HSdad you are my kind of guy. Pull out a rake a mower and people will leave you alone wont they?
Thanks CoachM. Pull out a paint brush and you can actually get some of them to leave town. 
At my kid's field I found a real nice place to sit at games. It was down the LF line in between the batting cage and bullpen. I’d set right next to a shed and no one could see me unless they were out on the field.
We had this one dad, who gets the “obnoxious” award each and every game. He really didn’t know much about the game, but he yelled a lot.
Anyway, my son was pitching and got called for a balk. The obnoxious dad decided to come down to my spot and talk.
The opposing pitcher was now pitching and stopped his windup to our lead off hitter. At this point, the obnoxious guy started screaming "BALK! BALK! BALK! Yelling at the umpire about why he wasn’t calling a balk on their pitcher. Then he proceded to say “you called it on Andy (my son’s name) so lets call it both ways. Guess he didn’t know or realize there was no baserunner.
As this guy was screaming, I noticed everyone on the field was looking at me like I was some kind of an idiot, including the umpires. I then realized, they couldn’t see anyone other than me so they thought I was the fool with the big mouth. I just started shaking my head and pointing at my chest trying to say it wasn't me.
Our High School coach thought it was pretty funny… I didn’t!
We had this one dad, who gets the “obnoxious” award each and every game. He really didn’t know much about the game, but he yelled a lot.
Anyway, my son was pitching and got called for a balk. The obnoxious dad decided to come down to my spot and talk.
The opposing pitcher was now pitching and stopped his windup to our lead off hitter. At this point, the obnoxious guy started screaming "BALK! BALK! BALK! Yelling at the umpire about why he wasn’t calling a balk on their pitcher. Then he proceded to say “you called it on Andy (my son’s name) so lets call it both ways. Guess he didn’t know or realize there was no baserunner.
As this guy was screaming, I noticed everyone on the field was looking at me like I was some kind of an idiot, including the umpires. I then realized, they couldn’t see anyone other than me so they thought I was the fool with the big mouth. I just started shaking my head and pointing at my chest trying to say it wasn't me.
Our High School coach thought it was pretty funny… I didn’t!
quote:
Originally posted by HSDad:
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.
Aint that the truth?
One other big benefit that I forgot to mention...I get to pick the music.
My most annoying parent story:
I was managing a AAA Little League team (youngest son, currently 13). We had a kid that was a pretty decent pitcher that had been passed over in the Majors draft. Myself and my coaches wondered why such a quality pitcher didn't get drafted into Majors, though we didn't know much about the kid or parents other than both parents play in amatuer adult leagues.
This was AAA after all, so I generally let my catcher call his own game unless there was something special I wanted him to do with a specific batter. It becomes pretty apparent that the pitcher isn't taking the catcher's signs ... after every pitch he's staring down the 1st base line. The opposing coaches even notice, and have their runners stealing bases behind our pitchers back while he's looking out towards the fence.
I call timeout and walk out to find out what's up. The kid says he's getting the pitch signs from his dad, who is seated in a lawn chair 150' down the 1st base line. I tell the kid I'd prefer if he'd take the signs from the catcher. He says he's not comfortable doing that because his dad told him not to. Now, I'm not going to put a kid in the middle of a situation caused by adults ... so I tell him he's pitching a great game, go ahead and keep taking signs from his dad for now, but keep an eye out on the runners because they're on to him. I told him this was an issue for his dad and I to work out, and he shouldn't worry about it. He then finishes a great game for a win.
After the game we do our little team talk, hand out snack shack tickets, and the kids go running off. I wait until I can approach the dad in private. I tell him that I know he's very involved in his son's pitching lessons, etc., and that he want's to be very involved in his son's experience on the mound, but that I'd appreciate it if he would do so in a manner that respects the team and the coaches ... so I tell him he's welcome to come into the dugout as an assistant coach, give signs to the catcher and work with all the pitchers. The dad then launches into a tirade about how he will continue to give signs from right field, he doesn't respect any of the coaches, strongly disagrees with our philosophy of getting all the kids playing time at different postions instead of focusing on wins, and is sick and tired of the special treatment I give my own son ... which was actually pretty funny because my youngest doesn't share his older brother's baseball ability, played mostly outfield and occasional 2B, absorbed much harsher discipline from me than anyone else on the team, and sat the bench more innings than any other kid on the team. This dad's son played more innings than anyone else on the team.
The dad then just grabbed his gear and walked off. My assistant coaches and I just look at each other and the first words out of our mouths were "... now we know why the kid wasn't drafted in Majors". We still pitched the kid ... I'm not going to penalize a kid for an adult issue ... but only on weekday games when we knew his dad couldn't make it to the games. We ended up naming the kid MVP for the season. The sad thing was that the Dad's behavior caused him to miss the opportunity to watch his son, and he did possess knowledge that would have been beneficial to all the kids that pitched on our team, but he was 100% fixated on just his son.
