Some Kids' Parents

I was reading through the news on Monday, and ran across an article about a parent threatening a coach for benching his son. His boy was five minutes late on the day of the game.

At first, I was really annoyed... I thought about blogging it, but thought to leave it alone. However, listening to some of the parents of kids around here, and members of a certain club, really brings it right back.

What the hell is up with us nowadays? Parents beat up other parents, coaches, and refs. They taunt kids from the other teams, and sometimes their own. If one is to believe all of them, the world is going to be chock full of superstars in the next couple of years. Their kids are the best on the team... can't win without them.

I hate to go back to the olden days when we all had to cross the prairie in covered wagons to play other schools, but I'm going to anyway. Even back then, there was a certain ugliness to organized sports, both relating to school, and little league baseball or football. There were always a few parents convinced that their kid was Gott in the flesh. But their numbers were very few. Most parents would cheer a great play, whether by their kid's team, or the opponents'. Whether their kid, or the kid fighting him for his spot on the team.

There was a respect, and a realization that these were kids... they were just learning. They needed to see good sportsmanship. Not only from their peers, but their parents as well. A parent's kid may not have played much, but an at bat or two, a couple of downs of football, and they were happy. They wished for more, but many understood that their child's skills were developing. It may take five years, or one, but he may bump someone out of a position later on.

Listen to many parents now... their kid is the star of the team. They don't know why the coach doesn't play them more... their kid would gladly bring himself down off the cross to save the game, then get back on it to save man's soul. If the game is lost, and their child didn't play the whole game, it's the coach's fault.

They get ugly, so I'm going to reply ugly. Childish, yes, but very satisfying.

Have you ever thought, Mr./Mrs. Booster Club member, that your kid just plain SUCKS? The little tub of goo isn't the starting quarterback because he can't move! He's only a pinch hitter because he fields the ball like a sloth! She's not playing basketball regularly because she couldn't guard a trash can!

No... I didn't think you'd ever consider it. Your little Jeebus Jrs. have the skills... you know. They have to have such superior skills because you need to relive your life through them. Everything you couldn't be, they will be. You say so.

Being a coach of a school team has to be the worst/best job out there. It's good because you can look back and see how you've helped to develop the kids, as both people and athletes.

But it's gotta be hard as hell because you have to be a politician. You need to play the good kids and win, so you can get to state, and earn some extra money for your school's program. At the same time, you have to keep in mind that you have to try to play every player, at one point or another, to keep them from being crushed... dejected.

And then, of course, there's the loudmouth parents, who's numbers seem to grow each year. It's too bad that a coach can't just pop an idiot parent in the teeth to shut them up. Win, and you're not so bad... but you still should have played their kid. Lose, and you're buried in an avalanche of criticism. And try to instill and enforce a little discipline? Hah.

I know you shouldn't really go off about something unless you've got a way to improve things, but I just get fed up with listening to this crap. How do we make it better? I really feel that it's too late. How positive is that?

I hope to gott that by the time I've got a bunch of little ones running around, I haven't turned into one of those I hate.

Posted by That 1 Guy at September 21, 2005 10:07 PM | TrackBack