As a softball, baseball and soccer official...........I acknowledge the difficulty of you guys/gals..........

But...........I still pass out TASO applications to every Idiot parent in the stands...........

One cool side effect is that I get to enjoy pretty much every game by myself..............d;-)

Joel

I could write a book on "idiot parents"! Many of them "get it", but there are always those that just defy explanation! How dull and uneventful is your life when you get out there and yell at a referee about your kid's game like it was life or death? Unbelievable! I still remember the boy who came up to me after a game and apologized for the actions of his Dad. I also remember a JV girl who blew a layup to tie a game and was almost in tears as she heard her Dad yelling at her from the stands. I told her she played a great game and even NBA players miss layups. She said she could never play "well enough" to please her Dad. I wanted to tell "Dad" that he should be proud that he had such a great kid and to quit pushing her to the point where basketball wasn't fun for her anymore. I had reffed her games since she was in 4th grade, so I knew her pretty well and could see that her Dad really pushed her too hard. Not being my kid, I can only offer encouragement to her when I see her, but obviously cannot get involved in how he raises his daughter...makes me mad though!

My all-time favorite - uh, you know what I mean - I had a friend who was an allstar soccer player in high school. When she didn't do well enough, she knew because she had to sit in the back of the car - the dog got to sit in the front.

Check out this idiot parent, University of Tennessee Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl.

http://www3.knoxnews.com/kns/gvx_vol...0558%2C00.html

So if a fan says, "You blew three calls in a row", you have them thrown out of the game? Why would you even pay attention to what fans say?

Jim, has it occurred to you that we're only hearing one side of the story?

[Edited by BktBallRef on Feb 5th, 2006 at 11:43 AM]

Maybe all the details and truths were not printed in this story.????
Maybe they were and the official over reacted.????

Many of the comments below the story from fans were frustraiting and showed some of the typical reactions we get from fans at our games. They figure the officials don't know the game, can't see the fouls (against their team), call way to many ticky-tack fouls (against their team), and take way to many comments personal.

It's kinda funny that they think we don't know the rules.

Wow, interesting sitch. My two-cents.

We always discuss the "few and far between" credible comments from most in the stands. Basis for us ignoring them.
So if a D1 coach is in attendence and commenting, and gathering his possee to work a ref, one would logically assume he had some rules credibility with the exception of NCAA vrs. NFHS differences.

How'd the referee know who it was? Why make eye contact with the fans? IGNORE!

That said - refeee's discretion. I support him.

BTW - does an ejected fan get their $3.00 admission fee back?

Local Dad
 

The local high school has the kid of a former NBA player and now an Asst Coach of an NBA team on its squad. When the NBA team is home dad is always there, watching kid,who is a stud, very, very quietly. Some of the NBA players show up from time to time to watch also. Kid is the shining example of sportsmanship as is the father. Then I go ref my JR HIgh city semi-finals and Joe the plumber is screeching at me cause his son's team is losing by 35 and its my fault.

Go Figure.

You're kidding, right? Just because a person is a D-1 coach, it certainly doesn't mean he knows the rules.

Where did you read that the referee said he knew who the fan was?

You're assuming an awful lot.


[Edited by BktBallRef on Feb 5th, 2006 at 11:43 AM]

Re: Local Dad
 

Not surprising to me. We have quite a few retired NBA players living in the area as well, and every time I've seen one attending their kids' gsmes they've been nothing but a class act. I think there are a couple of reasons: 1- They have a very good understanding of the game; 2- They've "been there done that", and have no need to live vicariously through their kids'.

Re: Re: Local Dad
 

....and 3 - they do not want to do anything to draw attention to themselves, especially negative attention, and they also likely have to follow a code of conduct or face team penalties.

Don't mean to be cynical, but....

Hearing things from the stands
 

Does anyone hear very much from the stands during a game? I rarely hear or can distinguish things yelled from the stands. And, unless there was vulgarity, who would care. They paid their $5 bucks, it is there prerogative to yell and cheer and support their team. I was embarrassed when I became a ref and realized how little I knew about the rules (and I had coached for 10 years!). How can we blow our gaskets (except for vulgarity or comments about my momma) when most comments are made out of ignorance. Ignore the ignorance (coaches included, although, a little side bar to answer coach's questions can go a long way...)

Haha, How often has anyone ever heard a "coach" just say "You blew three calls in a row" without some other descriptive comments. I agree that we are only hearing one side of this story. I hope he learned the lesson of being a role model for the kids.

My "assumption" is based on these words from the artical.

<i>Because he is Bruce Pearl, this guy (Mynatt) eyeballed him and targeted him</I>

Just because it's printed in either ink or pixels, doesn't make it true! Good grief, If half of what Pearl admits to is what he said and did, he's inciting, belittling and being obnoxious. And the whole, "What did I do?" routine sounds too much like the player classic, "I never touched him!" Mynatt <i> might</i> have been OOO, but there's no way to tell for sure from this article.

Ignore what fans say. Your blood pressure will thank you.

20 years and they never cease......
 

to amaze me. Tonight, in the last 2 minutes of a close game, the star guard for team B commits his 5th foul on the baseline, approximately 50 feet away from his very supportive dad, who was sitting on the other side of the division line. The foul was very plain, I thought, but what do I know? I didn't turn to look, but heard dad approaching: "...didn't even touch him....not a foul.....never touched him at all....etc."
He continued his tirade down the sideline, across the endline and just as he reached the door, I looked at him, kinda like you would look at a piece of dog residue on the ground. He defiantly said, "You understand that?" I said, "Yeah, I understand. There's the door, you understand that?" He disappeared. Problem solved. Not quite. Game over. He reappeared, came out on the court to enlighten me further. "You are a sorry, no-good son of a *****!" I just walked away. When I looked back, he was gone. Oh, by the way, the level of play involved? Very serious! 9&10 year old boys

I notice and hear more from the stands when the kids are younger. I do not think fans have the right to act like an idiot in front of the younger kids. High school kids can take it, but 4th graders should not have to hear it, see it, or put up with it. They are much more impressionable at a young age and if I can shut somebody up, I will do it.

I asked a Gym Supervisor to clear the whole gym during a club league game because of 2 parents who were causing a disturbance. Mind you there was probably only 20 - 30 people in the gym but I bet these two guys had their tails between their legs outside the school. Level of play 10/11 yr old girls. We all had a blast once the gym was cleared.
Now if we could get the coaches to all understand its about the young kids having fun and learning the game all would be right in the world.

There is an inverse algabreic relationship between the age and skill level of the players and their parents ignorance and loudness. (I would graph it but I don't know how).