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This just makes me horribly sad for the kids who witnessed this. Kids should never have to witness criminal violence that literally could have turned deadly, but when it's their coach?! Subjecting kids to domestic violence/violence is a child protective services issue in most states. If this guy is a teacher or has a career involving kids, he's likely facing some administrative (if not criminal) consequences. 

My son played USSSA for a long time....and I have no idea what this statement means:

"The event — which featured  90 youth teams — was being scouted by an elite USSSA Select 30 team from Florida. The argument broke out during the semifinals. (USSSA is the United States Specialty Sports Association.)"

We played against the Flames a lot...and played in their tourneys quite a few times.  I hope people don't look at this as a reflection on the organization itself.  They always seemed to do things the right way...and we never experienced any problems at their tourneys or against their teams. 

Matt13 posted:

While I have been known to enjoy a beer or several while watching a game, I cannot fathom a situation where a spectator is allowed to drink at a youth sporting event.

I've seen parents sneak alcohol in to the games; the parents treat the kids' travel tournament weekends as their party. I definitely do not agree with that, but it has been common among the teams I'm familiar with.

We play in Indy a lot, but at Grand Park (we don't play USSSA). It sounds like this sports park actually sells beer, that's pretty shocking. Probably sounded like a no-brainer easy money maker for the park. That is until they realized somebody is likely to get assaulted or even beaten to death with a bat. Anybody who has ever been to a tournament knows things can get heated. Why a facility would knowingly throw alcohol into the mix is beyond belief (liability issues?). 

Edited to add:  glad to hear this is not a reflection on the entire organization. Unfortunately, I've seen entire orgs that appear to foster a hateful, antagonistic culture; even coaches treating kids badly. Ironically, the one org I'm thinking of around here is a big fish in a very small pond in the younger travel ball age group. Not surprisingly, they don't field teams in the older age groups. My guess would be the kids get tired of being treated like garbage and quit or go elsewhere. 

Last edited by Zia2021

Just as stupid, note the guy who comes in from the right late in the video (red tee shirt).  He seems intent on joining a fight with the coach.  As in, the coach with a piece of metal pipe in his hands.  The guy is clearly out of control, as others restrain him and he falls over as he struggles, trying to break through.

I agree the coach has got to go.  But it makes me wonder what this dude was saying.  And he also has to go.

Buckeye 2015 posted:

My son played USSSA for a long time....and I have no idea what this statement means:

"The event — which featured  90 youth teams — was being scouted by an elite USSSA Select 30 team from Florida. The argument broke out during the semifinals. (USSSA is the United States Specialty Sports Association.)"

We played against the Flames a lot...and played in their tourneys quite a few times.  I hope people don't look at this as a reflection on the organization itself.  They always seemed to do things the right way...and we never experienced any problems at their tourneys or against their teams. 

Buckeye,

Things have changed a lot with said organization. I think money and greed has truly become a way of operating. Tournament games canceled due to weather are never rescheduled. The org requires parents, yes parents, to stay in certain hotels so they can make more $. (The director actually checks).  I can almost understand making it a requirement for players, but parents?  I could go on but I won’t. What comes around goes around. I’m not sure they will be able to recover from this one. 

RoadRunner posted:
Buckeye 2015 posted:

My son played USSSA for a long time....and I have no idea what this statement means:

"The event — which featured  90 youth teams — was being scouted by an elite USSSA Select 30 team from Florida. The argument broke out during the semifinals. (USSSA is the United States Specialty Sports Association.)"

We played against the Flames a lot...and played in their tourneys quite a few times.  I hope people don't look at this as a reflection on the organization itself.  They always seemed to do things the right way...and we never experienced any problems at their tourneys or against their teams. 

Buckeye,

Things have changed a lot with said organization. I think money and greed has truly become a way of operating. Tournament games canceled due to weather are never rescheduled. The org requires parents, yes parents, to stay in certain hotels so they can make more $. (The director actually checks).  I can almost understand making it a requirement for players, but parents?  I could go on but I won’t. What comes around goes around. I’m not sure they will be able to recover from this one. 

