Sayings you hate to hear in the stands from other parents

quote:

Originally posted by calisportsfan:
I hate when pitchers parents ride the umpire on every pitch....IT DOESN"T MAKE THE GUY WANT TO GET IT RIGHT! Let the coach do his job. Parents should keep their mouths shut on umpires calls, that's not our role.

It has nothing to do with umpire wanting to get the call right. We want to get the all right whether people yell or not. Most often, if it has any effect at all, is with newer umpires. It can frustrate them and make them more nervous making them more nervous and lose focus which will increase the odds of them making mistakes.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:

"He's gotta slide, Blue!"

I never called an official 'ref', 'ump', or 'blue'. I was taught 'Mr. Referee, Sir' and 'Mr. Umpire, Sir'. And I still address them that way, even if they're half my age (or younger).

Does 'Blue' bother you? It seems like most people say it these days.

I've seen most if not all of the above. Some bother me more than others, some I'll admit I've said myself.

The one I use the most when fans ask "why was he out?" on some bang / bang play when the runner tried to stretch and the ball beat him by 30' but he appeared to possibly avoid a tag or didn't slide on a close play and the umpire defaults to out. "That was a classic, he's out because he's stupid".

My pet peeve is when parents 'over cheer' errors. I never saw an error I felt was worthy of cherring. I don't believe HS kids deserve this kind of treatment.

I prefer to cheer the positive. When an opponent lays out on a line drive headed for the gap and makes the catch, I'd prefer to give a "great play" and clap. When opponents do that for our team, I immediately think, they're a classy group.

I also try and support the coach's decisions. The coach sees the kids six days a week for 3+ hours. We see them a couple days a week for two hours. He's also a coach and we aren't. He knows what he's doing and has more information.

I never disagree with an umpire who is in proper position to make a call. Most hustle, rotate properly and aren't lazy. Those guys have a better angle on the play than a fan in the stands. If he doesn't put himself in better position than I'm in and blows it an "Oh come on" is not uncalled for. I don't believe more than that is necessary.

Intersting you hear so much less from fans in softball than baseball. I think people bite their tounges in softball because even causual conversation can be heard by players / umpires / coaches.

In baseball, fans are so much farther away you hear a lot more causual conversation (griping) which can't be heard by the players / umpires / coaches.

As a parent I yelled at an umpire once. He made three bad calls in the first two innings. I yelled, "You're off to a horrible start Blue." He yelled back, "You're right!" Where can you go from there as a fan/parent?

My son and I were at one of our High Schools playoff games last year to support our team. I was sitting infront of two scouts that were there to watch our pitcher. Everytime the opposing pitcher was on the mound, their fans would ride the umpire.
It seemed like every other pitch that wasn't called a strike was "come on blue." It had reached a point beyond rediculous and the scouts were chuckling at their fans saying, "I guess if the ball leaves his hand, it's suppose to be a strike." I can only image what was going through the umpires mind. After several "come on blue"s in a row, their pitcher threw a ball the catcher had to dive out for to keep it from being a wild pitch. During that brief moment of silence, I yelled loudly...."come on blue." The fans all laughed and the scouts said "good one", and after that they fell silent.

quote:

Originally posted by seattlestars16:
Good try ( on an error) good try ( on a strike out, especially looking on a good call by the ump) I know the intent is to lift their spirits but don't tell them it was a good try if it wasn't. Tell them to get me next time, keep working, keep your head up. my favorite is "it needs to stop raining". Shut the hell up we live in Seattle and its not going to. I think all the high schools need to take over safeco since it has not been used for anything resembling baseball in years.

Mine too. This isn't little league anymore.

When my son stated wanting to play select/travel ball the 'nice try' stuff went away. If he looked at strike 3 he would immediately look over at me. I'd rarely say anything to him but he knew from the look that he wasn't going to get any support from me. My wife took a little longer but she is the same way now.

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my favorite is "it needs to stop raining". Shut the hell up we live in Seattle and its not going to.

Having been born and raised in Tillamook I know how you feel SS. The best we could ever have hoped for was that it might not rain as hard.



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quote:

Originally posted by JMoff:

I never disagree with an umpire who is in proper position to make a call. Most hustle, rotate properly and aren't lazy. Those guys have a better angle on the play than a fan in the stands. If he doesn't put himself in better position than I'm in and blows it an "Oh come on" is not uncalled for. I don't believe more than that is necessary.

The problem with this is there are so few coaches and even fewer fans who have a clue to umpire mechanics or where we are supposed to take calls or, the compromises that we must make at times in a two man system. I can't count how many times I've heard "that's not your call" from coaches when it is indeed my call and I'm in the prescribed position.

quote:

Originally posted by Prepster:
For me, sometimes it's what people don't say. In this case, the parents who pay a passing interest at best to the game; except when their All Star is playing. He gets all their encouragement and attention.

It's a team game.

Once had a grandmother (who was much worse about this stuff than any parent I've ever seen) who had two grandsons on the same team - cousins. Unfortunately, she rooted for one a great deal more than the other (they were of similar talent, so it's not like she was trying to boost an ego), and she NEVER cheered for anyone else on the team.

One night I shouted good play "Joe" to one of her grandsons and suddenly corrected myself, "John!" I simply said an incorrect name. She turned around and actually scolded me loudly for not getting his name right.

My response? "Pardon me for getting his name wrong. At least I cheer for all the kids on the team and not just my own!"

I'm pretty sure she kept her mouth shut the rest of the season.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:

quote:

Originally posted by JMoff:

I never disagree with an umpire who is in proper position to make a call. Most hustle, rotate properly and aren't lazy. Those guys have a better angle on the play than a fan in the stands. If he doesn't put himself in better position than I'm in and blows it an "Oh come on" is not uncalled for. I don't believe more than that is necessary.

