It was another Thursday night game. Next week the home town kids play 3 hours away, at one in the afternoon. Which means they leave almost before school really gets started. Which means they go to school the next day with homework not done, half asleep, and sore from being beat up on the field.
Heads up. I’m going to play the “back when I was in school” card now. But here’s the truth. Our parents and teachers knew we needed our sleep, and time to study, not to mention church activities, and family time, so sports only happened on Friday nights. I doubt that teenagers today need less sleep than we did, and of course you can’t force a teenager to go to sleep just because he’s in bed, any more than you can when they are three months old. Since we didn’t have phones and other devices to distract us, we generally did go to sleep, But I digress.
The reason for these mid-week games is a scarcity of referees. A lot of officials have quit the business because it’s gotten dangerous. Time was, when a referee made a call you disagreed with, you grumbled to the fellow sitting next to you, and maybe complained at the coffee shop next day, but you knew that any trash talk at the game would get you a technical and, likely your kid would let you know in no uncertain terms that you’d embarrassed them. Now we have to remind the fans before each game to be respectful, but when the game starts it’s like the crowd has gone deaf.
Referees get paid, but not enough to risk their lives, and the ones still doing it are there because they care about the kids. So do the law enforcement people who have to escort the officials to their vehicles after the game so they won’t get attacked in the parking lot. It’s not at all unusual for a parent to be ejected from the gym or field, and I know of at least one situation where a parent was not allowed to attend any more sports activities for the whole school year.
Let’s talk about coaches. What passes for advice in the locker room is nothing more than verbal abuse. I’m not sure why anyone thinks a kid will try harder for a coach who denigrates their character and calls them ugly names. There’s probably a reason why fewer kids are going out for sports these days.
It all trickles down, you know. Nowadays, players get ankles twisted, necks stepped on, and kicks in vulnerable places while in the huddle. Anything to get a player sidelined. Fans call out to players to hurt the opposing team physically. And if a kid who has been getting beat up retaliates, they are the one in trouble because the officials can’t see what went on in the pile. We’re referencing football here, but it goes on in all sports, and sometimes girls are even meaner. One basketball player got taken out with a broken nose, and the opposite team cheered while she bled all over the place. Even parents of pee-wee sports players are getting nasty. One high school rodeo contestant said he preferred the semi-pro circuit because you don’t have to deal with parents.
I used to tell my kids that if they didn’t play nice the game was over, and they could go clean the chicken coop. If a player persisted in playing dirty, he or she was kicked off the team. Is it time for schools to do away with sports until parents and coaches learn to play nice? We are in dire need of some adults in the room.