I think (hope) that sometimes the complaints are contained to this board. Maybe some parents use this as a way to vent and voice frustrations, but they leave it here. In a way, this becomes a "therapy board" doesn't it?! For every upset parent on board, there are several who answer and say "I know what you are going through..." I think people just want to be heard and validated, even if they know they have to be quiet in real life and let the game play out.
A recent story from our family file:
We arrive at a game. Our sophomore son is usually the starting catcher (over a senior) but on this occasion senior is behind the plate and son is in left. This was also true of a previous game. My hubby's jaw gets a bit tight, and he mumbles to me "When did son lose the starting position?" (He'd never say this to son or coach, by the way.) I point out that son IS starting. Also that he understand the coach's dilemma: the last two teams are big hitters/slow runners, we have a young pitcher at the plate who will probably give up some deep hits to left, and the team's best option for left field control is our son. The senior behind the plate might give up a few more passed balls/bases, but a hole in left has cost us too many runs in previous games. Hubby immediately relaxes and says, "Oh! OK..." and sits down. Son comes in behind the plate after 4 innings (senior doesn't have endurance) in which we're holding at 1 run behind, and we fall back by 6 because of uncaught balls in left. <sigh> I actually wish son could have stayed in OF a little longer.
Sometimes the coach just has to figure out how to make the best of things.