One of the laws our state legislature passed this year makes it a crime to harass or threaten referees and umpires at T-ball games and things like that. That sounds like a joke, but it’s true.
Scores of T-ball games can be 32 to 27 or some such thing since everybody gets to hit balls that are sitting perfectly still, and these pre-school players have not yet perfected their defensive skills.
They spend a lot of time chasing grounders that crawl past them and then trying to decide what to do with the ball after they retrieve it. Coaches work on those things, but kids that age seem to forget fielding techniques from game to game.
Our youngest granddaughter Charlee just turned five, and she hit the ball well this T-ball season and did a good job running the bases when her batting helmet didn’t slip down over her eyes.
Her fielding left something to be desired. A few balls got by her when she was drawing things in the red infield dirt with her cleats or waving at friends walking by on their way to other games.
Charlee’s team was easy to spot. They wore lime green shirts with black shorts and lime green socks. Charlee was the only one who wore black socks most of the year after she stained her lime green stockings with a post-game blue snowcone early in the season.
Regina and I spent a good bit of time at local ballparks this spring with Charlee playing T-ball and her eight-year-old sister Allie on a softball team.
We saw a couple of parents and grandparents get frustrated with umpires when their kids got called out at home, but most of us were well behaved and won’t be affected by the new law that can lead to fines, community service and even jail time for ugly fans.
Allie went through a little hitting slump late in the season, so we coached some from the bleachers reminding her as she was batting to keep her right arm up, watch the ball into the bat and things like that.
One day after we delivered all those instructions, Charlee might have offered the best advice of all when she yelled, “Cross your fingers, Allie.” It never hurts for hitters to have a little luck.
The new state law that establishes legal charges and penalties for fans who go too far in tormenting officials at school and recreation sports events is long overdue.
When I was in college, several of us who were interested in sports took a class that prepared us for the test to become certified as basketball referees to make some spending money.
Bad weather kept a couple of South Louisiana officials from getting to a game in Sabine Parish one night, so a friend and I in the class were sent to officiate the game even though we had not completed the class or become certified.
It was the first time either of us had ever refereed a game, and the officiating could not have been any worse. Sheriff’s deputies had to escort us out of the gym, and we both dropped the class when we got back to school.
When my older son was playing in a church league basketball game, the father of one of his teammates became irate at a volunteer referee and went on the floor to scold him during a timeout.
The referee took off his striped shirt and whistle, handed them to the guy and walked off. The critic didn’t have much choice but to start officiating.
Then the ousted official joined us in the bleachers, and we all gave the new referee, one of our fellow church members, a hard time the rest of the game.
A recent survey of 17,000 members of the National Association of Sports Officials concluded that sportsmanship is diminishing and is worse in youth sports than at high school and college games.
What a shame that the behavior of some parents and other fans at kids’ sports events has become so hostile that new laws are needed to address the problem.
We should support officials who work for little or no pay and encourage kids even when they spill snowcones on their uniforms and draw in the dirt with their cleats as grounders roll by them.
If nothing else, we can try to help them have good luck at bat by shouting reminders for them to cross their fingers.
REPRINTED FROM THE NATCHITOCHES TIMES