Hey Speff,

Next to religion, you're involved in what I personally believe to be
the single enterprise in life that brings out the best in many, but
absolutely the WORST in EVERYONE. Children's sports.

Bunch of years back, I did a fair bit of umpiring in the Windsor area.
My son had elected to play soccer (about which I know nussing), and I
thought I'd do my "bit" and help out with doing the baseball and
fastball.

The stories here are legion, as they say. From BOTH those. My son's
coach had to be hauled off the field by the local police, all the
while screaming that the assistant coach was a "@($&^%@#*()$ TRAITOR
and should be hung" because he stayed behind to coach the 10 year-old
kids!

And the umpiring showed me a whole different side of some people too,
of both sexes, I thought were OK before. And with-out a doubt, the
older the players got, the less of this crap there was. It is more of
a mothering syndrome I think. Everything from the simple stuff of
mother/father/other-family-member screaming in your face that
their/the-other-guys kid had been called safe/out through some
perceived favoritism/discrimination for/against the PARENT!!! to rage
against the coach because he had set aside a certain helmet for
"Little Joey/Joanie" to wear because "Little Joey/Joanie" had
head-lice, and it was centering "Little Joey/Joanie" out to the other
kids!!..... to having managers/coaches telling the big kid on their
team to get in their and HURT the kid on the other team that was too
good...... to constant arguments over kids ages and right to belong on
THAT team. Make you puke.

And don't you recall the parent being charged after beating the crap
out of a hockey coach a few years ago somewhere in TO?

C'est la guerre! Non, c'est la GUERRE!!

Yep, be ready, go watch some games and get your kid on the team with
the nicest coach under pressure, and with the least bullies as his
team-mates. One way to do that is to volunteer to help. Then we'll
see how Speff does!

The little town I live in now, about 1,000 people, has at least a 20%
factor of folks who won't-speak-to/hate/despise one another due to
some sports politics and diplomacies (or lack of) over the years as
Members of the Optimist Club different sports programs. Nobody,
except the kids, recalls who won or lost the games and season, but the
adults do remember the wars!!

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
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On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 01:02:31 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

Hey, guys, sorry for the OT post. I don't initiate many such threads,
hope you can be tolerant, this is the most likely group I contribute
to where folks could offer decent advice.

What is the situation like in typical Little League and similar
baseball leagues in the US and Canada? Do you have 9-year olds being
blackballed by high level people, pressure groups of parents dictating
terms to coaches (and that being tolerated by the overall management
levels, with the same people on multiple levels?).. and mediocrity
being awarded with loyalty and hard work penalized?

Little league is not very strong here in Ontario, but their list of
rules and so on looks pretty well thought out. I don't know how well
they are implemented. Presumably as America's national sport, all the
possible problems have been encountered and dealt with. Or perhaps
not. What's your opinion?

Unfortunately, the situation seems a lot murkier (unpleasant, vicious
etc.) in C*BA/S*BA. I'm just wondering if this is a function of the
level (AAA) of the sport my kid has been playing and the ambitions of
parents (and thus widespread, and something I have to deal with or get
out), or if it's a specific failure of the organizations in this
geographic area-- where hockey and soccer more dominate the landscape.

The organizational structure of these groups is on a par with pre-war
Iraq in terms of concentration of powers (and possibly some of the
personality types as well).

My knowlege in this area is quite limited- I've avoided both the
sports and most dysfunctional organizations.

Any comments, advice etc? Thanks, guys, this is really gnawing at me.



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany