Part XVII of Why Youth Sports Umpires and Referees are Calling it Quits!

Alcohol and obnoxious parents watching their kids play baseball is not a good combination. Some parents can’t behave when they aren’t drinking, so what would they be like when what little common sense they have to begin with gets sent packing?

A fellow umpire once worked in a very laid back community where their big diamond had lights, and games of 14-16 year olds were played on Friday and Saturday nights, also known as “party time.” A group of parents nicknamed by this umpire as the “Red Cup Crowd” made frequent appearances at these weekend night games. In a very half-hearted effort not to draw attention to themselves, under cover of darkness, they’d pour whatever was in their coolers into red plastic cups like you see at backyard parties. Could be beer, could be wine, could be anything in those coolers, maybe a batch of margaritas or shots of tequila. With every passing inning, the “red cuppers” would get a little rowdier, and if there was a close or controversial play, they’d be all over the umpires. Nobody quite understood why this league would let drinking take place at these games, but for some reason, they ignored it. I guess you can’t let your kid’s baseball game interfere with party night!

It’s bad enough as an umpire dealing with sober obnoxious parents. Drunk ones are even better! They drive umpires away from officiating even faster than their sober counterparts!

Next time I’ll discuss obnoxious parents who feel they can say anything they want to umpires because of all the money they pay for their kid to play on a high priced “club” team.

---

Randy Corwin is a veteran Massachusetts youth baseball umpire and author of the book, OBNOXIOUS PARENTS AND RUTHLESS COACHES, which is now available at Amazon Books, Barnes and Noble’s online bookstore, and at Escape Into Fiction in Franklin, MA. This post is part seventeen of a series of articles based on the book.