Too bad there’s no way to play it solitaire.
Trust me, I know whereof I speak:
Sports brings out the worst in people.
It’s a virtual cliche that Little League games will be attended by pushy parents who curse and scream at the umpires and even come onto the field to argue with them face-to-face. In Deptford Township, NJ, this problem got so bad, they finally had to do something about it. Because the parents were so ill-behaved, the umps were quitting (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2023/04/26/new-jersey-little-league-sets-new-rule-to-stop-parents-from-screaming-umpires/).
The league is embarking on an experiment: make the parents who scream the loudest serve as umpires for three games, to see what it’s like. Otherwise, they’re banned from the games.
Oh, I’d have been so mortally embarrassed, had my mother ever carried on like that (but Dad, no way)! Personally, I don’t know why anyone in his right mind would want to be an umpire. What thanks do you get?
My parents wisely refused to let me enter Little League. Later on in life, playing in our local men’s softball league, I discovered that every tinpot, whiny, prima-donna in the league had learned to be that way in Little League. If I were starting a team now, I wouldn’t let Little League alumni join it.
But it certainly ain’t entirely, 100%, the fault of Little League. Some of those apples didn’t fall far from the tree.
Great idea having the obnoxious parents be umpires and see how hard it really is. I have umped for money and it is not easy, and the pay is not that great.
I played in both, football and baseball Little Leagues. My dad worked two jobs, so he was not able to attend any games, and mother never came to most games. But they were good parents, so it made no difference. I do not recall, ever, observing that kind of ill behavior from any parents. Of course, that was well over fifty years ago.
Things were different (don’t I know it!). Happily, in my neighborhood there was plenty of baseball, basketball, and football to play without any leagues, sponsors, fancy scoreboards, uniforms, etc. See the difference: on the playground with your friends, playing ball, you might get up to bat 100 or 200 times a day. In Little League, you might not get to bat at all.