Ping!
It’s only soccer.
I occasionally work with a forty-something man who is massively constructed. If you wanted to start a fight, he would not be your first choice. He had been asked back to help coach a Peewee League ball team. His goal was not to win, but to develop each player to the peak of whatever that player could be. One day he pulled out their top pitcher while they were winning to give another pitcher some experience. The first pitcher’s father went ape-$hit on him. The other fathers had gathered around and leapt in to retrain the father when he swung a punch. My buddy just stood there the whole time and made no move. My point is that parents can act irrationally. After that the good pitcher’s mother dropped him off and the father was never seen again at a game.
>> felony charge of battery on a sports official
“battery on a sports official”?
Well, I guess you can now tell how much you’re worth to society by the penalties that apply if a member of your group is “battered”.
I wonder what the penalty is for “battery on a software engineer”. Probably just a small fine, or a stern talking-to. :-)
Attacking referees in many cases exposes the parents living vicariously through their children.
Ping
Looks like the sheriff is getting rid of a bad deputy down there.
1You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
2For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
2 Timothy 3
How messed up is it that we have to have a law specifically about hitting a sports official?
When I coached youth sports, I held a meeting at the beginning of the year and told the parents that my goal was not to win games but rather to develop players. I regularly changed starting lineups, and I made an effort to schmooze with the moms, b/c I knew that if I had them on my side, things would go easier. I also told them that if I saw them yelling at officials that I would remove their kid from the team.
BTW, if you have been wathcing the NCAA tournament you can see the product of youth sports that emphasize “winning” over “player development.” The basketball is horrible, their fundamentals are non-existent, they can’t shoot, won’t pass, etc. These college kids are the “AAU generation”—all they do is play games and they spend little time on developing skills.
Sadly, these parents are using their children to live out their fantasies through them. Not only do they show up at every game but they are at every practice as well, with their folding chairs and coolers.
Practice!
I never watched my children at practice. I just dropped them off and returned in an hour or so to pick them up. Coaches don't need hovering parents at practice sessions!
I didn't even go to every game. In fact, one of my sons struggled at the plate in Little League and kept striking out. One day I dropped him off at his game and went to run errands. After picking him up, he excitedly told me he got a couple of base hits. Was he upset that I wasn't there to see them? Maybe a little, but he did tell me that he was always more nervous at the plate when he knew I was watching as he wanted to impress me with a home run. So he was swinging for the fences and striking out. When I wasn't there, he relaxed, focused on making contact with the ball (as his coach was trying to tell him) and singled twice.
I didn't go to a whole lot of games after that.
Just let the kids play and have fun.
These are utterly obnoxious people who embarrass their children and do them no favors whatsoever.
There’s a lot of egos in kids soccer. I have a nephew who got really pissed off at the coach and yanked his son out of soccer. So he basically had a tiff with a coach and now his son is not doing anything athletic whatsoever. That’s idiotic.
I refereed sports, football, basketball, baseball, fast pitch soft all, slow pitch, soccer, etc. I called hundreds and hundreds of games over 25 years. Once in Germany, when I was assigned over there, I called a basketball game, where the visiting team lost by 30 points or more and their coach blamed the officials for the loss. After the game I was standing near the scorer’s table and the bum threw a punch from behind one of his players and hit a glancing blow off my cheek. He was arrested by the MPs, charged with assault. A couple of weeks later I got a phone call at my office and his company commander told me he was “a good soldier, hard worker” and this was going to kill his career because he would face disciplinarily action by his battalion commander. He asked me to drop the charges. I told him no, I would not do that. I said, as an NCO myself, that NCO’s are held to a higher standard than hot headed others. I told him this guy should learn that he cannot blow his fuse and use his fists to get his wants and gains. The guy was punished by reduction of one grade and a fine of money, I forget how much. Yup, some people simply cannot control their anger.