[greymule]

Recently, posters have recounted the outrageous behavior of some coaches and players, and I responded that I don't see trouble anywhere near what they have described.

However, this past Sunday, in men's modified, I had a player threaten me. He felt I didn't give enough respect to his claim that two runners should be called out on appeal for leaving before the outfielder got full control over a catch (they left when the ball first hit the fielder's glove, and the ball then popped up a few feet and fell back into the glove). I ejected him from the game and the premises. In the next game, another player heaved his bat and spewed an obscene tirade toward me (he left the premises, too). I've done that league for years and never had any incidents like those.

Then I drove to do the final two games of our main girls' tourney of the year (88 teams) and heard horror stories about a coach who, in an otherwise uneventful game, simply erupted and went berserk in the seventh inning, throwing equipment, refusing to leave, cursing, etc. (They're still not sure what his beef was—apparently something about a movable base.) Past that, some other coaches had to be tossed for various offenses. One guy was caught skipping over weaker batters in the hopes no one would notice (this was the 10-and-under division, where apparently it's win at all costs).

Maybe it was something in the air Sunday.