It hasn't been that long since we played in their tourneys.  They are the same now as they were then.  I will never get the hotel thing....that's just ridiculous, but the Flames aren't the only one doing it....it happens all over.  I ran a tourney for 2 years and actually had the hotels ask me how much I "wanted to make" on the rooms I blocked.  I didn't ask them, they offered.  I didn't take them up on it.     I agree they have just gotten too big.  When the tourneys use every field within a 75 mile radius every weekend, there is just no open time slots/fields to make up games that are cancelled due to weather.  The issue I have is that when they do get weather, instead of trying to move teams/games so that  every teams gets games, they don't touch the schedule and one team may get all 4 pool games in while another gets none.  The problem is they know that teams want to play there so they just don't care if they push some teams to the point that they never come back....there's always someone willing to take the spot

Buckeye 2015 posted:
RoadRunner posted:
Buckeye 2015 posted:

My son played USSSA for a long time....and I have no idea what this statement means:

"The event — which featured  90 youth teams — was being scouted by an elite USSSA Select 30 team from Florida. The argument broke out during the semifinals. (USSSA is the United States Specialty Sports Association.)"

We played against the Flames a lot...and played in their tourneys quite a few times.  I hope people don't look at this as a reflection on the organization itself.  They always seemed to do things the right way...and we never experienced any problems at their tourneys or against their teams. 

Buckeye,

Things have changed a lot with said organization. I think money and greed has truly become a way of operating. Tournament games canceled due to weather are never rescheduled. The org requires parents, yes parents, to stay in certain hotels so they can make more $. (The director actually checks).  I can almost understand making it a requirement for players, but parents?  I could go on but I won’t. What comes around goes around. I’m not sure they will be able to recover from this one. 

It hasn't been that long since we played in their tourneys.  They are the same now as they were then.  I will never get the hotel thing....that's just ridiculous, but the Flames aren't the only one doing it....it happens all over.  I ran a tourney for 2 years and actually had the hotels ask me how much I "wanted to make" on the rooms I blocked.  I didn't ask them, they offered.  I didn't take them up on it.     I agree they have just gotten too big.  When the tourneys use every field within a 75 mile radius every weekend, there is just no open time slots/fields to make up games that are cancelled due to weather.  The issue I have is that when they do get weather, instead of trying to move teams/games so that  every teams gets games, they don't touch the schedule and one team may get all 4 pool games in while another gets none.  The problem is they know that teams want to play there so they just don't care if they push some teams to the point that they never come back....there's always someone willing to take the spot

I don’t think “size” has much to do with it. It has to do with giving a darn about your customers. Compare PG to the Flames tournaments. PG goes above and beyond to reschedule games and take care of their customers.  If it so much as drizzles down in Cincy, forget about it. He saves $ on umpires, balls fields etc. It wasn’t always like that. They just don’t care about the kids playing. Period. There’s a reason why the top org in Ohio has nothing to do with this org. 

Midlo Dad posted:

Just as stupid, note the guy who comes in from the right late in the video (red tee shirt).  He seems intent on joining a fight with the coach.  As in, the coach with a piece of metal pipe in his hands.  The guy is clearly out of control, as others restrain him and he falls over as he struggles, trying to break through.

I agree the coach has got to go.  But it makes me wonder what this dude was saying.  And he also has to go.

I am guessing that is the parent he was going after.  

Matt13 posted:
Golfman25 posted:

Here's more.  I guess it was an opposing teams parent who's kid used to play for the coach.  That and a few Budweisers.  

https://www.indystar.com/story...ournament/585627002/

While I have been known to enjoy a beer or several while watching a game, I cannot fathom a situation where a spectator is allowed to drink at a youth sporting event.

I wonder if its a Midwest thing?  Off the top of my head I've been to venues in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana that sold at least beer, some even mixed drinks.  Not to mention Cooperstown.  I've coached or sat as a parent in well over 100 games at venues that served alcohol and have never seen a single issue other than the standard occasional obnoxious parent that we all see at every tournament.

Handcontrol posted:

I wonder if its a Midwest thing?  Off the top of my head I've been to venues in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana that sold at least beer, some even mixed drinks.  Not to mention Cooperstown.  I've coached or sat as a parent in well over 100 games at venues that served alcohol and have never seen a single issue other than the standard occasional obnoxious parent that we all see at every tournament.

