Coach Refuses to Leave, Then the Tournament Director gets involved

[BlueClue]

Despite an absolutely atrocious spell of weather in March and April making it so we weren't able to get onto the diamonds until late April, we've been able to pack in a lot of baseball in a short amount of time, and as a result has led to me being on the field A LOT in the past 3 1/2 weeks. The first 30 games didn't feature a single incident that warranted a report, but that all changed with game 31...

Working 3-man as U1 in the Semi-Finals of a 15U tournament under OBR. R2 with 1 out. BR hits a line drive to LF which causes my partner to go out, so I watch R2 make the touch at 3rd and proceed home, at which point I turn my attention to the BR just before he passes 1st to take him into 2nd. While he rounds first, I notice he blatantly misses the touch of first and proceeds onto 2nd for a stand up double. Once time is called (because of course kids nowadays have a guard or mitt for everything), ATHC is very clearly telling his pitcher that once the ball is put back in play to step off and appeal at 1st, and as instructed, as soon as the ball is put back in play, the pitcher steps off and throws to first, and I call the BR out on appeal, who immediately begins walking to his dugout.

Immediately after I made the call and turned my head back towards the mound I notice HTHC had sprinted from the 3rd base coaching box and was about 10 feet away from me (it had been about 5 seconds for reference). He begins to aggressively that "YOU WEREN'T EVEN LOOKING I WAS WATCHING YOU" to which I respond "I was watching (HTHC's Name)", he then says "NO THE F*** YOU WEREN'T, THAT'S BULLS***, YOU'RE BULLS***" at which point I give him an early start to his 12-hour drive home.

Following his ejection, HTHC goes ballistic, screaming "WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU THROWING ME OUT FOR, SWEARING?!" to which I say "it's minor baseball" and he chirps back with "WELL YOU'RE NOT A MINOR" (well no s*** captain obvious), at which point U3 comes in as the rodeo clown. As I peel off behind U3 he says to HTHC "alright, we're done" to which HTHC responds with "NO THE F*** I'M NOT" and begins laying into U3. PU then comes up to take HTHC off U3's hands and walks him back to the home plate area where HTHC begins to lay into PU, screaming loud enough that I could hear him say "ARE YOU THE CREW CHIEF" and "AT LEAST YOU ADMIT WHEN YOU'RE WRONG UNLIKE THAT FAT F***" from behind the second base bag. U3 then yells "Coach you need to leave" and runs down to escort HTHC yet again but not before almost having to force him through the gate along the third base side.

During the next half inning, U3 and I notice the HTHC is leaned over the fence right next to his dugout telling his coaches what to do, U3 runs over and tells him he needs to leave and HTHC then begins to start screaming again about how "WE'RE PLAYING UNDER (my) RULES" and begins to storm off to the fieldhouse at the facility. I then notice the Tournament Director (who is a buddy of mine) rush after him and later discovered he laid into HTHC for his actions and the example he was setting to his kids.

Immediately following the conclusion of the game, HTHC then approached the crew as we were on our way back to the room and initially apologized, before beginning to argue again about how he shouldn't have been thrown out and "you need to have thicker skin" at which point U3 stepped in with "Coach, we're done" and we continued to walk away.

[kylehutson]

Many times I have been tempted to say "Do you want to know what's wrong with youth sports? Find a mirror."

[SeeingEyeDog]

9 hours ago, BlueClue said:

Immediately following the conclusion of the game, HTHC then approached the crew as we were on our way back to the room and initially apologized, before beginning to argue again about how he shouldn't have been thrown out and "you need to have thicker skin" at which point U3 stepped in with "Coach, we're done" and we continued to walk away.

Am I the only one who is bothered more by this than anything else? You want to argue a call...fine. You want to swear up a storm...fine. You want to get ejected...fine. You want to appeal the suspension or other post-game consequences and have a phone call with the league/tournament authority on a conference call the next day or later that week...fine.