The problem with this is there are so few coaches and even fewer fans who have a clue to umpire mechanics or where we are supposed to take calls or, the compromises that we must make at times in a two man system. I can't count how many times I've heard "that's not your call" from coaches when it is indeed my call and I'm in the prescribed position.

I'd just remind the coaches that it isn't their call either.

As for my son, he can come off the field and complain to me later on about this call or that call but for the most part I will just nod my head, go 'yup' and then tell him that whether he likes the call or not that is how it went.

Freshman parents talking about the team's lack of senior leadership. Freshman parents should follow the lead of freshman players....speak when spoken to and never speak to the coach unless it's about an injury.

Umpire baiters and press agent parents are why I prefer to sit alone, away from the crowd. While I'm still occassionaly accosted by the agents, I'm generally avoided by the hecklers.

In a tournament final last year my son was thrown out at the plate to end the game. He would've been the tying run. I was seated behind home plate, on the other side of the fence with a perfect view. When the umpire rang him up one of our fans raced down fifteen rows of bleachers from over 100 feet away, pressed her face to the screen and directed a tirade at the official. Frustrated at not drawing a reaction she turned to me and nearly frothing at the mouth exclaimed "Can you believe that call?" I finished folding my chair then looked her directly in the eye and said, "Yes, I can. He was out." She was so apoplectic I thought she was going to choke on her gum. I no longer get consulted regarding umpire calls.

There is a mom of a player on our team who yells "RUN!" to most of the players after they get a hit. Really? What do you think they are doing when they take off for first. Geez! I really don't think they need her to tell them....loudly.

I was at juniors football game when one of the parents on our team (a mom, mind you), jumps up and starts SCREAMING , "HIT HIM, HIT HIM, HIT HIM"...

Me and my buddy next to me started laughing under our breath pretty hard...on the next play, I jumped up and yelled..."Rip his heart out and feed it to him before it stops beating"...

I have no sense of appropriateness...but I think Screaming Mimi got the message, and my buddy almost wet his pants.

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
I was at juniors football game when one of the parents on our team (a mom, mind you), jumps up and starts SCREAMING , "HIT HIM, HIT HIM, HIT HIM"..

Football, hockey, lacrosse... you always hear "Hit somebody!" when the team is losing badly.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:

quote:

Originally posted by JMoff:

I never disagree with an umpire who is in proper position to make a call. Most hustle, rotate properly and aren't lazy. Those guys have a better angle on the play than a fan in the stands. If he doesn't put himself in better position than I'm in and blows it an "Oh come on" is not uncalled for. I don't believe more than that is necessary.

The problem with this is there are so few coaches and even fewer fans who have a clue to umpire mechanics or where we are supposed to take calls or, the compromises that we must make at times in a two man system. I can't count how many times I've heard "that's not your call" from coaches when it is indeed my call and I'm in the prescribed position.

Very true. When my kids started travel ball I spent a spring season not coaching or scorekeeping. I had time to watch the umpires work and became fascinated by the signalling and rotations. Took about 4-5 games to get the majority of it memorized and the differences between associations became apparent after a couple of tournaments. Some crews worked inside in B&C vs outside and the rotations to third with runners on first weren't always the same. But when you have two experianced guys working together it really is pretty to watch them work a clean game.

quote:

Originally posted by cb12:
There is a mom of a player on our team who yells "RUN!" to most of the players after they get a hit. Really? What do you think they are doing when they take off for first. Geez! I really don't think they need her to tell them....loudly.

LOL....we have one of those. Even did it on a fouled pop up close to the 3rd base dugout. She yells "RUN, RUN IT OUT". Too funny. Where's he gonna run to? The dugout? And, it wasn't even her son. LOL

"Just throw strikes" --- Thanks, we're working on that...

quote:

Originally posted by bballdad2016:
"Just throw strikes" --- Thanks, we're working on that...

Sad but was once that Dad/ coach (at the time). My son was aabout 12 or 13 and struggling pitching Usually he was rock steady but not this day. all over the place. I called out the obvious "just throw strikes". He looked at me and called out " No Sh*t, dad" I was so shocked and both sets of fans laughing so hard, could even punish him for cussing

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i meant couldn't puncih him!

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I knew what you meant...the story is funny as he11!

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Happened the other day. Dad riding his kid in the dugout about errors. He was not near the dugout but was loud enough so that kid could hear. Kid obviously felt bad enough about it and his head hung about another foot lower after hearing his dad.

Time and place although many of us (have been guilty) of doing similar things in the past. I know I have to check myself when I go into hypercritical mode.

I give my son credit, he got up, slapped the kid on the back and said something to him that seemed to cheer him up. The kid had an awesome game after that.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:

quote:

Originally posted by JMoff:

I never disagree with an umpire who is in proper position to make a call. Most hustle, rotate properly and aren't lazy. Those guys have a better angle on the play than a fan in the stands. If he doesn't put himself in better position than I'm in and blows it an "Oh come on" is not uncalled for. I don't believe more than that is necessary.

The problem with this is there are so few coaches and even fewer fans who have a clue to umpire mechanics or where we are supposed to take calls or, the compromises that we must make at times in a two man system. I can't count how many times I've heard "that's not your call" from coaches when it is indeed my call and I'm in the prescribed position.

If I had a dollar for every time I've started a sentance in the stands with, "Acutally, what happened there was..."

I'll be the first guy to admit I don't know everything, but I'd go head to head with any parent who thinks I know less than them. We have a fellow parent who is also an umpire and we frequently put down riots before they start.

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"We have a fellow parent who is also an umpire and we frequently put down riots before they start."

I'm guessing you're the one on the right...right?





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Wasn't that your car?