My kids are almost at the age where they will start playing team sports. I will certainly enjoy watching them play, but I’m not looking forward to the company I’ll have to keep if I sit in the bleachers.[/quote]
Pri: In youth football, I got around that by actually coaching my son’s team every year. Not so fortunate in baseball. Interestingly, the parents in youth baseball are even worse than those in youth football (I always thought the opposite would be true). You run the gamut from mothers who threaten lawsuits over playing time (true story) to fathers who threaten physical violence over playing time (also true).
I played Pop Warner and Little League/Pony till high school and can’t recall a single altercation involving parents. This would have been from roughly ’72 to ’79. Raised voices and some disagreements, but nothing like now, where I’ve seen dads literally jump each other during a Little League game. Its a pretty sad commentary in a lot of ways.
