They are willing because they are in it solely for the money. The vast majority of good officials stay away from this crap for the reason I, and other officials stated... (you did too)
and with the money motivator (parents = entry fees, and stay to play kickbacks from hotels just to name a couople) gone...
www.kake.com
Yeah, I let that part out..... Freaking T-Ball championship.....
And people will use Covid as an excuse for this behavior... They'll say something like, "Well, people have been locked up so long they've forgotten how to interact with others anymore..." Which is just a pathetic excuse. If you're an idiot, you're an idiot. And Covid has nothing to do with it. It reminds me of an old Bill Cosby routine... "I asked someone why they use cocaine. They said because it 'intensifies your personality'. So I said, OK, but what if you're an a**hole!?!"
That was my thought. In our part of the state there are 7 and under coach pitch 'select' teams that want HS umpires. Why? The nine dads on the bench cannot call safes and outs? And then you have an umpire and this stuff happens. I suppose if it's a HS certified person their thought is that more game management may happen, but I assume the umpires doing these games are new and inexperienced anyway.
This was happening LONG before COVID. My son and I were shooting hoops the other weekend at our rec center/sports complex and there was alot of yelling coming from a little league game. My son asked if he could play baseball next year. And part of me was like hmmm.
That was my thought. In our part of the state there are 7 and under coach pitch 'select' teams that want HS umpires. Why? The nine dads on the bench cannot call safes and outs? And then you have an umpire and this stuff happens. I suppose if it's a HS certified person their thought is that more game management may happen, but I assume the umpires doing these games are new and inexperienced anyway.
If I recall it's something like 5 pitches per kid and 6 runs per inning. So the umpire stands there on the bases and calls safes and outs and keeps track of innings and runs. Games are an hour and pay like $40.
Of course now that I type this, maybe that's a good way to go this weekend versus the three legion games I have in the high heat.
parents are the worst.
On the other hand, knowing that stuff like this gets filmed may actually deter some people from acting out. Who knows?
Also...what surprises me (or it doesnt) is that the coaches don't corral all the players and either get them to the bench or locker room. It like its a free for all. The players milling around and getting involved with the fans is a joke.
I would agree they definitely need to stop this, but I've seen way worse countless times 30/40 years ago. Parents fighting, coaches fighting, fans fighting, before, during and after games. It's bad, but it has always been bad, we just didn't have video. Millions more games and millions more videos nowadays.
Agreed. There's a reason why those of us over 40 exclaim how lucky we all are that social media did not exist when we were in high school / college.
not many of these "coaches" are real coaches.
Good point
But who enforces this? I see cases all the time where a parent gets out of line at a youth sporting event and we hear "they're banned for life from this league." Ok, but who manages that? What about away games? What about the next year in a different league? What about high school? Unless there is some magical database that we keep and every Mom and Pop ticket/admission taker looks at it for everyone trying to get in, we continue this issue.
I agree. Would you really want to act up knowing there are 50 cameras about to document what you're doing?
About 25 years ago I got my start in officiating doing soccer. I was 12. There was a weekend where there were no parents there at any games we worked. The local travel league called it "silent Saturday" and told parents that because of their behavior they were not welcome for this one weekend. Police were there periodically checking on it. We played all games efficiently. Teams were almost excited to be out there. Coaches were very calm. It was an enjoyable experience to say the least, and I still remember this from 1996 meaning it had that much of an impact on me. All you heard were whistles, coaches, and the banter on the field. I don't remember having one issue with anyone.
Money.
I agree the yelling at officials has probably become more severe and frequent from parents, but far less severe from cheering sections. In my neck of the woods, grade school Catholic tourneys in Cincy, and GCl high school games, the fights were worse back then. I've been to AAU games the past 5 yrs and been around hundreds of games and only watched one skirmish. Nothing like I witnessed in grade school tourneys during the 80s. Beer was sold and was consumed heavily, by both parents and coaches and sometimes refs. We didn't have cameras or social medias to post it. Seems like a lot of people just post fights so they can denounce it to make themselves feel good and get "likes. Sounds like you might be a bit bitter about getting lowballed on ref wages.