Coach ejected while in stands

[Mark Padgett]

Juulie and daves - I got a call yesterday from a reporter at The Oregonian (Patrick O'Neil) who is doing a story on violence in youth sports. He contacted NASO and they referred him to me, since I worked on the referee assault legislation here in Oregon. I mentioned the Brad Smith story and some other things and he is going to call Howard to get his version and also ask if he can speak to some other refs.

I asked him if the story was "triggered" by the hockey incident, but he said he was working on it long before that happened.

The strange part is that the story (if it actually happens) will be in the Living section, not Sports.

BTW - I told him that coaches are generally referred to as howler monkeys. It cracked him up.

As you may know, one of The Oregonian political columnists, Steve Duin, has coached his daughter's rec team in LO for a few years. I've done some of his games and never had a problem with him.

The story will cover more sports than just basketball. I also suggested to the reporter that he check out this website.

If the story comes out, and there is something significant in it which would be of interest to the entire group, I will post it.