Yet another overbearing, doesn't get it parent

[StevieP]

So my wife's varsity girls' basketball team starts the season 0-5. She alters the lineup, now they're 3-5.
So of course the parent of the girl — who's been selected a team captain (popularity vote) — who started all five of those first games and is now a reserve is upset beyond belief. To voice her complain, idiot-stick mom doesn't call my wife the coach, doesn't talk to her before or after practice face-to-face, but decides the most appropriate route is via a Facebook message.

Uh, how do you "defriend" someone again?

Some highlights of the complaint, "I've noticed Miss Susie started the first five games, but now her playing time has been cut. Why is that?" "I wish I wouldn't have talked her into playing this year," "She's working just as hard as the other girls, she's just struggling right now" and my personal favorite, "You as a coach should do your job and talk to her, you're breaking her confidence and affecting her senior year. If things don't change, perhaps we should schedule a meeting with the athletic director."

Coach talks to Miss Susie about crazy *****, bad cleavage and mom-jeans wearing mom. When asked is she knows why they're having this discussion, Miss Susie responds, "It's my mom, right?" then starts to cry. Totally embarrassed about the course of events after their brief discussion and yet thrilled beyond belief the team is on a three-game winning streak, Miss Susie states, "I wish my mom wouldn't have gone off her menopausal pills."

Yeah, I hear you...

 

[LongTimeListener]

Man, when I read your first sentence, I thought poindexter was going to be posting a link about you soon :)

Sounds like your wife can be a real calming influence for the girl, which she probably needs. One thing I've been noticing around my parent/school set is how many moms seem to go off the rails when they get to their mid-40s. NOTE: I'm by no means saying it's a rule among women. Just saying that in my particular social group, I've known a lot more moms than dads whose personalities have changed for the worse. The dads, of course, were already dicks by the time they were 28.

 

[rtse11]

Man, when I read your first sentence, I thought poindexter was going to be posting a link about you soon :)

Dear Penthouse, ...

 

[2underpar]

i had a parent call today alerting me to the fact his daughter was signing a junior college softball scholarship.
"She's been committed to them since last year," he said. "They got on her early, ahead of everybody else."

I said thanks, told him our policy, and hung up.

 

[rpmmutant]

I begin to wonder if it's worth it to cover girls basketball. One of the girls I cover hurt her knee in a winter tournament. At first, coach reported it was a torn meniscus. The girl's mom insists it's a bruise. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
But here's the crazy part. Mom starts sending e-mails to other parents, the coach, me, wanting to know who said her daughter only had a bruised knee. The mom told the coach it was a bruised knee. The girl told the coach it was a bruise. She's missed a couple weeks already and will be out for at least another two weeks.
Coach doesn't know who to believe. The girl seems to be fine walking around campus, no crutches and no word from a doctor how bad her knee is.
In the meantime, Mom wants a retraction or a correction about the severity of her daughter's injury. We've already told the coach mom's not going to get a correction.
Crazy parents. The same ones who wonder why their kid's teams don't get more coverage.

 

[slappy4428]

Crazy mom at one stop wore us a nice letter why her daught should be all area, even though she averaged five points a game before blowing out her knee
She tries hard, mom wrote, and it would help her get a scholarship. Oh, and she's all-league honorable mention.
Ummm, mom? That league didn't do an honorable mention. Six teams, a first team and a second team. HM? Hardly.

 

[flexmaster33]

Everyone's a D-I athlete just waiting to be discovered :)

 

[ChrisRcc]

I wish every parent could read these threads to know how poorly they come across.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I wish every parent could read these threads to know how poorly they come across.

This should be one of those things that someone writes the people who do the Dear Abby or Ann Landers columns for. "What not to say to a sports journalist."

Only problem is, it would be in the paper, and who knows how many people would read it.

 

[kingcreole]

I wish every parent could read these threads to know how poorly they come across.

The thing is, most of those parents would read these threads and be in denial.

"Well, at least I'm not THAT bad."

 

[HanSenSE]

Dads can be just as crazy too. A couple of years ago a school trip to Disneyland was scheduled before the last game of the regular season and was departing during practice. Coach wanted all players at practice. Players who chose Disneyland didn't play in the finale, which they won. Dad e-mails me that night saying I should point out that they won without all those players. After deadline, I send a note back saying we weren't going to pursue that story and if he wants word out, send a letter to the editor. He did ... and got fried by the readership.

 

[zebracoy]

i had a parent call today alerting me to the fact his daughter was signing a junior college softball scholarship.
"She's been committed to them since last year," he said. "They got on her early, ahead of everybody else."

I said thanks, told him our policy, and hung up.

Did you also tell him that the junior college "got on her early" because it's a junior college, and therefore, she must not be that good?

Tangent: Anyone who is going to a junior college to play sports ahead of getting a degree at a four-year institution - unless that person can't actually get into a four-year institution - needs to get their priorities in line.

