So you think you can do better?

Good idea. I hope they can enforce it.

I think you'd get some bad umpiring and you'd have to have someone there who actually knows the rules because seems to me that parents won't.

What???  Surely all parents know all the rules!  That's why umpires are so bad

All I can picture is personal injury lawyers lining up...  IIRC, LL also has stringent background check rules in place for all involved...  If they want to really make it hurt, the parent should have to "volunteer" to work in the concession stand during their child's game or even do some field work prior to and after the game - just make sure they get the small, broken rake that all leagues seem to have.

The article states there will be a certified game official on the field to override calls and make sure the calls and rules interpretations are correct.

I did something similar running an 8/9 rec basketball league. Coaches were obligated to ref a game in addition to coaching their team. I instructed them not to call everything so the game would have flow. Avoid calling ticky tack fouls. Use the no harm, no foul philosophy. Ignore minor feet shuffling.

Parents complained about the refereeing. I informed them if we called everything It wouldn't look like a basketball game.

I eventually got tired of the complaints. I brought in two high school refs and told them to call everything like it was a high school game.

One hour games turned into two hour games. Rosters of ten finished the games playing three on three or two on two. Everyone else fouled out. We had the gym for five hours to play five games. After five hours were were halfway through the third game.

Message sent. But you wouldn't believe the number of parents who complained I allowed that day to happen. They were the same ones complaining about the reffing. Some people are just their happiest when they’re complaining.

I always liked having the older players ump games. Disruptive parents should clean fields and work concession stands. They can walk 50 miles in an umps gear and it likely still won't fix their obvious character flaws making it ok to belittle an ump.

@2022NYC posted:

I always liked having the older players ump games. Disruptive parents should clean fields and work concession stands. They can walk 50 miles in an umps gear and it likely still won't fix their obvious character flaws making it ok to belittle an ump.

My daughter umped preteen softball games when she was on varsity. My son reffed preteen soccer games when he was on varsity. It’s the only thing I’ve allowed them to quit. After a week they couldn’t stand the harassment from the parents.

The biggest problem was parents and coaches ignorance of the rules. One male coach got in my daughter’s face and started chest bumping her backwards. He wasn’t suspended. I told my daughter to quit.

Ironically parents are right at the top of why HS officials quit too...  Basketball is hard primarily because parents don't know the "rule rules" and only watch / complain one way. The whole flow of the game argument is heavily emphasized in every training I went to. It's also indoors and parents for some reason try to be really loud - they have to outshine the cheerleaders, players, coaches, whistles, etc. The great irony of basketball officiating is not getting too close and watching the whole play, which can be a *lot* easier from the stands!!  In baseball I'm constantly amazed by some leather lung that saw that close play at 2nd base better from > 100 yards away than I did 5 ft away or how someone thought it's where the catcher catches the ball not where it crosses the plate <shrug>.

One of the best umpire comebacks of all time …

Parent: Hey Blue! Looks like a strike from here.

Umpire: That’s why they make me call the game from behind the catcher.

I've never understood the quitting thing of reffing.  I've never worried about what the fans in the stands were saying as long as they did not curse or threaten me or anyone else in play.  Why referees talk to fans ever blows my mind.  Eject them or ignore them.  You are getting paid so don't worry about them.  I also do not understand leagues who put up with it.  I've run leagues and tournaments and did not allow fans or coaches to talk to officials.  Just send them home and second offense they are not allowed back.  It works pretty good.  You normally only have to do it once.  I sent one home this year from our youth church league and he was not allowed to come back for a week.  Embarrassed him and he came back a sulky puppy.

Technically you don't have the authority to eject a fan (at least as the HS rule book reads)...  You have to find game administration who may not want to do the task. And yes, threats are there. Parents can be relentless - some of the comments are hysterical, most are repetitive, but when you get chased in the parking lot after the game by someone still mad, then there's a problem. I don't know if they have a gun - not worth losing my life over it. Not everywhere is there a policy to have police take you to your car after a game. I've stopped doing anything other than HS because honestly who wants to be bothered.

