because it was your kid. Keep your mouth shut and let them play the game.

calm down sbonomo.

 

[Jobber]

I've been a part of Youth sports from every side; player, referee, coach and parent.

Our area leagues do a pretty good job of keeping parents under control nowadays, but I had a rough experience when I was in HS reffing a girls 1st & 2nd basketball grade game.

Had a coach/dad whose team hadn't lost all year in the finals of the year end tournament. His daughter is their best player but she gets in foul trouble being too aggressive on steals. With about a minute left, she fouls out and they are down like 4 pts. Guy loses his mind. We go to resume play and on his teams next possession the ball gets stolen on a nice clean defensive play. He starts yelling at me, "Be a man! Call the foul!!" He yells it like four times and is following me down the court to the other bench.

I'm stunned at first but finally see he isn't calming down, so I blow my whistle and call a T. The league administrator is working the scorers table and tells the coach that the league rule is that he has to leave if he gets a T. Coach refuses to leave and so the Admin says forfeit, games over.

I got out of there immediately. Apparently the scene after I left got crazy. There were parents yelling at the coach and the admin and each other. Kids were crying and two moms actually got into a fight. I kinda wish I'd seen that, but I'm glad I didn't stay as I would have been stuck in the middle of all of it.

1st and 2nd graders?? Holy *** those parents are completely insane.

 

[Jayrod]

I've been a part of Youth sports from every side; player, referee, coach and parent.

Our area leagues do a pretty good job of keeping parents under control nowadays, but I had a rough experience when I was in HS reffing a girls 1st & 2nd basketball grade game.

Had a coach/dad whose team hadn't lost all year in the finals of the year end tournament. His daughter is their best player but she gets in foul trouble being too aggressive on steals. With about a minute left, she fouls out and they are down like 4 pts. Guy loses his mind. We go to resume play and on his teams next possession the ball gets stolen on a nice clean defensive play. He starts yelling at me, "Be a man! Call the foul!!" He yells it like four times and is following me down the court to the other bench.

I'm stunned at first but finally see he isn't calming down, so I blow my whistle and call a T. The league administrator is working the scorers table and tells the coach that the league rule is that he has to leave if he gets a T. Coach refuses to leave and so the Admin says forfeit, games over.

I got out of there immediately. Apparently the scene after I left got crazy. There were parents yelling at the coach and the admin and each other. Kids were crying and two moms actually got into a fight. I kinda wish I'd seen that, but I'm glad I didn't stay as I would have been stuck in the middle of all of it.

1st and 2nd graders?? Holy *** those parents are completely insane.

Yup. I had reffed that entire season for those teams and never had one problem with that coach (or any of them really) until his team was about to lose.

It was really bizarre and it took me a while to process that this coach was really yelling at me.

 

[glvsav37]

I ref ice hockey...I've seen it all. I hope that over the years of doing that, now that my kids are getting to sport playing age, that I will never be "that dad"

 

[B Maverick]

Try the parents of Juniors who are relegated to JV in HS sports. Especially ones not good enough to play above the Sophmores or any Frosh that move up to JV.

 

[Mr. Know-It-All]

Try the parents of Juniors who are relegated to JV in HS sports. Especially ones not good enough to play above the Sophmores or any Frosh that move up to JV.

So true. There is a parent of a Jr that played JV this year - all we hear about is how great every pitch is. how he should be starting ahead of the younger players...nice kid but hitting under .160 with 10 + Ks and a fielding percentage below .800 at 2B is not going to turn a lot of heads. Nice kid, just wish his parent wasn't such a dooooosh. ell, take parents out of the equation and baseball is a heckuva sport.

 

[PIK95]

I have not had experience with youth hockey or youth lacrosse, but baseball has been the worst both as a parent of rec league kids, parent of a travel team kid, 15 year coach of rec league and 5+ year coach of travel team.

The problem is deciding who is worse, rec team parents or travel team parents...it is a close race.

Travel team parents whine a lot, send a lot of e-mails and make a lot of phone calls inquiring why little Johnny All-Star isn't playing SS, pitching enough, hitting cleanup, etc. They will also simultaneously complain that we play too many games or not enough games. They will also complain about lack of development of certain skills, while not showing up at practices if it is inconvenient.

Rec league parents don't whine as much but generally have little to no knowledge of the game, but make up for that by questioning every coaching move, lineup decision, etc. The added bonus to rec league is it is a real melting pot for social misfits and there have been countless shouting matches between parents of same team, opposing team, umpires, coaches, etc. Last year in our 12-13 rec league we had cops called as a parent was brawling with an assistant coach. Stay classy, San Diego.

This is so true with the Rec vs. Travel parent points. Great posting.

 

[belljr]

Lol one of our teams was at that tournament where the dad drove all the way down to fight the coach