Worst Sports Parents?

[APG]

Originally Posted by Tom.OH

When our daughter played soccer a lot of parents yelled because they did not know any rules. Since some knew I worked football games they asked me if it was a good call. While I knew some soccer rules I did not know all of them.

I think the problem with youth football parents (and coaches) is that they yell if they think an NFL or NCAA foul should be called. You know ,that wasn't DPI, the pass was uncatchable or that foul is an automatic first down. I call those rules "as seen on TV" since that is where they get them.

I think that's a bigger issue in football...NFHS rules on some things are drastically different from NCAA and the even more so from the NFL. With a sport like basketball...while there are differences between the codes, a majority of the the rules are the same.

[scrounge]

Originally Posted by APG

I think that's a bigger issue in football...NFHS rules on some things are drastically different from NCAA and the even more so from the NFL. With a sport like basketball...while there are differences between the codes, a majority of the the rules are the same.

Indeed....."HE'S OUTSIDE THE POCKET!!". Heard 6 times in high school games this year (admittedly, JV/Freshmen with less experienced coaches).

[APG]

Originally Posted by scrounge

Indeed....."HE'S OUTSIDE THE POCKET!!". Heard 6 times in high school games this year (admittedly, JV/Freshmen with less experienced coaches).

I honestly didn't know there wasn't a pocket under NFHS rules...I played high school football in Texas which means NCAA rules. Then again, when I saw the differences between NFHS and NCAA rules like somehow being able to get called for PI for face guarding w/o contact, I was shocked (and that's just some of the IMO stupid rules/interpretations I think NFHS football has).

[scrounge]

Originally Posted by APG

I honestly didn't know there wasn't a pocket under NFHS rules...I played high school football in Texas which means NCAA rules. Then again, when I saw the differences between NFHS and NCAA rules like somehow being able to get called for PI for face guarding w/o contact, I was shocked (and that's just some of the IMO stupid rules/interpretations I think NFHS football has).

And it's just getting worse with NFHS eliminating automatic 1st downs on DPI next year.

[UmpireErnie]

Many years ago when I still did baseball I was working the field in a high school game between two small private schools in Texas. The assistant coach was also the father of the catcher for the home team. Catcher was having a rough game, several passed balls and Coach Dad was really riding him.. more and more with each miscue.

Finally during one of these dress downs from the dugout catcher stands up, drops all his gear on home plate, pulls off his jersey, and walks away.

Sad.

[Adam]

The younger the kids, the worse the parents. Just like players learn to play, parents learn to behave at about the same pace.

[APG]

Pee wee hockey coach Martin Tremblay gets 15 days in jail for tripping player - ESPN

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by APG

Pee wee hockey coach Martin Tremblay gets 15 days in jail for tripping player - ESPN

I heard about this on the local sports radio station on the way to work. Seeing the video makes it even more incredulous. I hope this guy gets "tripped" every day of his 15 days in jail.

While I certainly don't defend them, parents yelling at officials is nothing more than parents reacting to something that brings harm to their kids. They like to see their kids succeed in all things that life throws at them, and when they feel someone has caused them to fail, they're going to react, sometimes way over the top. Conversely, if they feel someone causes the opposing team to fail, they're quiet as church mice.

That said, I've umpired boys baseball up to the high school level, and now I umpire girls fast-pitch softball up to the NCAAs. By far, the worst parents I've ever seen were the ones in my son's local Little League at games involving 7-8 year-olds in the machine pitch division. To this day, I'm convinced it was because this was the first division of ball where scores and standings were kept, and championship trophies were awarded by the league at the end of the season. Young parents just couldn't handle their first exposure to competitive play. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the umpires who worked those games were brand new volunteers who didn't have a good grasp of the rules.

As the league UIC, I tried each year to get the league's Board of Directors to change the machine pitch division to a non-competitive environment, where no standings were kept and no post-season championship games were played. I never succeeded. So each season, I had to deal with unruly parents yelling at my new umpires, and actually fighting with each other in the stands. It was unreal.

[Adam]

The only time I've ever had to do something about fans in a basketball game was a 5th/6th grade boys game. We had to have the table crew replaced because the two dads working the clock and book couldn't stop arguing with each other and the coach.

Today, I have some 7th grade YMCA games, we'll see what happens.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Adam

The younger the kids, the worse the parents. Just like players learn to play, parents learn to behave at about the same pace.

Unfortunately that may be a function not so much of learning to behave, but how much they care. The more they care, the more of them will be there, and, there being a fixed percentage of bad sports in any crowd, the more bad sports will be in attendance. As the kids age, the parents stop turning out. When they get up to a certain age, the crowds may increase from people who care more about the game than they do about the players, which probably diminishes the fraction of bad sports.