Learned long ago that fans really don't give a damn about our rationale/thought process/rules/etc. They just want to vent and/or blame. This lesson was taught to me by a co-worker/friend who is an avid HS sports fan. He'd have D1 officials working his games and I'd still hear how terrible they were.

I'm glad that I was in St Louis visiting my grandson, or I might have been there also.

VB summer tourney, A1 dives for a loose ball, then lays there as B1 and B2 come in and try to grab it. A coach gets a TO called in time.
B coach says it was a travel.
My mistake was responding. "no, it's not."
Coach, "Yeah, you know everything."
Me: :/

I re-learned that lesson yesterday, sitting amongst parents.

As I'm finishing my workout at my office's exercise room, I get a text from my kid (high school junior) that his friends' high school playoff baseball game is going into extra innings, 1-1. This is a little surprising, considering his school was the region's #8 seed playing the #1 seed and top rival. The game is mile away, so I make the quick drive to see the finish.

I sit alone among my town's contingency on the third base side, though surrounded by familiar faces. Maybe I should have taken a spot behind the plate, because it bordered on embarrassing being around some parents. I really don't know why I was surprised -- yelling at the plate ump on balls/strikes (never mind that our position to judge is lousy), yelling at base umpires to "ask for help" (like that ever works), or screaming that a center fielder dropped a ball (not even close!) when making a semi-diving catch. Oh, and yelling at the kid for making the catch! ("You should be ashamed of yourself!") I had to contain myself from pointing out what @$$es they were making of themselves.

Still, it didn't ruin a 3-2 eleventh inning victory, sparked by our star basketball center, er, first baseman, drilling one over the left field fence. I just hope I remember to sit amongst people who aren't motivated solely by their kids' victories.

Sportmanship ...
 

All three of my children participated on various high school sports teams. When I attended their games and an opposing player would make a great play, I would politely clap. I was always the only one in the crowd who applauded. They would all look at me like I was from Mars.

These types of comments make me chuckle.

The reason why most of us participate in dialogue, go to camp, watch video, etc, is so that we do know things, and can apply the proper ruling.

A phrase I like to use, if I have to, is, "not that one, sir".

John 8:7 ...
 

Full disclosure. I will admit that I did occasionally "moan" about a referee's, or umpire's, call. No yelling. No name calling. No disrespect. Just a simple, "Oh, c'mon ump."

I wondered yesterday how many times I yelled "but he was moving!" after an offensive foul.

Had to tell a coach last night that if I'm close enough to hear his comments to his AC, then he's talking to me.

Rabbit ears. :D

Stop getting so close, then...:D

"So move."
"Know where you're supposed to be."

I ignored those, although the second one came from the AC (my back was turned, but I knew his voice), so I should have probably rang him up.

I was back at the division line for the first of 2 FTs, waiting to call in some subs. And he wasn't using his inside voice.

As I told an airman many years ago when she tried to get mad at me for listening to her conversation, "Don't have a private conversation in public if you don't want others to hear it."

Bingo! I hate when they use the excuse of "not talking to you" while talking about you loud enough for you to hear.

Had one of those a few weeks ago with a coach addressing his player. I told the coach he needs to keep those comments out of my earshot.

Tourney in CT last weekend:

New partner, never met her before. 1 minute into the game, I'm the trail, a shot bounces on the top of the backboard, falls back into play and my partner (lead on the endline underneath the basket) whistles out of bounds. Ughhh, long day ahead: PCA -- fail; Rules -- fail. At the first timeout, I say, "On that shot a minute or so ago, looked to me like it just bounced on the top of the backboard. What'd you see there?"

"Oh, well I'm from Massachusetts," (so am I) "and up there, top of the backboard is out of bounds." I tried to explain the rule but she just said, "We can do it your way." So we did it "my" way for that game, but be forewarned: she's out there and was unswayed by my attempts at polite reform.

So it's not just the fans, coaches and players, fellas. The horror show is across the board.

Same tourney, different game. A1, inbounding on the endline, passes to a teammate across the free-throw lane, the ball hitting the net as it enters the court. Team B coach asks, "Isn't the net out of bounds?" Just when you think you've heard it all, you discover there's a whole other level of thought you never knew was possible.


I went the sarcasm route -- never advisable -- and said, "That'd make scoring pretty tough, wouldn't it?" and luckily that was the proper tack with this coach, who laughed and gave an "Oh ... right" look.

AAU is like an outlaw society.