Years ago—no, make that decades ago, for it was in the days of cassette tapes and feathered hair—a father came stomping toward our dugout, his face flushed with anger. The man screamed a string of expletives at our manager, in full hearing of everyone in the park.

What caused this outburst? He had just learned his son would not start at first base that evening…in a meaningless exhibition game where the coach saw an opportunity to play some little used kids.

This occurred before a high school summer league baseball game in some small Illinois town. Last weekend at Scottsbluff, I had the misfortune to experience similar behavior during the girls Western Trails Conference championship game between Kimball and Mitchell.

Breathe easy—I was sitting in front of the Mitchell supporters.

Apparently the game was rigged in favor of the Longhorns. The referees were colluding against Mitchell and thus deserved constant verbal abuse. A few stated loudly their plans to call the Star-Herald about the “fix.” Every time these fans shouted “foul” (which was just about every five seconds) I looked at the Tigers’ head coach. She seemed oddly oblivious to any on court infraction.

Worse, these so-called “supporters” issued crude comments about Kimball girls anytime one stood at the free throw line, entered the game or left the court. It was so blatant at times that the public address announcer considered restating the “be supportive” rule and a colleague from the Gering paper almost started up into the stands to personally confront one beer-bellied parent.

Fortunately he remembered his journalistic ethics…and that physical prowess is not generally a prerequisite for becoming a writer.

We decided pleading and gentle logic would be lost on such a lot. After all, some were chanting “your parents went to college” at a Kimball girl, as if that were a serious breach of American-ness.

Just a guess, really. I grew up in a university town and experienced some of the pointless animosity directed at students and faculty from those who believed we were all listless, no-account liberals (which probably comes to a shock to the likes of Newt Gingrich and elite Ivy Leaguer George W. Bush).

What makes parents behave in such a manner? Ignorance obviously plays a role; perhaps a lack of couth, too—whatever that really implies. Maybe they confuse high school athletics with professional sports. Some probably live vicariously through their kids, their own existences having become vapid.

I’m not really in a position to comment on the psycho-social causes of such behavior. I do, however, know that this country has experienced brawls between rival parents, violence against youth league referees, the now infamous Texas cheerleader murder case and obsessive fathers like the one who launched Todd Marinovich toward his ill-fated NFL saga.

The list could go on and on and on. Sad, really.

Likely most of these parents claim to be Christian. Some of them may have even sported WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”) t-shirts or jewelry back when it was in vogue.

Clearly they believe Jesus would have verbally tormented the refs and berated all opposing teenagers on the court. After all, isn’t that the proper interpretation of the ‘suffer the children’ passage?

Way back when, we halted warm ups to stare at a baseball father’s apocalyptic reaction to the starting line ups of a meaningless game. The son in question stepped in, eventually calming his furious father and ushered him away from our dugout. There’s little more disquieting than a 17 year-old exhibiting greater maturity, wisdom and decorum than the man supposed to serve as role model.

My guess? His father wore a WWPD—“What Would Patton Do?”—bracelet.

You know, it’s fine to support your kids, to stand up for them and even to discreetly question a coach about playing time. That’s part of parenting.

But the rest is just a game played by teenagers. Win or lose, role models applaud the efforts of all involved.