Wait... I love those tents...
PWPW posted:Wait... I love those tents...
If you are talking about the 10x10 canopy tents then I think when you are at the ball field ALL FREAKING DAY in 90+ heat those tents are a necessity to sustain life.
If you are talking about the personal pop-up tents that only hold YOU, then yeah, they need to go to the back row, not up against the fence.
Don't be an anti-tentite. Ask if you can join. I'm sure you will be welcomed especially if you stay to break the tent down at the end of the game.
The tents are great. It's the lack of consideration with location selection that is a problem. Don't set up on the front fence line when there are bleachers behind where others may have their vision blocked. And don't convince yourself that since you got there early, it is your right to block the bleachers, even though there is no one there yet. And don't give in to the mob mentality that, since there are three other idiots doing it, it must be OK for me to do it too. And don't occupy the entire main walkway, making people take a detour when passing through. If you are along a fence line with nothing behind you, absolutely knock yourselves out.
I went to a game at UCSD last Spring on a fairly hot day. Most fans were opting for seats several rows back from the front because there was some shade relief. I was sitting in the stadium seats overhearing conversation about an overly-entitled player and how his parents put up big $$ for him to be a late add to a college team and how they felt they could buy their way into anything and always acted above everyone. I usually ignore that type of dialog. Well, five minutes later, a large family contingency walked into the stadium, made their way to the front popped down two of those tents over some of the front row seats, completely blocking the view of about twenty people behind them. It was obvious and something they could not possibly be oblivious to. A few commented. They ignored. Several people had to get up and find other seats. Guess which family it was. I think that was the only time I really let fans get under my skin last year.
We had a family like that a few years ago. Front half bleachers and the back half could not see. Basically took up 1/2 the possible viewing spots. Several of us solved that. We walked in front of their tents and stood in front of them completely blocking their view. Did it for about 2 innings with them grumbling whole time behind us about how they couldn't see. Finally the matriarch of the clan said something to us about moving, they couldn't see. I said "I understand how you feel. I was sitting up behind your tents when you put them up and completely blocked mine and everyone standing in front of your view plus about 10-12 more people". Then I turned around to watch the game. That group of us never moved the whole game unless it was to move in front of them when they moved inside their tent to see. They got the message for the rest of the season. 
Put the tents up in the stands, everyone will appreciate it. The bleachers suck compared to the chairs but everyone is usually happy to share the shade and not block folks.
Well I met a new parent today.
Throw your water bottle at the fence mom: you know, the mom that tells the kid to load early, and then when he strikes out as usual, throw your water bottle at the backstop fence and scream "REALLY." What a piece of work. I have to admit, I almost stood up and told her she was an idiot.
I'm usually coaching, but my kid is playing in a Tournament next week where I'll be just watching in support, so I guess I'll find out which parent I'm going to be. I'm kinda looking forward to sitting next to some Dads who are gonna tell me that their 14U kid hit .700 this season and they are trying to decide if he should play D1 or go straight into pro ball in 2020.
Guess that makes me "smug parent".
Golfman25 posted:Well I met a new parent today.
Throw your water bottle at the fence mom: you know, the mom that tells the kid to load early, and then when he strikes out as usual, throw your water bottle at the backstop fence and scream "REALLY." What a piece of work. I have to admit, I almost stood up and told her she was an idiot.
Just wow
Golfman25 posted:Well I met a new parent today.
Throw your water bottle at the fence mom: you know, the mom that tells the kid to load early, and then when he strikes out as usual, throw your water bottle at the backstop fence and scream "REALLY." What a piece of work. I have to admit, I almost stood up and told her she was an idiot.
You should introduce "REALLY" strikeout mom to "UNACCEPTABLE" strikeout dad, I met him this last year....so much for it being a game.
Our youth team had some outspoken parents--who knew it. One of the moms started bringing a bag of dum dum suckers to each game. When someone got out of hand (including herself) she'd tap them on the shoulder, offer them the bag, and very nicely say -- "I think it's time for a shut up sucker."
We still use them occasionally.