Do not...DO...NOT...approach my crew as we leave the ballpark, approach my crew in our locker room or approach us in the parking lot. I don't care if you're being a pussycat now and you "want to apologize" and tell us all what a good guy you are and how "that's not you" and whatever else you think you need to say in order to sleep at night. To say nothing of continuing the argument?!?!?! Are you kidding me with this?!?!?

Good on the TD for getting involved...sort of but, he should now have a mental file on this hump and be ready for similar events in the future anytime this guy is coaching. Of course, if it were me and I was the TD, after an incident like this he would never be permitted to be on a field for one of my tournaments. Just a deplorable situation right there...

~Dawg

[Jimurray]

9 hours ago, BlueClue said:

 

Working 3-man as U1 in the Semi-Finals of a 15U tournament under OBR. R2 with 1 out. BR hits a line drive to LF which causes my partner to go out, so I watch R2 make the touch at 3rd and proceed home, at which point I turn my attention to the BR just before he passes 1st to take him into 2nd. While he rounds first, I notice he blatantly misses the touch of first and proceeds onto 2nd for a stand up double. 

 

Doesn't the PU have R2's touch of 3B? I don't doubt you got the B-R miss but taking the time to watch R2 could have you miss the 1B touch.

[grayhawk]

1 hour ago, Jimurray said:

Doesn't the PU have R2's touch of 3B? I don't doubt you got the B-R miss but taking the time to watch R2 could have you miss the 1B touch.

Was thinking the same thing. PU has R2's touch at 3rd for sure. U1 will have any play on R2 at 3rd, so he has to know R2's status there. A quick glance to know R2 is committed to home is all that's needed so you can turn your focus on the BR.

[Jimurray]

7 minutes ago, grayhawk said:

Was thinking the same thing. PU has R2's touch at 3rd for sure. U1 will have any play on R2 at 3rd, so he has to know R2's status there. A quick glance to know R2 is committed to home is all that's needed so you can turn your focus on the BR.

Reading the ball can let you prioritize the "glances". "Watch the ball, glance the runners"

[The Man in Blue]

3 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

Am I the only one who is bothered more by this than anything else?

No, you are not.  That wasn’t the first thing that bothered me, but it was the one that bothered me the most.

The first thing that bothered me (beyond the usual) was how long it took the TD to get involved.  There is no scenario on earth where one of the umpires should have to go chase that guy from the fence.

To your point, this is why umpires need a dedicated area away from the public AND parking that does not put us in that position either.

Do NOT come back to apologize.  You have already shown me your true colors.  I believe in restorative justice, but we don’t have a relationship that needs restored.  If we meet on the field again later in the future and you want to apologize, do so at that point.  None of us are as good as our best moment, nor are we as bad as our worst moment.  There is no need to one-up yourself on either end.  Coming back right afterward is never going to end well.

 

[mac266]

5 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

Am I the only one who is bothered more by this than anything else? You want to argue a call...fine. You want to swear up a storm...fine. You want to get ejected...fine. You want to appeal the suspension or other post-game consequences and have a phone call with the league/tournament authority on a conference call the next day or later that week...fine.

Do not...DO...NOT...approach my crew as we leave the ballpark, approach my crew in our locker room or approach us in the parking lot. I don't care if you're being a pussycat now and you "want to apologize" and tell us all what a good guy you are and how "that's not you" and whatever else you think you need to say in order to sleep at night. To say nothing of continuing the argument?!?!?! Are you kidding me with this?!?!?

Good on the TD for getting involved...sort of but, he should now have a mental file on this hump and be ready for similar events in the future anytime this guy is coaching. Of course, if it were me and I was the TD, after an incident like this he would never be permitted to be on a field for one of my tournaments. Just a deplorable situation right there...

~Dawg

 

You're definitely not the only one.  I've only been approached in the parking lot twice.  One ended up in the police being called, and the other was a Karen to whom I threatened to call the police.  Both instances resulted in reports to the sanctioning body and the offender's banishment from future games.

[mac266]

14 hours ago, BlueClue said:

...at which point U3 comes in as the rodeo clown.

Rodeo clown....I'm laughing so hard right now!!!!