Most annoying parents at games.

Wonderful post.
Extremely stimulating and thought provoking - and a great help to the kids and their families going through the baseball experience.

In other more sarcastic and honest terms - more garbage from a garbage poster whose only intent is to pile the garbage as high as he/she can.

I give you a 10 for pure effort. LOL

itsinthegame-

Which parent are you? Maybe trhit can shed some light on it??

Doesn't this all have to do with HS baseball? All of these parents exist at the game, both HS and summer ball. After all, it's in the game.

LiMom,

I dont need TRHit or anyone else for that matter to tell you who I am.



Go ask someone else your stupid questions.

itsinthegame-

I don't care what your name is or where you live. It's your persona at the game that I am interested in.

Sounds to me like I missed one...

the "angry" parent

To be honest I go to a game watch it and go home. I do not spend much time wondering which parents are annoying etc etc.

Will-

Are you the parent who sits out in left field all by himself, the "unsociable" parent?

Obviously, Lilmom missed, "the dying of emabarrasment parent, that the kid wished would stay home"...

Here's some more I forgot-

the "bad breath" parents. They're close talkers. They get right up into your face, right into your nose. You wish they would brush their teeth. Wait, they don't have any teeth.

the "invisible" parents. They never go to any games. Their kid always needs a ride both ways, and lunch too.

the "umpire" parent. He can make the call from behind the third base dugout.

the "second guesser" parent. He always second guesses the coach.

#1- The parent that never has the time to work with his kid (takes the time) and expects the coach to make him into a player in three months (the high school season) Then blames the coach because he cant hit or throw.
#2- The parent that never asks what they can do or helps out with concessions or booster club etc- But gripes about facilities or equipment etc.
#3- The parent that cant understand why their son has a negative attitude and spends the whole ride home from the game griping about the coaches and other players and well as parents.
#4- The parent that is jealous of the kids that excell and spends all their time trying to tear them down in the stands. Never looking at the fact that these kids have put in years of hard work and dedication to be at the level they are at. At the same time when these kids are at the cages on the weekends and staying after practice for extra work they have their kid at the lake or at home riding four wheelers.
#5- The parent that constantly gives their son excuses and never requires them to seek solutions.
#6- The parent that is always comparing their son to other players.
#7- The parent that gripes about how long the team practices and then complains that the coaches have not worked with their son enough.
#8- The parent that complains about team rules then makes a call to the administration about the kid that plays in front of theirs because they heard a rumor about the competition.
#9- The parent that complains about a coach using profanity and then buys their son an M@M cd.
#10- The parent that complains that there son is not getting a ride somewhere and the kid has never had the work ethic to excell in HS.
#11- The parent that is jealous of the kids playing on the elite teams in the summer and fall and their kid never even attempted to play or showed any interest.
#12- The parent who is your team biggest and loudest supporter at the game when their son is in the line up and sits quietly and gripes with the other non starter parents on the days he does not play.
#13- The parent that gripes about other parents and then as soon as something doesnt go their way does the same thing the other parents were doing.
#14- The parent that is willing to do anything for the program anytime you ask. Untill their son is dropped in the batting order.
#15- The parent that makes a contribution to the booster club and then can not understand why their son is not starting after "everything we have done".

I have about 100 more. But I could also post just as many good things that parents do as well. And I could post just as many bad things about some coaches and just as many good things. You can find the negative its real easy. I would much rather look at the positive. I guess I really shouldnt post on these negative themes because what good does it really do. But what the heck its 2am freezing outside and I cant sleep so nothing better to do right now anyway.

Coach May - excellent post.

These post had me hysterical. Unfortunately, I found a little bit of myself in several of them.

A lot of truth in both lists! Funny stuff.

limom84

At times I choose to sit there to avoid the times when what you have described is the order of the day.

The other side of this coin is those special parents who go way above and beyond without any expectation of special treatment.

I have one right now.

His son is great kid, with serious vision issues. Dad, for the last three years has put in 10-20 hours a week on field improvements. Our mound is a textbook example, and when we replanted the entire field he took it upon himself to meet the Dodgers groundkeepers and pick their brains for clues to getting a perfect field....jump to this year, his son has decided not to play, but to concentrate on X-country and Basketball, but Dad was on the field yesterday, with the brand-new MLB bases that he asked his wife to get him for Christmas, making sure that all of our measurements were exact. He begs me not to ever publically acknowledge what he is doing, but people do notice, and I have a lot less parent issues since he started all of this.

"without any expectation of special treatment" .Would be great if that was the case all the time.

I take exception to the 'umpire parent' comment... I pride myself on my ability to make accurate calls from any seat in the stands. Since I have at least eight years experience at this, I certainly should have a bit of credibility.

P.S. I can also accurately guage pitching speeds and am available as an expert witness for 'hit' vs 'error' debates.

I get real annoyed when people do not "spit" the seed shells. It is so unprofessional to discard them with your hand.