Golfman25 posted:Well I met a new parent today.
Throw your water bottle at the fence mom: you know, the mom that tells the kid to load early, and then when he strikes out as usual, throw your water bottle at the backstop fence and scream "REALLY." What a piece of work. I have to admit, I almost stood up and told her she was an idiot.
Funny thing is. Sometimes this angry parent is the parent of a really good player. My son played with a kid who is incredibly talented -- hit over . 400 and struck out maybe 2-3 times his entire HS career. When the kid made any kind of weak contact out his dad would yell "That's horrible! That's a horrible at bat! How can you not hit that pitch?" etc.
BTW dad is otherwise a great guy. Too bad he can't enjoy it more because the kid's a special player and really tearing it up at Juco. But the kid definitely plays with a big fat chip on his shoulder. Maybe dad gave the kid the competitive fire that makes him so dang good?
We have a pitcher, LHP committed to a D2 school for next year. His dad comes to the games (not always drunk, but a couple of times). He says something after EVERY pitch--lots of direction like finish, follow through, etc) I felt bad for the kid until at the end of the season when someone muzzled his dad. His pitching went way downhill and he didn't have another good start the rest of the season. Apparently he feeds off the commentary?
There was a mother with a kid my son's age in LL. With both getting to college ball she was a long running show.
Over ten years she must have broken at least one hundred pairs of glasses.** She would get so nauseated she couldn't watch. I once saw her under the stands on one knee throwing up. Other times she would be under the stands with her rosary beads.
Tony Gwynn observed her behavior at the LLWS. He commented if watching your kid play is that difficult go find something else to do. The kid was an absolute stud from LL through high school. He became a competent ACC player. Imagine the moher's behavior if he wasn't as talented.
** Very conservative guess based on my exposure/sampling. She could have got better. Or worse.
One of my best friends growing up had the dad from hell. He swore he would never be like him when he had kids. I heard he wasn't as bad. He was worse.
Where is the line between indifference and going overboard? My father never made a comment about my play in any sport before high school. He was always there cheering and sometimes laughing at what occurred. I played catch with him once in my life. When I got to high school he flipped a switch. He became the dad from hell once we left the field. He wasn't living through me. He was an athletic stud.
One college summer game I went 3-4, 2 homers, a double, six rbi's and a pop up with the bases loaded up 15-2. He glared at me the remainder of the game. All I heard all night was I lacked concentration.
All those obnoxious or inconsiderate things mentioned do nothing but reduce the enjoyment of fans showing up at a field to watch a ball game, and often have a negative impact on the players, coaches, and officials. It would be wonderful if everyone was considerate, but that’s never gonna happen without a little “nudging”. The question then, is who has the authority to “nudge”?
In general, I’d say whoever owns or otherwise has responsibility for the field show take the lead. It’s pretty simple to establish conduct guidelines, but the trick is in their enforcement. It would really be great to have someone at every game who was given the authority to speak on behalf of the field owners.
Stats4Gnats posted:All those obnoxious or inconsiderate things mentioned do nothing but reduce the enjoyment of fans showing up at a field to watch a ball game, and often have a negative impact on the players, coaches, and officials. It would be wonderful if everyone was considerate, but that’s never gonna happen without a little “nudging”. The question then, is who has the authority to “nudge”?
In general, I’d say whoever owns or otherwise has responsibility for the field show take the lead. It’s pretty simple to establish conduct guidelines, but the trick is in their enforcement. It would really be great to have someone at every game who was given the authority to speak on behalf of the field owners.
This was HS football, but last season some parents of our local HS football team players (only one HS in the county) had to be "escorted" away out of the stadium at an away game due to comments they were directing towards "our" coach.
At every home football game after that incident, there was a statement read by the AD (prior to the game) about sportsmanlike conduct from the fans and players alike.
As far as I remembered, a similar statement had always been read prior to every home baseball game when my son played, but not the football games.
Basically the host of the game has the authority to "nudge" as you put it.
I always found it interesting that a typical home game had 8-12 deputies on site (crowd control) vs none (or almost none) at an average home baseball game. Guess it had something to with 1500-2000 attending a HS football game vs 100-150 at a baseball game.
