Holier than Thou

Since no one from the local lacrosse community reads my blog, I feel that I can say pretty much whatever I want regarding tonight's game. It's my blog, I was there, I can write about it. The boys played great and shut them out 16-0. Hoover was moving the ball around exceptionally well despite the poor field conditions. The Bucs were very sharp tonight. Unfortunately, things got a little heated on the sidelines. One of the opposing parents couldn't keep quiet the entire game and basically heckled our coaching staff loudly and repeatedly. At one point she even yelled "Shut Up Cos." The funny thing is, it's the same mom who's been yelling stuff from the sidelines for years and she has NO clue what she's talking about. She sends her child to a Catholic High School yet sits in the bleachers and yells "Lay Him Out " and "Hit Him,. I think we even have video coverage of her yelling "Kill Him." Apparently, she's a very angry woman. Oh and some of those little Catholic school boys??? They have some pretty filthy mouths. Any one in the first few rows of the bleachers behind the bench could very clearly hear: "this is F**King B.S." as players walked off the field (this coming from a fellow Catholic). The particular woman even made several comments about "playing lacrosse, not playing Cos ball."

So, Chris lost his cool for a moment there and made a comment to the ref about the other team's fans being unnecessarily unruly which made things even worse because she started yelling Even more. So Chris got a 3-minute penalty. Look, the guy's been coaching for 4 years and hasn't been thrown out of a game yet. You have to also understand that the other team was handed an extremely large piece of humble pie tonight and they didn't like it one bit. They had come off a tournament win prior to Spring break (we chose not to participate in the tournament) and they placed 2nd in the Dan Anderson tournment last week (again, although we participated in the tournament, we did not play them due to the way the brackets were organized). So, they were on a bit of an unrealistic high -- they hadn't played their toughest opponets yet this season. Up until tomight, they had a fairly lighter schedule than some of the other local teams who have had tought opponents from the get-go. I think their ego got the best of them tonight and they didn't like the result one bit.

One of the low points for me this evening occued as I walked to my car and a friend from the opposing team gave me an earful. A very colorful, angry earful. Coming from some I care deeply about and call my good friend, I was a little hurt. I wasn't out there. I don't play the game. I don't coach. Heck, I don't even have a son on the team. I sit in the bleachers and look pretty (or try to at least) and try to support my husband.

Several things have been happening to the sport of the last couple of years. You have new kids playing, new paretns not knowing the game. And then you have parents that THINK they know the game. Just because a player got hit and landed on his ass, doesn't mean it wasn't a clean hit. Just because you heard padding or metal hitting, doesn't mean it was a bad or illigal hit. Every single Hoover game is videotaped and if any parent would like to view game day film, they are more than welcome to come over to our theater room and review the tape. Hell, I'll even serve refreshments. Although my husband coaches, I am a fairly impartial fan. I have friends on several times and truly do like for each and everyone of the boys and girls I know to play their best. Heck, only one of the employees at the store plays for Hoover, every other employee plays for a different team. If Becca has a good game against T, I'm gonna congratulate her. If Trey scores against John Carroll, I'm gonna tell him "good job." The ironic thing about tonight's game is our opponent had a bench clearing brawl at one of the games a couple weeks ago but they cried foul every time a Hoover player ran toward them. So, as a coaches wife, my advice to the other parents would be: learn the game and learn the game well before you start yelling trash at the field. And, if you think you can do a better job than any of the current coaches who volunteer their time, money and effort, please feel free to contact any member of the Greater Birmingham Youth Lacrosse Association and let them know you'd love to coach a team next year.