Good point that I had not considered. I'm basically in the "bible belt" part of the country where alcohol sales are still limited by location/time of day/ day of week, and often banned outright. It makes sense that youth venues would be less likely to sell alcohol in those types of areas. 

Went to a tournament at FT Knox. It sits at least partially in a dry county. But Uncle Sam takes care of his soldiers. On the base I saw at least one bar/nightclub. The games were held on what I assume were the men's softball fields, and yes they sold beer. Cheap beer at that. I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting beside a baseball field on a beautiful summer day drinking a few beers and watching your kid play baseball is one of those simple pleasures IMO.

On the other hand, being from a Dutch/German community the other parents weren't going to be denied beer at the hotel that night. A couple of the fathers drove no small distance to get some. Sitting outside the back of the hotel and the police show up. Seems they take the whole dry county thing pretty seriously. He made no bones about the fact that if he had to come back people were getting arrested. I would have to assume privacy fences were a big seller in that community.

Handcontrol posted:
Matt13 posted:
Golfman25 posted:

Here's more.  I guess it was an opposing teams parent who's kid used to play for the coach.  That and a few Budweisers.  

https://www.indystar.com/story...ournament/585627002/

While I have been known to enjoy a beer or several while watching a game, I cannot fathom a situation where a spectator is allowed to drink at a youth sporting event.

I wonder if its a Midwest thing?  Off the top of my head I've been to venues in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana that sold at least beer, some even mixed drinks.  Not to mention Cooperstown.  I've coached or sat as a parent in well over 100 games at venues that served alcohol and have never seen a single issue other than the standard occasional obnoxious parent that we all see at every tournament.

I'm in the Midwest. 

SomeBaseballDad posted:

Went to a tournament at FT Knox. It sits at least partially in a dry county. But Uncle Sam takes care of his soldiers. On the base I saw at least one bar/nightclub. The games were held on what I assume were the men's softball fields, and yes they sold beer. Cheap beer at that. I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting beside a baseball field on a beautiful summer day drinking a few beers and watching your kid play baseball is one of those simple pleasures IMO.

On the other hand, being from a Dutch/German community the other parents weren't going to be denied beer at the hotel that night. A couple of the fathers drove no small distance to get some. Sitting outside the back of the hotel and the police show up. Seems they take the whole dry county thing pretty seriously. He made no bones about the fact that if he had to come back people were getting arrested. I would have to assume privacy fences were a big seller in that community.

Please, no one laugh, but what is a “dry county”?

Sorry...

RoadRunner posted:
SomeBaseballDad posted:

Went to a tournament at FT Knox. It sits at least partially in a dry county. But Uncle Sam takes care of his soldiers. On the base I saw at least one bar/nightclub. The games were held on what I assume were the men's softball fields, and yes they sold beer. Cheap beer at that. I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting beside a baseball field on a beautiful summer day drinking a few beers and watching your kid play baseball is one of those simple pleasures IMO.

On the other hand, being from a Dutch/German community the other parents weren't going to be denied beer at the hotel that night. A couple of the fathers drove no small distance to get some. Sitting outside the back of the hotel and the police show up. Seems they take the whole dry county thing pretty seriously. He made no bones about the fact that if he had to come back people were getting arrested. I would have to assume privacy fences were a big seller in that community.

Please, no one laugh, but what is a “dry county”?

Sorry...

Texas has a legacy of dry counties and "blue laws", which tried to prohibit most anything but church on Sundays.  When I first started working in a grocery store at 16, we would rope off beer, wine, and most general merchandise (non-food items).

On drinking at games...(dramatic pause)

SomeBaseballDad posted:

Went to a tournament at FT Knox. It sits at least partially in a dry county. But Uncle Sam takes care of his soldiers. On the base I saw at least one bar/nightclub. The games were held on what I assume were the men's softball fields, and yes they sold beer. Cheap beer at that. I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting beside a baseball field on a beautiful summer day drinking a few beers and watching your kid play baseball is one of those simple pleasures IMO.

