Sportsmanship

The head coach should handle this. Tell the offending parent to be quiet or leave or the dd they have come to see will be benched ! Believe me it works.

 

Thank you for the words of wisdom on how to deal with some of these situations. Regarding the artificial noise maker, someone in a group was blowing it. What would be the best way to deal with an entire group such as a "student section" where various group members at various times are yelling insults at opposing players and it is difficult to pick out one offender?

 

For example, last spring at a high school game, the PA system was used to broadcast to the home team what the visiting team’s batter had done in their previous at bats as the batter was coming to the plate. No information was given about the home team. Instead the home team players had “walk-up” music played.

I wouldn't have a problem with this as it is part of home field advantage. It is not like it is a secret what the batters had done in their previous at bats, many times the coach will yell it out from the dugout anyway. Also if a girl hit a homerun in her previous at bat it gives her some props.

 

This year NFHS has added a point of emphasis on PA systems.

Public Address (PA) systems have been utilized to intimidate/taunt visiting teams by playing negative sound effects or playing "motivational" music only for the home team. When the PA system is used for announcements, introductions, sound effects, music, etc., the presentation should be nuetral as possible.

So, as an umpire I have a huge problem with the above announcing practices. If the PA is announcing the previous at bats for the visiting team they should announce the same for the home team. If they are playing music for the home team the visiting should be offered the same option.

Also this means no more jeopardy tune for visiting team conferences.

As far as the schools that I serve I only had to speak to the announcer once and that was at a school that just got a PA system this year. He played the jeopardy tune during a visitors defensive conference. I told him that was not allowed this year and he imediately turned it off. No complaints or arguements.

Also I have to say that this year in HS the fans have been exceptionally well behaved. About halfway through the season I commented to a fellow umpire that it was almost scary. I felt that this bottled up aggression was going to release one day into something tragic, but it never did.

Now MS and Private School baseball is a different animal. These fans were the worst I have heard in a long time. So I guess these MS fans will be filtering in to the HS's, and hopefully the fans this year will help correct the bad newbie fans next year.

Just what I have witnessed this year, and when I read this post I was very surprised by the unsportsmanlike conduct of the fans and PA systems.

 

This happened at a HS baseball game after the plate conference a fan blew one of those soccer horns. I promptly went to the head coach an dtold him I am not going to be listening to that the whole game. He immediately told the fan to put it away.

The Head Coach is responsible for their fans behavior and if the umpire tells the Head Coach to control their fans and they do not then the game could be subject to forfeit.

 

WOW!

At a playoff game tonight, the winning TEAM sang to their opponents from the dugout after the game. Song?
"Nah nah nah nah. Nah nah nah nah. Hey hey hey. Goodbye!"

 

As long as there is no cursing or personal attacks I think fans should get into the game. Some teams feed off of fan support. If they play in college it is only going to get worse so they should learn to get a thicker skin. It is ridiculous that they can't play the jeopardy song, it is all in fun. I had much rather hear sound effects over the PA system than some of the stupid cheers the players do from the dugout. If they are going to start banning things please ban players singing cheers!

 

Cheering from the bleachers or the dugout is great and can really have a positive impact on the game. That's a good thing.

What's not good is heckling players. Things like sitting behind the ump and yelling "strike" or "swing" every time the ball is pitched is unsporting. Yelling "I got it!" during a play is unsporting. Had to correct one of our players for doing that very thing this year.

One of the things I've noticed the past year or so is when a player gets hurt everyone on the field takes a knee. That's sportsmanship. Complimenting an opponent on sensational plays. That's sportsmanship.

By the time they reach HS they should know the difference between sport and drama. Sure tempers flare in the heat of competition but good coaches teach players how to control themselves. Some of the many positive lessons learned in sport.

 

With the changing times, technology, and social networking sites on the internet, coaches might want to gather their players at the beginning of each year and talk to them about talking smack on the internet. I believe the heckling of individual players stems from some of the things they say over their facebook pages. If you do not want to be heckled do not give someone the ammunition to do it. Play your game on the field and not over the internet. I know of a high school football coach that told his players they better not be talking smack on facebook and forbid them to even have a username at NCPreps.

 

Interesting...

Not sure I agree that these players should have to get thicker skin to play a sport they love. They are not professionals should not be subject to heckling of any sort. As for it happening in college, some do and some don't. I watched a game last year at what is arguably the pinnacle of collegiate softball in NC. I heard a parent make a disparaging remark toward an umpire and player and this particular coach came from her dug out and wanted to know who made the remark. When this man stood up he was immediately escorted out of the park. That is a trend that should be followed. IMHO