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Little League - parents are nuts

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Raised two boys. I saw this in every sport except two: youth soccer when they were much younger (up til about 12 years of age). Reason: ejection of parents was enforced & few of the parents knew the rules anyway. The other sport is motocross. Never had a problem with another parent. Very few, if any, obnoxious parents. However, some of the motocross events are combined events with 4-wheelers racing the same weekend. I saw a little 6 year old hit a jump and bump into another 6 year old. The father of the one who was hit flipped out screaming at the other little 6 year old. Father #2 comes to the rescue. They had to be pulled apart before the fists started flying. Not to stereotype, and apologies to members here from that state, but in the NY and PA leagues in this area, NJ fathers have a reputation of being assholes.
 
I used to referee soccer in high-school (Up to 19 yr. olds, tournaments as well. Amazing pay). Fun times.

What this thread actually reminded me of though was when I was standing in a grocery store aisle trying to decide on an ice cream flavor. Some parents were in the same aisle, and one of their kids was in the little shopping-cart-car things (shopping carts which look like toy cars the kids can sit in). Evidently one of them stood up because as I'm standing there looking at ice cream I hear the guy yell "YOU SIT YOUR FUCKING ASS BACK DOWN RIGHT THIS INSTANT!".

I was like O_O. What the hell, the kid must've been 3-4 years old. What I'm trying to say is: Let kids be kids.
 
I have three boys from 6-11 so I've been through many sports seasons. I've never experienced anything like this in baseball; there was one parent (or relative, not sure) of a boy on the football team who tried to challenge the coach to a fight. I found it funny because the coach is a young fit guy and the parent was disabled and could barely walk. The coach handled it very well.

While I feel for the umpires in my 11 year old's league, I have to admit they do a horrible job. I don't mind a generous strike zone at that age, but you have to at least be consistent.
 
preslove said:
lol

That must be a trip, laying down the law to some obnoxious 45 year old asshole breeder.
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Yeah, it was a bit surreal. To make things worse, I looked like I was maybe 14 years old when I was 19. That meant that I had to be as consistent as possible behind the plate, and that I absolutely positively could not put up with any shit from anyone on or around the field. When you look that young, nobody trusts or respects you unless you earn that respect (by consistency) and demand that respect (by rigid enforcement of a no-tolerance policy).
 
SearchMaster said:
While I feel for the umpires in my 11 year old's league, I have to admit they do a horrible job. I don't mind a generous strike zone at that age, but you have to at least be consistent.
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This is a legit comment. Most umpires at that level have very little experience. But to be fair, it is much, much harder than you would think to consistently call balls and strikes, especially at the junior level. It's actually easier to call balls and strikes as the players get older. The pitchers generally are more consistent, and so you get a more consistent look at their ball time and time again. At the 11-12 year old level, half the pitches are in the dirt, 2 feet inside/outside, or way too high. So when the ball comes anywhere near the plate at the right height, there is a strong urge to call it a strike even if it is a couple inches inside or outside. Else you end up with a pitcher that has a WHIP of ~ 15 by the time the game is done, mostly based on walks.
 
My father has been school board president for a few years in the town I grew up in. He gets calls all the time because of things to do with sports teams. A kid didn't get picked for the team, doesn't get enough play time, there's a bad call, or a million other things. Parents will call and gripe about it and he'll tell them one of two answers:

1. If they sound like they're still behaving reasonably he gives them the number of the athletic director.
2. If they sound like they've completely gone off the deep end he tells them sorry, there's nothing he can do, and if they don't shut up he hangs up on them.

He decided a long time ago that pandering to people to make sure he got re-elected to the school board wasn't worth trying to keep unreasonable people happy.
 
This is nothing new.
It was common back in the 80's. Parents are so desperate for their kids to succeed they will fight every battle, even when there is no real battle.

The idea of pushing their dreams on their kids is known, but usually not the case.
 
Billb2 said:
Semi-final playoff game. Score tied, bottom of the 6th (last) inning. We're up, bases loaded, two outs. In our league you could rearange the batting order at the beginning of an inning, and it was typical for coaches to do so to pad the batting order for a crucial win. I didn't hold to that philosophy. We were a team amd we lived and died as a team. The whole bench was atwitter with whom would get he coveted 4th at bat for that last inning.

This little Asian kid is due to bat. He had probably gotten 5 hits all year. He batted last, played right filed and sat out the most innings all year. He was deathly affraid if getting hit with a pitch. His parents didn't know which end of a bat to hold. But, a few time he really tried, I mean really tried hard. Well, on a hunch I left the Asian kid to bat fourth. He hits a grounder between first and second and we win the game.

My rewards were seeing the whole team mob the kid. He was the hero! I said nothing to him other than the typical "good job", but, by look in his eyes, I knew he had learned something about himself that day. And while his Asian parents didn't say anything, I knew there was a "thank you" there.

That's what little league baseball is all about.
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that's such a nice story
 
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