Baseball parents >>>>>> than football or basketball parents period.
Golfman25 posted:2020dad posted:We all like to poke fun of every kind of dad/mom out there in youth baseball. We rip on high school coaches - and I guess I am the worst of both worlds and am that "coached high school" dad golf referenced. We rip on travel ball and say in reality everybody sucks (unless of course they play at the level our kid plays - and even then they probably aren't as good as our kid). I would add to the list the I am so much cooler and more in perspective dad who talks about all the out of control dads while he is so perfect. The fact if the matter is youth baseball definitely has its problems. But in the long run all we can do is the best we can. Try to control our own frustrations and not worry so much about what others do. Odds are someone thinks you are annoying too!!!
P.S. How about when you sit in the outfield but fail to realize you are along the path to the bathrooms... And everyone stops on their way to rile you up! "Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in"!
While I generally agree, this post more was venting about the parents on our current team. They flat out suck. Worst group of parents I have seen in 16 years of doing this. I have never seen a group of parents not support all the kids on the team. You can see it when they bat. "Come on Johnny. Have an at bat Johnny. Let's go Johnny." The next kid . . . silence. And god forbid, a kid makes a mistake if he isn't the "chosen one."
I can relate, my sons 14U travel team, parents never cheer unless their kid is hitting. Most of them sit around and talk about anything but baseball, i can't sit anywhere near them anymore.
One of the most hilarious things I have ever witnessed came from an assistant coach during an AAU tourney several years ago. This guy was pure country and had all kinds of sayings. His son was at the plate and he yells out "Swell up like a big tick and pop it!" There were two elderly men sitting behind the backstop that were obviously pulling for the other team. One of them says "Did he just say what I though he said?" The other one says "Did he say swell up like a Big D ck!" They both go crazy. I have never laughed so hard in my life.
I saw a new one this weekend at a tryout...... the "I want you to catch every ball hit during batting practice mom". She would yell at her kid and say - little Johnny you better get over there in front of that boy and get the ball before he does - they were just shagging while batting evaluations.
Have we had the "Good Eye" Dad mentioned yet?
2-0 count. Fastball a foot over the kids head. "Good Eye!"
Or the "Backside" Dad?
Jammed on a fastball inside - metal bat fisted into shallow right field. "Way to go backside!"
Or the "Turn him loose" Dad?
0-3 with 3 K's winning run on 1st no outs bottom of the 7th. "Turn him loose!"
Coach_May posted:
Or the "Turn him loose" Dad?
0-3 with 3 K's winning run on 1st no outs bottom of the 7th. "Turn him loose!"
Well, why not........He's due.
Walking away from a 13U travel game one time. Walked by a field. Father is violently shaking and kicking the backstop fence while yelling, "mother **** blue. you know Im *** talking to you, you need to learn what a **** ball is. I will see you when you leave this **** field. We gonna ***** straighten this out."
Now I need to stop and watch the circus. Needless to say, ump calls time, retreats to mid center field with the other ump who was in the C position (2 man crew). Base ump calls over this parents coach. They have a discussion. Right about then the tourney director shows up. Both coach and tourney director explain to this parent that they need to leave the field. Parent couldn't understand why and refused to leave. PoPo show up. After a brief discussion they place a pair of bracelets on the parent and escort him out.
Never felt more sorry for a kid. Couldn't imagine having to live with that every day.
This thread really hit me today. I've been pondering walking away from working with a travel ball organization because I'm sick and tired of the parents. These parents are going to run off a former 13 year MLB pro who is their coach because they don't feel he wants to win enough. Mind you they win over 2/3 of their games. He is tired of it and is most likely going to step away from coaching. These dimwits have no idea of what they are losing. Parents really need to get a grip and enjoy their kids playing sports.
daveccpa posted:This thread really hit me today. I've been pondering walking away from working with a travel ball organization because I'm sick and tired of the parents. These parents are going to run off a former 13 year MLB pro who is their coach because they don't feel he wants to win enough. Mind you they win over 2/3 of their games. He is tired of it and is most likely going to step away from coaching. These dimwits have no idea of what they are losing. Parents really need to get a grip and enjoy their kids playing sports.