On the other hand, being from a Dutch/German community the other parents weren't going to be denied beer at the hotel that night. A couple of the fathers drove no small distance to get some. Sitting outside the back of the hotel and the police show up. Seems they take the whole dry county thing pretty seriously. He made no bones about the fact that if he had to come back people were getting arrested. I would have to assume privacy fences were a big seller in that community.

Ft. Knox is not too far from me. Wet/Dry counties and the aforementioned Blue Laws are alive and well in KY.  However, I'm actually surprised to hear they hassled the parents just for consuming though. Usually the "dry" applies only to the sale of alcohol. 

Go44, they still rope off the beer at the grocery stores here on Sundays until 1:00, and on election days until the polls close. Grocery stores are not even allowed to sell wine or liquor, only beer. There's a big push to allow wine sales in groceries, but so far it has been unsuccessful. In a very recent hilarious twist, Target has started selling wine (not sure if they sell beer or not). They apparently figured out a legal loop hole since they are merely a "store that sells groceries" instead of a "grocery store." All the moms around here are even bigger fans of Target now!

Go44dad posted:
RoadRunner posted:
SomeBaseballDad posted:

Went to a tournament at FT Knox. It sits at least partially in a dry county. But Uncle Sam takes care of his soldiers. On the base I saw at least one bar/nightclub. The games were held on what I assume were the men's softball fields, and yes they sold beer. Cheap beer at that. I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting beside a baseball field on a beautiful summer day drinking a few beers and watching your kid play baseball is one of those simple pleasures IMO.

On the other hand, being from a Dutch/German community the other parents weren't going to be denied beer at the hotel that night. A couple of the fathers drove no small distance to get some. Sitting outside the back of the hotel and the police show up. Seems they take the whole dry county thing pretty seriously. He made no bones about the fact that if he had to come back people were getting arrested. I would have to assume privacy fences were a big seller in that community.

Please, no one laugh, but what is a “dry county”?

Sorry...

Texas has a legacy of dry counties and "blue laws", which tried to prohibit most anything but church on Sundays.  When I first started working in a grocery store at 16, we would rope off beer, wine, and most general merchandise (non-food items).

On drinking at games...(dramatic pause)

(sorry, didn't hit "post" last night)

Big League Dreams outside Houston would have a grill/bar, air conditioning and lots of seating in the middle of a pod of fields.  If games were running late on Sunday, they would reduce the time limit or just flat out end the tournament.  Men's softball was at 3:00, and they sold a lot of beer (I am told).

smokeminside posted:

I don’t think Cooperstown dreams park sells beer. Does the other Cooperstown facility?

they have a restaurant / bar at all-star village, it is actually a solid place. I don't know if you are allowed to have beer at the fields or not...I do know for a fact that nobody asks what is in your solo cup as a fan.

When I took my team there we had a manager meeting every night about 930...between air conditioning the bunks, ESPN on TV in the bunks and a bar on site (no alcohol allowed in the barracks) I found it to be a superior operation in every way.

Over the years we played at a couple of fields that sold liquor.   We had one incident with a pair of coaches.  They came walking into the dugout before the game, both were double fisting.  One they were drinking, one in reserve for consumption during the game.  We refused to play the game.  They were not happy and tried to force a forfeit.  The tourney rules stated no alcohol in the dugouts.  Their argument was "we are not drunk".  They were forced to play us very early the next morning.  Lets just say they were not happy.  

As I grew up I could never understand the value of not being in control of your actions and sacrificing the next day to “fun” the night before. This doesn’t mean I don’t like beer, liquor and wine. Ever had JW Blue? Hot day, cold beer. I’m in. But I don’t need six.

 

This is perfect timing for a story I can't tell you right now.  

