There are sports-related activities both through the schools and in leisure time. Summertime brings Little League baseball and softball. Fall and school bells ring in football, both in school and in such things as Pop Warner leagues. Soccer is a fast-rising sport among youngsters of both genders. That's followed by Little Dribblers basketball. Spring brings school versions of baseball and softball, then comes summer again.
A few bad experiences can color your outlook on youth sports. We all need to be alert to mishaps that set bad examples for our youngsters and give sports in general a black eye. Some parents are the worst things about youth sports. There are those who try to relive their lives vicariously through the participation of their offspring. Their's is the fist that figuratively delivers the black eye.
Many years ago, before I had children, I was talked into umpiring Little League baseball. Since I'd started my career as a sportswriter and had been a college sports publicist, I figured I understood the game enough to umpire. My career lasted through a doubleheader.
Upon arrival at the youth baseball complex, I was given an ump's cap and a rulebook and assigned to first base, a pretty easy task. The game produced no close calls and I cruised through the game. Here came the chief ump and told me I was behind the plate for the second game. He handed me the facemask, chest protector and shin guards. I laced up and got ready.
One of the teams had a 12-year-old, 6-foot-tall youngster, dwarfing most Little Leaguers. However, he'd grown so fast that his coordination hadn't caught up with his height. When he connected with the ball, it went over the fence. But, just as often, he missed the ball by a yard.
This big kid wasn't a problem because he just liked being with the other kids his age and having a good time. His mother was another story. She and her husband, a city councilman, owned a retail store and were well known.
During the big kid's team's turn at bat, she clung to the wire fence backstop behind home plate and alternately yelled encouragement to her son and his teammates and screamed expletive-laced insults at the umpires. She let a few fly my way, so I called time out and turned to the backstop. I moved close enough to the mom that I felt no one else would hear and, since I knew her pretty well, I gave her some friendly advice: "Look, you're not setting a very good example for these young boys or for the town, so please go sit down and just enjoy the game like everyone else." I thought that was the end of that, but I was wrong.
Between innings, the chief ump told me I was the king at that baseball game and could stop the game anytime I wanted and forfeit it for anything deemed illegal or inappropriate.
As her team came to bat an inning later, there she was peppering me with vulgar invective on almost every pitch. After one batter, I called time and went back to the backstop. Again, I called her by name only this time loud enough for those seated a few feet away to hear and said: "If you don't stop this foul language, I'm going to forfeit the game to the other team." She looked at me and said, "You can't do that." "Just watch," I retorted. She sat down and we finished the game. Her team lost.
When the game was over I walked over to the chief umpire, handed him my cap, rulebook and my resignation.
Years later, I witnessed (but was not directly involved in) the worst exhibition of bad behavior by parents and their kids I've ever seen. Our team, in a Pop Warner type football league, had to forfeit in the third quarter. All during this season-ending game, despite warnings from the referees, a couple of our parents, joined by one coach and a couple of players, were cursing the refs and the other team and encouraging our players to play rough and dirty. I was terribly ashamed of the spectacle. We took our son off the team for the next season.
We're told that sports can teach life lessons. We can and should help make sure the lessons are appropriate.
Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher with more than 50 years in the business. He can be reached by e-mail at wwebb@wildblue.net.