Parents are the worst! LOL…

I listened to myself on a video of the youngest playing 5^th grade basketball. My self-critique was that I was too involved, all positive but too loud and too often. Baseball has a lot less sustained activity, but I made sure I applied my findings to it as well.

I’ve only every spoken to an umpire about a game once and I still regret it. 12u travel ball – Sunday win or go home with the kid on an exceptional team. An awful infield fly call derailed the team from extending the game and the weekend. The blue walked by me as he was exiting the field, I was respectful, but I said something like “Hey Blue, that call likely cost us the game.” He was a kid in his twenties and said “Yeah, I know – but once you call it you can’t put it back.” Nothing like being the asshat dad the critiques the 20-year-old kid on not being perfect at his job. Not my best moment…

The best thing about that loss was what coach said afterwards in team in the meeting. Many of the kids were upset with the umpire about the call (and feeding off the parents’ vibe). He said “If we’re in the last inning of the game and a bad call is going to make the difference, then we, this team haven’t done our jobs. We didn’t do enough to win that game and that has nothing to do with the umpire. Blaming others for our failures is not part of who we are.” The late great Paul Stark, who put together some amazing youth teams, left this world way too soon and was a great teacher of ballplayers.

It’s a journey, nobody’s perfect and the goal is to get better every day.

@PitchingFan posted:

I've never understood the quitting thing of reffing.  I've never worried about what the fans in the stands were saying as long as they did not curse or threaten me or anyone else in play.  Why referees talk to fans ever blows my mind.  Eject them or ignore them.  You are getting paid so don't worry about them.  I also do not understand leagues who put up with it.  I've run leagues and tournaments and did not allow fans or coaches to talk to officials.  Just send them home and second offense they are not allowed back.  It works pretty good.  You normally only have to do it once.  I sent one home this year from our youth church league and he was not allowed to come back for a week.  Embarrassed him and he came back a sulky puppy.

Umpires don’t quit because fans yell at them. They quit because they get followed to their car and threatened. They get followed home and threatened. Threats are made on their life. Threats are made on their families. All over a kids game. There are plenty of these stories in the media.

In our league I had tackle a dad who went after a fourteen year old umpire. The guy was about to  physically assault the kid. The kid had just done one of the worst umpiring jobs I had ever seen. I had to explain to my 9/10 players life isn’t always fair and the umpire didn’t do it intentionally.

Later that evening I called the dad. He was a friend who went berserk. I asked him if he needed me to tell him what an ******* he was a couple of hours ago. He sullenly said, “No need. My wife (a doctorate in child psychology and professor of child psychology at an HA) already ripped me up one side and down the other for the damage I did to kids tonight.” He was banned from attending for a year in any sport.

At the hs level I've noticed that the parents that coach and argue the calls are usually the parents of average players. Not every time, but most. Also, my kid would ask me to not attend if I was a jerk in the stands. Imo it's best to be quiet unless you're throwing out a "good job" to a player. One of my son's former travel ball teammates was on the opposing team during a high school game. Kid is a dude...hard worker, great attitude, awesome teammate. His dad, however, is notoriously loud and made a fool of himself in the stands, yelling about the injustices of every "horrible" call. Everyone felt bad for the kid.

Before my son's start last week the home plate umpire came to both dugouts BEFORE the game and pronounced, "Just to let you guys know, my zone is super small so I don't want to hear any complaining."

He was not embellishing.  It was like he reveled in the crowd grumbling how a belt high pitch was a ball.  The other team's P5 pitcher lasted all of 1 inning.  My son lasted 6 innings and walked 4.

If I was coaching I would have gotten in trouble right there.  Don't tell me your strike zone is anything other than the rule book strike zone.  If it is you need to walk out the gate right now.  You are here to enforce the rules and not make up your own.  The only time I got ejected as a HS coach was when the umpire said I don't care what the rule book says.  We're playing by my rules today.  BTW, he got suspended for 2 weeks for that game.  I got reinstated immediately.