My kids are 17 and 14. They've played soccer, baseball, football, basketball, and more. I thought I'd heard it all. But yelling "GET A REAL JOB!" to an umpire was a new one to me. It was so absurd my friend and I found it comical. The umpire didn't take the bait. This was over balls and strikes, I think. Who knows. This was a very low-stakes baseball game, I really couldn't find any meaning in it. Basically kids getting reps on a nice October day. Kick off your high-heeled sneakers, it's party time. That's a Steely Dan reference. Seriously, though, I'm there to chill. When you live in Western New York and your kid is playing baseball in October, life is good. My buddy was in town and we were taking in the game when a parent from the other team started getting into the ump and hollered at him to get a real job. So confused. These umps take way too much abuse. Of course they get calls wrong. They're human. Keep the human element in the game, you know? As mentioned, the umpire didn't escalate the situation, to his credit. And life went on. My buddy doesn't have kids so he isn't familiar with the youth sports scene. Here he got a glimpse of what it looks like at times.
Soon after this happened, I went to my kid's football game. I'm always early. I saw the referees chatting up each other in the parking lot before the game. I approached them and told them the story about the baseball umpire, and told them I appreciate what they do. One of the refs summed it up pretty good: "They yell at us to not blow the whistle and to let the kids play. And they yell at us when we don't make a call." These officials can't win.
I'm in Generation X. Remember when we used to say "take a chill pill"? Never a bad piece of advice. Take a chill pill.
