I’ve just been informed that my little brother’s next little league baseball game will be a “silent game.” Spectators are not allowed to cheer or say anything to the kids. At this stage, I do not yet know if clapping will be allowed. Have any parents or siblings of Little Leaguers experienced anything like this? I’d have started a Pit thread, since I’m pretty sure I don’t like this, but I’m too bewildered.
Are the people in charge Scientologists?
Sounds like it’s to help rein in asshole spectators, which seems like a good idea to me. Has your league had a problem with spectators disturbing the game or the players?
My guess is the league’s had trouble with rambunctious parents. It’s really common for Little League games to have trouble with parents, but I’ve never heard of this extreme before.
Perhaps it’s an attempt at stamping out “ugly sideline parent” syndrome?
That’s the really odd part. I’m sure the idea is to get parents to back off - and don’t get me wrong, I’m annoyed by the parents who insist on coaching their kids in the field - but there haven’t been any recent incidents. If this was a response to some sort of blowup, I might disagree, but I’d be less confused.
Shit, there was some crazy stuff 10 or 12 years ago when I was playing in the league, and they never did this. I remember at least one season where parents had to sign a consent form that said if they did anything improper, their kid would get thrown out of the league. That one was brought on by a scene involving one of my teammates, actually: his parents sat down on the pitcher’s mound to protest when he was called out at the plate. 
But no silent games. I’ll enjoy watching the bro’ play without listening to some of these dopes, yet I’m annoyed by being told to “shhh” and I think it’s crazy that they’re telling parents not to cheer for their own kids. I’m tempted to be a real jerk and bring signs. 
Took me a while to get that joke, Guin, but that’s funny. No clams around here, though. I’ve only met one in person, and I had to go to college for that privilege.
When I was in high school (about 2 dozen years ago), I used to umpire Little League games. Even back then, parents and relatives were the worst things about the games, far worse than the parent/coaches who thought they were Billy Martin or Tommy LaSorta.
Our league gave the umpires a lot of leeway, especially for the pre-teen games. Any coach who couldn’t control his fan club could forfeit the game. Cheering your kid or his team - that was fine. Denigrating the other team, or even worse, denigrating other players on your own kid’s team - one warning (to the coaches, not the crowd), then I get an early day.
As you can see, this is not a new idea at all.
This single link provides cites of many incidents that involved parents and either coaches or umpires in various sports.
Perhaps the most eggregious and high-publicized example of parental violence in a kid’s amateur sports event occurred in Reading, Mass.. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Sadly, he only got six to ten years. It’s 2006. If I were the kids left alone and parentless by this sub-animal, I’d be living in fear for my life. This guy’s gonna be out sooner than later, and if he can beat an adult male to death with is bare hands, one wonders what he’ll do to the man’s kids- who spoke on the witness stand at sentencing, giving their victim impact statements face to face with the convicted killer.
Silent Soccer? Great idea. Kinda wish they instituted Silent Hockey too…
Cartooniverse
Bullshit. Surely there’s another way to deal with asshole parents besides banning all cheering and clapping? I will cheer on my niece/nephew if I want to. I will not, however, bash the coaches or try to belittle the other team.
There has to be a happy medium here.
Amen.
Oh, believe it or not, Amen to that too.
My daughter played soccer for a few years. What made her hate it? Because she hadn’t strapped on cleats whilst in utero, she was trashed mercilessly by the parents of other girls. Did I get into it with them? No.
Did I support my daughter as she raged on about this? You betcha.
Silent soccer isn’t ideal, but it beats physical and verbal abuse six ways to Sunday afternoon. Should it be loud, fun, raucous and sweaty? Uh huh.
Is it always? Nope.
I have to agree. Why oh why, in this country, do we continually have to give in to the lowest common denominator of people?
Sadly, I don’t think there is. I am a parent of an (almost) 15 year old daughter who went through the ranks of competitive soccer all the way to the top. The behavior of parents is just shameful. If you left it up to the referees to handle the parents as well as the players, the games would take 3 hours each.
At a High School game a few weeks ago, two parents had to be physically restrained by other parents to keep them from going on the field to (presumably) assault the refs. The refs threatened to forfeit the game if the parents wouldn’t shut up. The team captain climbed the fence in tears to yell at the parents to shut up before they lost the game. Our team was winning 6-1 at the time, in the second half.
Well, short of kicking the kids off the team because of their parents, maybe play should be halted.
The players and coaches stop and stare at the crowd. Silently. When the crowd hushes in confusion, the ref asks if they will behave in a civilized manner so they can continue the game. If not, everyone goes home now. First and only warning.
I’m aware of some of the parent horror stories. This doesn’t seem to be in response to any local or national incident, however, and that’s part of what I find so weird about it.
That’s understandable, but I haven’t seen any incidents like that at the games I’ve attended. There are one or two dads who will coach their own kids while they are in the field - which, like I said, is highly obnoxious - but I haven’t heard anybody say anything bad about an opposing player. Granted that I’m only one guy at the games for one team, but in my experience as a former player, at least half of the parents at these games are mothers, and they’re generally not as intense (or even interested in the sport) as the dads.
I had to chide Ivylad at our niece’s Little League game. He was calling to her to choke up on the bat, when I told him, “Sweetie, see those guys out on the field? They’re called coaches.” He laughed and agreed. He didn’t mean anything, he just got caught up.
I heard of some places where before the season starts a meeting is held with the parents to discuss how to behave. It’s pretty sad they have to do that.
I know you mean well, but have a look at some of the incidents linked above in the thread.
From your post: why should kids be responsible for their parent’s behaviour?
Also why do you think the crowd will ‘hush in confusion’? These are **not ** calm, rational people. They are more likely to invade the pitch and demand the game continue. :eek:
(Or use this as a ploy if their team is losing.)
Finally if the game is abandoned because of the actions of a couple of parents, how bad will the players and other parents feel?
I’m just trying to come up with solutions other than “sit on your hands and pretend you have laryngitis.”
Absolutely there is a happy medium, it involves two things; 1) Clear rules pertaining to expected behaviour from fans, coaches and players; and 2) swift and sure enforcement of those rules. In our sports association we host thousands of kids per week year round in roller hockey, baseball, softball, basketball, cheerleading and football. With those kids come thousands of parents, friends, and relatives to cheer them on. We have never had a “major” incident of any kind. We make clear at all sign-ups that inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated. A first offense often results in being escorted from the park, but at minimum results in a stern conversation with a ref/ump and/or patk official. A repeat offense will get the fan/player/coach banned for life. Banning doesn’t happened often, maybe a handful of times in my 20+ year involvement, but enough for everyone to know that we’re serious about protecting our kids and letting them have a good time while learning and playing.
Those 2 parents should have been immediately escorted away from the park. Period. End of story. One case where I fully support zero tolerance.