Observations of Idiots

Maybe it is because I spent 12 hours out in the blistering hot sun of Las Vegas so my brain is melted but I have never seen so many adults acting like idiots over football. Yesterday was Jamboree for the boy's football teams. This is a gathering of all teams in each division to play against other teams before the season kicks off, sort of a "preseason". It is a chance for the teams to run their offensive and defensive plays in a game setting. There is no score kept and they don't play on a full field, no referees, just coaches and players. It is a great idea especially for the little ones because for some of them, it will be the first time they have ever been in uniform, on a field, running plays. They are excited and full of positive energy but the older the kids get, the less positive energy there is and it seems that there are more idiots. My day started out by me leaving the house with Monkey Boy and Soccer Queen at 8am. We were all packed with chairs, umbrellas, sunscreen, water, ice, cooler and of course football gear. We arrived at the park and found the team which consists of 30 boys in the ages of 6-8 all ready to play. This session went off very smooth and with no injuries. Moms were proud and excited, Dads were talking superbowls and NFL for the kids, and the boys, well they just had a blast. We finished around 12:30 but Soccer Queen had to be at her game at 1:15 so Granny took the monkey home to change and feed him some lunch while I took her to the baking oven. Mind you that I had now been outside for 5 hours in 107 degree heat so I was a little melted by this time and when I got to a new park she had never played out and found out they had turf with rubber backing, I was a little frustrated because it felt like an oven. Her game got over at around 3:15. We then ran home, changed our clothes because I was soaked in sweat, picked up the boys and headed to the 2nd session of jamboree. We had to be there at 4:30 so they could get warmed up or whatever so I found a nice shade tree and laid in the grass until 6pm. This is where I started to notice the idiots everywhere. This session was for kids between 12-16. The first team we played was ok but on the field next to us, the idiots were fighting with everyone. Parents were on the field yelling at coaches, kids and other parents and the head coach of this particular team was running his mouth to anyone that would listen. Our attention was quickly diverted to the action on the next field and it is amazing how quickly we forgot our own kids were still playing. This group of idiots (when I say idiots, I am referring to the parents and supporters, not the kids) moved over to where we were sitting. The fighting continued on our field because they were standing in front of us so that we could not see our kids so our parents asked them to take a knee so we could see which the kids did but the parents and coaches were ready for a fight and started in on our parents. The head idiot (or coach if you want to call him that) was belittling our kids as they were playing and talking so much trash it was uncomfortable to all of us on the sidelines. When they finally got to the field with our kids, it got even uglier. Because they were teaching their kids to play a certain way which is dangerous, and players were getting hit late, hit dirty, our coaches opted to end this session and get our kids out of harms way but not without the league officials stepping in for the 2nd time in a matter of 20 minutes . Our coach who has a temper and hot head also turned into an idiot for a minute and gave in to their level of class and words were exchanged. Our boys were able to "score" (no score was kept but they did allow them to run into the endzone) several times before the ending was called. As this team moved to the next field, the fighting continued with the next team. I don't know of the head idiot will survive to see his first game because of all the parent complaints from all the teams and this is so sad for the kids that just want to play football. How easily it is to forget these kids are in middle school and not the NFL with million dollar contracts, the boys just want to play and have a great time but parents (or idiots) can ruin it so quickly. By the time I arrived home at 9pm, I was a melted mess of goo that had no clear thoughts but now that I have cooled down and rested, my opinion of idiots is still the same, idiots will be idiots no matter the situation.