Tiger3boy

You are very lucky to have such a dedicated parent.....

Currently we have 3 dad's that I admire in our program and neither of them have sons in our program, they have graduated and they don't even have younger ones coming up. They have been to several of our all day Saturday work days putting in as much muscle and time as us w/boys in the program. They helped coach our off season teams w/no pay, they attend booster club meetings and pay dues, these are truly parents that love the game, the program and are asking for nothing in return. Our program is lucky to have them and hopefully those of us in the program will learn something about giving for the sake of giving from them.

As to annoying parents and this list: I would add anyone that doesn't share their peanuts or seeds with those of us that forget to bring ours.

oldbat-never,
Those are what we call "Program Guardians", they understand their role, and are due respect.

Those program guaridans as you call them are the cornerstone of every good program in any sport. Those people have my total respect and there is nothing that I will not do for them. Their ONLY agenda is they love the game the school and the kids. And I will tell you what they can always see something that we miss. They are the ones that come up after practice and everyone wants to know what they think. And you had better listen because they have that "old school" knowledge.

limom,

I thought your list was very funny.....and way too accurate! Perhaps those that take offense see a bit of themselves in some of your descriptions! GREAT POST

LionMom 84

You refered to me as "the unsociable parent" If the situation presents itself and sometimes it does i do not feel like sitting there and listen to somebody second guess the coach, complain about the umpires or whine why his kid is not hitting 1st and starting somewhere. Just a preferance.

rz1

I just learned something new (I have done a lot of learning via this site)I didn't know that title and hopefully I will be a "Program Guardian" sometime in the future.

This is only our 2nd season of HS baseball and this was the first time I saw this amount of help and support from alumni parents. What a nice compliment to the program to have those that are willing to help in this manner.

UKMB- funny! I am also talented enough to have that same ability- when my son is pitching! Questions about the strike zone??? SEE ME Was it a hit or an error- easy one- error of course!

I am one of those who sits down the left line and it has nothing to do with being sociable or not---I just don't need the "negative chat chat" in the stands

I don't even sit with my wife - I like to watch the game!!!!

amom -
As a matter of fact, now that I think on it, I DO have a heightened sense of accuracy when my son is on the mound. Hmmm... never realized that before

I go down the line and smoke a big fat stinky cigar. I view it as obnoxious parent repellent. Amazing how many people come way down the line to sit next to me and then tell me it stinks. I guess it doesn't always work. I just tell then I was here first and blow some smoke thier way.

quote:

---

Originally posted by amom:
UKMB- funny! I am also talented enough to have that same ability- when my son is pitching! Questions about the strike zone??? SEE ME Was it a hit or an error- easy one- error of course!

---

Hey...me too...small world ain't it?

BigHit,
Thats fuuny and I can relate about the cigar.

I've seen most of the things on the list, been guilty of this and that, here and there..but for the most part I try to just be "happy to be here, hope I can help the ball club". My son is going to have to earn what he gets on his ability.

The most obnoxious thing I've heard a parent say was last year....Our team was behind, and a Dad screamed onto the field "Let's get some diarrhea boys, we need some runs". I was appalled....for the record he was also one of those dads who was guilty of most of the things on the list.

I think that most of the good parents outweigh the bad ones. None of us are perfect, just like none of the coaches are perfect either.

Once, at a club tournament, while my son was up to bat, my wife shouted out "find a hole and stick it in it!". I turn and look ... "you mean a gap?". Between games, my son told her she needed to work on a new saying ... to everyone's amusement.

I don't do a very good job of being a parent in the stands. That's why I coach.

Uh, this thread may have run its course.

I stand down the left field fence sometimes, but not all the time. It's only so that I can see and hear the game better. If a lot of people are in the stands, I'll move on down. I'm not "unsociable". I talk to other parents from the opposing teams all the time. It's ok to stand alone.

I have seen "The Worst kind of Parent" and had the joy of kicking them out of the park....

The parent who needs to drink a beer at a youth league game. Hides it in a red plastic cup... thinking no one will notice the only beer style cup in the park.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, can you write just one thing that is positive? Everything you write is b****ing or moaning about some way you(or your child) have been wronged. I feel sorry for him because you were probably half those things on your list.

The fact that some in this thread can't enjoy the intention of the posts is almost as funny as some of the stereotypes.

You guys forgot:
*the parent that incessantly yells to their son to "just go out and have fun honey"

*the parent that wears headphones to every game listening to some other game at the same time. Can you say overload?

*the parent that holds their sons's cel phone and brings it over to him on the bench during the game if it rings. AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Personally, I love to watch the game from as close to the catcher/pitcher as possible. That's where all the action is to me.

I came up with a partial solution for dealing with difficult parents at HS games, I became "scorers box" parent. It's only good for home games but I get to just watch the game, play some music between innings, take care of the scoreboard and throw in a few sound effects. No other parents come up and bother me because they fear being asked to help out.