It is sad, but definitely not surprising, to learn that an angry mother has been accused of punching a softball umpire after a traveling tournament game last weekend in Laurel, Miss.
Naturally, the booking photo of the 32-year-old Hattiesburg woman charged with simple assault showed her wearing a shirt that said, “Mother of the Year.” You can’t make this up.
The umpire posted a picture of her black eye on Facebook and shared some insightful words about the hazards of refereeing youth sports.
“The next time you go to a tournament and you only have one umpire on the field, this is why,” the umpire, Kristi Moore of Ellisville, wrote on her Facebook page. “When you have brand new umpires on the field that may not know everything they should know yet, this is why. When you don’t feel you have the quality of umpires you should, this is why. When the day comes that your kid can’t play a ballgame because there are no longer officials to call it, this is why.”
Moore is not the only umpire or referee who’s been attacked. In Texas earlier this month, an umpire in a baseball league for 10-year-olds had to go to the hospital after a coach shoved him in the face.
The stories abound. The question is what to do about it — how to discourage parents and coaches from embarrassing themselves and keep people from getting hurt.
After the Hattiesburg punch, people are saying the state needs tougher laws against this kind of sports-related violence. That might help, but it’s hard to see how a law is going to deter an inflamed parent or coach who’s clearly not thinking rationally.
There is another option that stands a better chance of making hotheads back away before they do something stupid. It would be a cold-hearted penalty, but enforcing it would send the necessary message that violence or abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
When an incident like the one in Hattiesburg occurs, a youth sports league or traveling team should suspend the parent’s or coach’s child for up to a year, depending on the level of the transgression. The league also should ban any family members from attending games.
The immediate objection will be that this punishment is unfair to a kid who didn’t do anything. That’s true, but that’s the point.
It is clear that a few parents cannot keep their tempers in check over an activity that ideally is supposed to teach kids about the merits of hard work and fair play. Since a child is the focus of parental obsession, adults ought to be warned that misbehavior will come with a price — to the child. Parents should sign a code of conduct document at the beginning of a season agreeing that if they act stupid, their kid won’t play.
Maybe some leagues and teams are doing this already. Good for them, but youth sports still has a temperament problem. Drastic action is required to squelch it.
If the umpire who got punched is correct that people are backing away from being a youth sports referee because of incidents like hers, then it’s time for some harsh medicine.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
