Makes you wonder....

Hi BBfam. It is a shame. Watching my son play baseball for many years now and I've seen it happen so many times. Whether it's been coaches at each other or coaches and parents. I've seen too many ugly situations like you describe, have even walked away so as not to see or hear too much. I know my son has witnessed many things I wish he hadn't. It's happened at town/rec games, and travel/all star ball. For some reason it was always a little worse when it was the town/rec games because there pretty much everyone knew each other and it always seemed worse to me. Atleast at away games we didn't know the other side. It's one thing I don't look forward to with a new season starting soon, yet it seems to happen all too frequently. I probably need a thicker skin for this stuff, but I'm not a controversial person so am uncomfortable around those situations. On a positive note alot of the games there aren't any major problems and I am able to enjoy watching, it's just you never forget those good games that seem to get ruined by some controversy.

The other coach broke an unwrtten rule of tournament play. Get the heck out of the dugout and talk to your kids on the sidelines. They showed a lack of class and I am sure the kids wanted out of the dugout just as bad as your team wanted in.

As to the parents, well, at least you can use them as an example of how not to act.

I didn't see a problem with the kids. In this instance, they were just outplayed. But, my concern is how long can they keep up a good attitude with parents behaving the way they did? Just a small little tournament with kids having fun on a Sunday. It wasn't the end of the world.

If your son has been raised properly he will be just as turned as you are.

Ooooh, that could be scary

As a TD numerous times I have had several opportunites to "counsel" coaches after games about clearing (and cleaning!) the dugout after a game.

Funny thing I had a friend coaching a team in a tourney for the first time. They had a DH and after the first game they packed up quickly and moved to the other dugout while their opponent was pateiently waitng outside the same dugout for the first team to clear. They wanted to get out of the sun. I promptly told him to pack his stuff and get back in the original dugout.

Another time I had an 11u team who played the last game on a Sat night, scheduled to start at 7pm and actually started about 8pm - so it was late! They lost and the coach engaged in a LONG talk to his team. All the other fields were empty and lights off. I gave him way too long and did every other job that needed to get done. Finally about 45 minutes after the game had ended I told the waiting parents "I'm done" and turned out the lights on them. Coach was ****ed but the parents thanked me!

Some coaches just don't know how to act.