 

[Walter Burns]

Tangent: Anyone who is going to a junior college to play sports ahead of getting a degree at a four-year institution - unless that person can't actually get into a four-year institution - needs to get their priorities in line.

Actually, in a lot of cases, most community colleges are making it easier (and cheaper) to take general requirements or other transferable classes, graduate with an associate's degree and then go on to a four-year institution.

 

[apeman33]

Tangent: Anyone who is going to a junior college to play sports ahead of getting a degree at a four-year institution - unless that person can't actually get into a four-year institution - needs to get their priorities in line.

Actually, in a lot of cases, most community colleges are making it easier (and cheaper) to take general requirements or other transferable classes, graduate with an associate's degree and then go on to a four-year institution.

This. And it's pretty much always been the case, at least here in Kansas. When I went to juco in 1990, each credit hour cost about 1/3 that of a state university. I had a scholarship to film for the football team that paid for everything. Got my basics out of the way and all for free in addition to having a work study job and a Pell Grant (In essence, I was paid to go to a juco). When I went on to the four-year university, I was at least $7,500 ahead based on what the next 2 1/2 years at Podunk State cost me.

 

[Ace]

Dads can be just as crazy too. A couple of years ago a school trip to Disneyland was scheduled before the last game of the regular season and was departing during practice. Coach wanted all players at practice. Players who chose Disneyland didn't play in the finale, which they won. Dad e-mails me that night saying I should point out that they won without all those players. After deadline, I send a note back saying we weren't going to pursue that story and if he wants word out, send a letter to the editor. He did ... and got fried by the readership.

Why wouldn't you pursue that story? Sounds like a pretty good story to me.

 

[RickStain]

Tangent: Anyone who is going to a junior college to play sports ahead of getting a degree at a four-year institution - unless that person can't actually get into a four-year institution - needs to get their priorities in line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer

 

[Mark2010]

I agree there's nothing wrong with someone attending a JUCO or community college. Go take some courses, get adjusted to college life, enjoy your last fling playing ball and then there will be plenty of time to get serious about earning a degree.

 

[golfnut8924]

I agree there's nothing wrong with someone attending a JUCO or community college. Go take some courses, get adjusted to college life, enjoy your last fling playing ball and then there will be plenty of time to get serious about earning a degree.

I agree. And JUCO doesn't have to be the end of the line for athletics either. Plenty of kids play a couple years at JUCO and then go on to play D-1. Hell, there's guys in the NFL who started out at JUCO. Baseball players get drafted out of JUCO the same way they get drafted from big schools.

I think for many kids it's a case of just not being physically mature enough at 18 to play big-time college sports but after a couple years at JUCO they have a now 20-year old body that's much more ready. And kids who didn't get much exposure to big-time college coaches or scouts in high school can get that exposure in JUCO.

 

[Ace]

I agree there's nothing wrong with someone attending a JUCO or community college. Go take some courses, get adjusted to college life, enjoy your last fling playing ball and then there will be plenty of time to get serious about earning a degree.

I agree. And JUCO doesn't have to be the end of the line for athletics either. Plenty of kids play a couple years at JUCO and then go on to play D-1. Hell, there's guys in the NFL who started out at JUCO. Baseball players get drafted out of JUCO the same way they get drafted from big schools.

I think for many kids it's a case of just not being physically mature enough at 18 to play big-time college sports but after a couple years at JUCO they have a now 20-year old body that's much more ready. And kids who didn't get much exposure to big-time college coaches or scouts in high school can get that exposure in JUCO.

Cam Newton did OK going the Juco route (belatedly).

 

[apeman33]

I agree there's nothing wrong with someone attending a JUCO or community college. Go take some courses, get adjusted to college life, enjoy your last fling playing ball and then there will be plenty of time to get serious about earning a degree.

I agree. And JUCO doesn't have to be the end of the line for athletics either. Plenty of kids play a couple years at JUCO and then go on to play D-1. Hell, there's guys in the NFL who started out at JUCO. Baseball players get drafted out of JUCO the same way they get drafted from big schools.

I think for many kids it's a case of just not being physically mature enough at 18 to play big-time college sports but after a couple years at JUCO they have a now 20-year old body that's much more ready. And kids who didn't get much exposure to big-time college coaches or scouts in high school can get that exposure in JUCO.

Kansas juco rules mandate a 55-man football roster, 43 of whom must be kids that graduated from a Kansas high school. A lot of those kids wouldn't have a chance to go D-I without some juco seasoning, especially the eight-man players. The jucos in western Kansas stock up on those kids.

And any kid who doesn't get a chance to go D-I might end up with a scholarship at a D-II or an NAIA school. Scouts and coaches from Kansas NAIA schools like to look at Kansas kids who are redshirting. They'll pick them up the next year and have a kid who's gone up against D-I caliber athletes for a year in practice and still has four years of eligibility.