No coach should resort to this but I do understand the anger that can come with regards to coaching.  When a coach gets to that point, walk away.  The more I coach, the more I think about the saying, "being punished for doing the right thing."  This morning, long before reading this thread, I went to one of my fellow teachers who I once coached and he commented to me that in the future there will be few, if any, coaches who have coached for 30+ years as I have.  (Presently at 31 in HS and about the same in TB.)  Naturally, parents are a part of that but it is simplistic to blame parents.  There are more than enough coaches out there that should never coach and at every level including TB and HS.  I'll wrap this up by saying that I believe my right hand little finger is broken.  I punched a pole this week after a parent yelled to my power hitter to watch the change with two strikes and bases load.  A fastball went right down the middle and the hitter turned to the parent and said, "Dad it wasn't a change."  I might have come unglued after that but I'm not admitting to anything but punching a pole.  

I've done occasional contract work as site director for one of the large youth tourney organizations.  Most often, most places, they don't allow alcohol.  Makes no difference.  There are those groups who are determined, will bring their own in and find a location where they can hide and drink.  A lot. 

On many occasions, we have had to patrol areas and watch trash cans for accumulation of beer cans (and other).  After threats of having their teams disqualified, many of these groups would, instead of stopping, go so far as to stash the empties and pack them out between games or carry the trash bag of empties to a bin at another field.  These tourneys typically spanned age groups of 8-16.  Most of the problem groups were parents of the younger ones.  We started guessing which teams would be the problem groups during first games.  More predictable than a first pitch fastball.

To no surprise, any time an argument escalated during a game and fans were involved, 95% of the time, it was one of those groups.  I actually had to call police multiple times for far more physical altercations than what the OP video shows.  Parents of 8 y.o.'s being taken away in squad cars.  Nice.  And this is multiple locations in Western US so not just a Midwest thing.

Another interesting related observation... in some locations, we would do beach parties the night before where there would be alcohol (even though Tourney organization did not condone).  Never a problem.  Something about when kids are competing... 

Last edited by cabbagedad
Matt13 posted:
CoachB25 posted:

TI punched a pole this week after a parent yelled to my power hitter to watch the change with two strikes and bases load.  A fastball went right down the middle 

Because that's the perfect time to throw a BP pitch to a power hitter.

Or the change down and out that gets passed the cather for an easy run

Last edited by Tug Tide

I know for a fact that if I were to throw down with a parent/spectator I'd lose my job at the school even if I was defending myself, even if it was 5 on 1.  At least he must be a winning coach though.  I never got any complaints when we were getting run ruled every game.  It was after we started winning did the complaints and criticisms start to pile up.  

Last edited by hsbaseball101
Zia2021 posted:
SomeBaseballDad posted:

Went to a tournament at FT Knox. It sits at least partially in a dry county. But Uncle Sam takes care of his soldiers. On the base I saw at least one bar/nightclub. The games were held on what I assume were the men's softball fields, and yes they sold beer. Cheap beer at that. I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting beside a baseball field on a beautiful summer day drinking a few beers and watching your kid play baseball is one of those simple pleasures IMO.

On the other hand, being from a Dutch/German community the other parents weren't going to be denied beer at the hotel that night. A couple of the fathers drove no small distance to get some. Sitting outside the back of the hotel and the police show up. Seems they take the whole dry county thing pretty seriously. He made no bones about the fact that if he had to come back people were getting arrested. I would have to assume privacy fences were a big seller in that community.

Ft. Knox is not too far from me. Wet/Dry counties and the aforementioned Blue Laws are alive and well in KY.  However, I'm actually surprised to hear they hassled the parents just for consuming though. Usually the "dry" applies only to the sale of alcohol. 

Go44, they still rope off the beer at the grocery stores here on Sundays until 1:00, and on election days until the polls close. Grocery stores are not even allowed to sell wine or liquor, only beer. There's a big push to allow wine sales in groceries, but so far it has been unsuccessful. In a very recent hilarious twist, Target has started selling wine (not sure if they sell beer or not). They apparently figured out a legal loop hole since they are merely a "store that sells groceries" instead of a "grocery store." All the moms around here are even bigger fans of Target now!

When I was on my internship in Wisconsin, I thought it was funny how the gas stations and Walmart quit selling alcohol at 9PM. So, it was illegal to buy beer at the store and take it home to drink, BUT you could go to the bar and drink and then try to drive home... lol. 

But I can honestly say I've never had a beer in my life... although my Catholic school co-workers have tried more than once... lol

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