I cringe when kids push each other in the back during a game. Usually, this action is done at full-speed, toward the neck, and has a violent flair to it. Spine injury, broken necks, a lifetime of headaches – it infuriates me and terrifies me. The thing is, I don’t remember it as a kid. Maybe we were less competitive but in the hypertravelsports world it seems to have become a regular “move” at my kids basketball, soccer, and even baseball games. While it screams foul and probably litigation – I can think of four teams that my kids play that seem to embrace it as “physical play.”

Here’s why I’m defending some of my sports parents peers. I was getting my oil changed when the woman/Garth above came on the screen of the JiffyLube. She/Garth was interviewing a guy who “shames sports parents.” People can make money in all sorts of ways in the YouTube era – so I wasn’t floored to see re-recycled Jerry Springer bits on a talk show in 2019. The guest was on the show as a defender of all referees against all parents. Of course, anytime someone is grabbing cash by making sweeping statements like all parents are evil and all referees are saints is probably bending reality a little bit . Let me digress…

Look up Elizabeth Lambert from New Mexico – the poster child of violent and malicious sports play of what is supposed to be the “beautiful game.” She did some pretty indefensible things that wound up on camera. However, she had her coaching staff watching her and if the coach didn’t know she should’ve been fired for ignorance and if the coach knew she should’ve been jailed for abetting (and University of New Mexico – great university brand – keep up the solid reputation we knew you were never the Princeton of the sand but way to lower the bar even further.)

The point is the coach knew, the camera person knew and chances are the refs knew and turned a blind eye. People were getting paid to keep the game above board and they weren’t doing their job (the job they were paid to do and supposedly trained to do).

So, when I see an enraged parent or someone screaming at a coach or a referee (I used to be mortified) but I now wonder what caused such commotion because I’ve seen a coach tell an 11-year-old to pitch high and tight to a 10-year-old….and a coach from Mid*** W*** tell his soccer players to “get the other team out of the way” and raise his hands in triumph when a kid went down….and I wonder why are pee-wee football coaches teaching chop blocks….and why are referees not calling pushes in the neck…and .how are slaps in the face not flagrant fouls.

Yeah, sports parents can be gross — but referees who ignore violence and cash the check and coaches who grab the money and incite brutality – well, there’s a lot more blame to go around than just a sports parent.