Yes, please, shame adults for getting into fights at youth sports games
Why are we even bothering with the 12-year-olds playing softball?Let’s skip the silly kids’ games and go straight to the main event: out of shape, middle aged men brawling on a softball field.Let’s see how their high school blocking skills have held up a few decades after those faded glory days.Also, let’s get Draft Kings involved.
I want to get in on the action.And let’s ensure the fighting is done in front of a group of impressionable young girls so they can soak in the experience and the thrill.If I can make an assumption, the men involved likely have daughters on the team, so let’s throw a #girldad on this bout!Last week, this scenario played out after a softball game in Jersey between East Hanover/Florham Park and Little Falls.This was a particularly tense semifinal — one parent was reportedly ejected in the second inning.When it came to the post-game handshakes, the East Hanover coach, Matthew J.
Magaletta, physically attacked the other coach and a scrum of pushing and shoving grown men spilled into the first base line before being broken up.Magaletta, 54 was charged with assault and banned by the league from coaching.These fellas aren’t the only ones acting like fools.The practice has become so ubiquitous, it should be its own sanctioned sport: parents and coaches fighting each other, or going after a referee.There could be a female category too!In April, a mother and coach of a U8 softball coach in Georgia was arrested after charging at an opposing coach, because she claimed they were making fun of her daughter.In 2022, a woman in Mississippi, wearing a “Mother of the Year” T-shirt was busted after she allegedly slugged a female umpire at a 12-year-olds’ softball game.Leagues and politicians have stepped in to throw down real punishments for offenders.
In 2023, Deptford Little League in Jersey instituted a rule that poorly behaved spectators will be punished by having to umpire three games.On Staten Island, a CYO league told parents ...