I was managing a AAA Little League team (youngest son, currently 13). We had a kid that was a pretty decent pitcher that had been passed over in the Majors draft. Myself and my coaches wondered why such a quality pitcher didn't get drafted into Majors, though we didn't know much about the kid or parents other than both parents play in amatuer adult leagues.
This was AAA after all, so I generally let my catcher call his own game unless there was something special I wanted him to do with a specific batter. It becomes pretty apparent that the pitcher isn't taking the catcher's signs ... after every pitch he's staring down the 1st base line. The opposing coaches even notice, and have their runners stealing bases behind our pitchers back while he's looking out towards the fence.
I call timeout and walk out to find out what's up. The kid says he's getting the pitch signs from his dad, who is seated in a lawn chair 150' down the 1st base line. I tell the kid I'd prefer if he'd take the signs from the catcher. He says he's not comfortable doing that because his dad told him not to. Now, I'm not going to put a kid in the middle of a situation caused by adults ... so I tell him he's pitching a great game, go ahead and keep taking signs from his dad for now, but keep an eye out on the runners because they're on to him. I told him this was an issue for his dad and I to work out, and he shouldn't worry about it. He then finishes a great game for a win.
After the game we do our little team talk, hand out snack shack tickets, and the kids go running off. I wait until I can approach the dad in private. I tell him that I know he's very involved in his son's pitching lessons, etc., and that he want's to be very involved in his son's experience on the mound, but that I'd appreciate it if he would do so in a manner that respects the team and the coaches ... so I tell him he's welcome to come into the dugout as an assistant coach, give signs to the catcher and work with all the pitchers. The dad then launches into a tirade about how he will continue to give signs from right field, he doesn't respect any of the coaches, strongly disagrees with our philosophy of getting all the kids playing time at different postions instead of focusing on wins, and is sick and tired of the special treatment I give my own son ... which was actually pretty funny because my youngest doesn't share his older brother's baseball ability, played mostly outfield and occasional 2B, absorbed much harsher discipline from me than anyone else on the team, and sat the bench more innings than any other kid on the team. This dad's son played more innings than anyone else on the team.
The dad then just grabbed his gear and walked off. My assistant coaches and I just look at each other and the first words out of our mouths were "... now we know why the kid wasn't drafted in Majors". We still pitched the kid ... I'm not going to penalize a kid for an adult issue ... but only on weekday games when we knew his dad couldn't make it to the games. We ended up naming the kid MVP for the season. The sad thing was that the Dad's behavior caused him to miss the opportunity to watch his son, and he did possess knowledge that would have been beneficial to all the kids that pitched on our team, but he was 100% fixated on just his son.
I find if I sit at the fence with my camera I can avoid most of the obnoxious parents.
Well, except the parent that yelled out, did you get him swinging, did you get the hit? ... He's on first now, did you get that? Try to get him stealing too, oh there you go now he's on second.......(buy your own camera lady)
Well, except the parent that yelled out, did you get him swinging, did you get the hit? ... He's on first now, did you get that? Try to get him stealing too, oh there you go now he's on second.......(buy your own camera lady)
quote:
Well, except the parent that yelled out, did you get him swinging, did you get the hit? ... He's on first now, did you get that? Try to get him stealing too, oh there you go now he's on second.......(buy your own camera lady)
123Kmom: nice photo by your name can I get a free print of that? Just kidding.
Can definitely relate to the camera one.
As a professional photographer, I usually don't take photos at games 'cause it's time off. But I usually like to photograph my kid at least once during the season for the scrapbook and I almost feel like I have to sneak the camera into the ballpark.
My standard reply is "Pay me money."
That usually shuts people up pretty quick, but that probably makes me the
(drum roll)
"Selfish Parent"
Can definitely relate to the camera one.
As a professional photographer, I usually don't take photos at games 'cause it's time off. But I usually like to photograph my kid at least once during the season for the scrapbook and I almost feel like I have to sneak the camera into the ballpark.
My standard reply is "Pay me money."
That usually shuts people up pretty quick, but that probably makes me the
(drum roll)
"Selfish Parent"
quote:
Originally posted by limom84:
Are you the parent who sits out in left field all by himself, the "unsociable" parent?
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Well I usually start out there by myself, or with my wife by my side, but it doesn't take long before the other non-socially oriented parents are in the left field corner socializing about everything but baseball. You see we are there to watch, not "run" things.
pbonesteel, what you did was quite admirable......Most Coaches' ego wouldn't allow them to make the offer to the Dad that you did......That Dad gives other obnoxious people like me a bad name.....And, you are to be commended as a stand-up Coach...... 