On my sons 9u Travel Team the first thing the coach did was send out an email to all the parents explaining "Coaches Decision" and that they were welcome to talk to the coaches about anything involving their son but if you bring up playing time or batting order or position, the answer would likely be "coaches decision" and that would be the only answer you got.
Some parents got ticked by the email, some parents appreciated someone else taking the reins. It's difficult for parents to get worked up and justify their point and become disgruntled when they are cut off with the words "coaches decision". Retention of players that year was greater than 90%!
The coach that's getting frustrated should lay the ground rules down on day one and not have to deal with the parents being idiots.
CaCO3Girl posted:daveccpa posted:This thread really hit me today. I've been pondering walking away from working with a travel ball organization because I'm sick and tired of the parents. These parents are going to run off a former 13 year MLB pro who is their coach because they don't feel he wants to win enough. Mind you they win over 2/3 of their games. He is tired of it and is most likely going to step away from coaching. These dimwits have no idea of what they are losing. Parents really need to get a grip and enjoy their kids playing sports.
On my sons 9u Travel Team the first thing the coach did was send out an email to all the parents explaining "Coaches Decision" and that they were welcome to talk to the coaches about anything involving their son but if you bring up playing time or batting order or position, the answer would likely be "coaches decision" and that would be the only answer you got.
Some parents got ticked by the email, some parents appreciated someone else taking the reins. It's difficult for parents to get worked up and justify their point and become disgruntled when they are cut off with the words "coaches decision". Retention of players that year was greater than 90%!
The coach that's getting frustrated should lay the ground rules down on day one and not have to deal with the parents being idiots.
My son's travel team sends out a contract for both parents and kids to sign. It seems to work pretty well. I'd like to share it with his HS team.
That would work as long as the coaches also sign an agreement that if they make promises, they need to keep them. OR do not say anything. Do not tell all the kids they will have a chance when in fact that is NOT the case. Or not communicate with a player IF you made promises and changed your mind...the players are entitled to communication.
CaCO3Girl posted:bebobuno05 posted:Just be glad you all don't have deal with redneck baseball parents like we do here in VA and NC.
*cough*...yeah, not like my kid goes 4-wheeling in the woods on his baseball free weekends and shoots guns with his paw-paw on the mountain while checking the deer stands....*cough*....nope, we ain't redneck in Georgia AT ALL!
LOL.. But, the difference between us Ga Country Boys and Rednecks in general........Country Boys are much better shots.
JukeDawgDaddy posted:CaCO3Girl posted:bebobuno05 posted:Just be glad you all don't have deal with redneck baseball parents like we do here in VA and NC.
*cough*...yeah, not like my kid goes 4-wheeling in the woods on his baseball free weekends and shoots guns with his paw-paw on the mountain while checking the deer stands....*cough*....nope, we ain't redneck in Georgia AT ALL!
LOL.. But, the difference between us Ga Country Boys and Rednecks in general........Country Boys are much better shots.
You missed SC - probably for good reason!
'No one better' Dad... Man, this one ALWAYS makes me cringe a little... 
Its funny reading this thread, but sad at the same time. What makes it worse is when you see yourself in some of the comments... I will say since I have been visiting this site, it has made me much more cognizant of my behavior at games and strive hard not to be "that dad" at the games. I thank you all for the comments and will say that when you have a group of good parents, cherish it and enjoy as we know it most likely wont last.
Well said Fred (didn't mean to rhyme).
I've been reading this thread, and counting my lucky stars that I had an excellent group of parents on my travel team for 6 years. We started at 9 years old and called it a career at 14 years old when the boys went off to high school which was the stated goal of the team from the beginning. We were very much the exception. I believe our success was due to chemistry, communication, and setting yearly expectations. All the parents were on-board and we had few problems.
Rarely did we have the most talent, but we had a very good team for many years. I feel very blessed in that regard.