SILENCE!

I played baseball when I was little. I started out playing T-ball, where your team could score runs by making good catches in the field and I hit a "homerun" once when there were overthrows at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Proudest moment of my life.

The nice thing about T-ball in Kindergarten is there is no competition. You didn't need umps; throwing a runner out was as rare as knocking one over the fence. However, as soon as you moved up past coach-pitch to "real" baseball, the crazies come out to play - the crazies being the "phenom" 3rd grader's parents.

I always thought being an ump would be a cool job. The power is yours when you stand behind the plate, ruling with authority. But it didn't take me long to realize that job would suck, even umping little kids. There's always those one or two parents whose kids can't make a mistake, and they let everyone know. I'm not just talking about supporting your kid - that's perfectly fine. What sucked was when I was playing second base, listening to Jackass McGee in the stands yelling at the ump...during a fifth grade baseball game.

I've never really understood these people. Are they just not aware that they are making themselves look like complete assholes in front of everybody and their kid is embarassed to be associated with them? A lot of the time, the kid isn't even there because he wants to be, the younger kids are playing because their parents want them to get outside, get some exercise, and maybe one day buy them a nice new house with their new MLB contract signing bonus.

Which is why I found the story of the youth lacrosse organization in British Columbia interesting. Apparently, they got sick of listening to crappy parents yell at the refs, so they instituted a rule for the spectators of games requiring they be silent the whole game. That means no cheering, clapping, or heckling. Thankfully, this isn't a permanent rule, yet. It is being done to "raise awareness" for the shit the refs have to go through, who, by the way, are between the ages of 12 and 17.

While I do like the idea of doing something about parents abusing refs, especially teenage refs, I'm glad this is only temporary. I can't even imaging playing a game in complete silence. It just wouldn't be fun. The crowd gets you excited, makes you play harder. A game without cheering would just feel like a practice or a scrimmage. It wouldn't have any weight. And apparently that's how the kids felt:

"According to our refs, there was a lot less penalties, but the intensity of the game was missing, definitely," [Port Coquitlam Minor Lacrosse Association president David Clarke] said. "It was very static. It's almost like there was no emotion."

The most disturbing aspect of all this is that parents are yelling at teenage refs as young as 12 years old. And since the refs must be older than the players by at least a year (I can't see any league having kids ref games played by older kids), that means some of the games where parents are yelling are being played by 5th graders. Fucking SAD. The best way I see to fix this problem, or at least make it bearable, is to use older refs if possible. If you make all parents stay quiet during a game, you can eliminate the heckling, but you lose one of the major aspects of a SPECTATOR sport because the kids don't even know there are spectators. Instead, a harsher policy, such as zero tolerance towards heckling would likely help to stem some of the anger, although it would be difficult to enforce.

Overall, though, I do applaud this league for doing something about the problem. At least they're making an effort. While its not necessarily the most enjoyable solution, the fact that it is only temporary may make parents thing twice about screaming at kids and refs. But you will always have those one or two pricks who just can't keep their mouths shut.