themselves banned.

FRESHMAN girls basketball. This family of 4 behind me (parents and grands) were whining about the refs the whole game. I’m sitting there wondering why they care so much about an arguable travel call or no call on a shooting foul. It’s freshman ball. Their FG% is like 10%. They’re basically still learning how to play. A few bad calls don’t matter. At all.

At the end of the first quarter I turned around and calmly said it’s not the Olympics but rather freshman basketball and that we’ll survive if the refs make bad calls. The dad glared at me, but no verbal response.

The whole family kept whining about every single call that went against them, even though they were winning by 20 most of the game. I didn’t say anything again until the end of the 4th. Our team fouled their team and the grandma made a comment about it being roller derby out there. A few minutes later they got a technical on us so I mentioned roller derby and the dad went off on me, threatening to take it outside and fight, cussing at me, etc. I explained that they are the type of parents that make it hard to find referees since the abuse they’ve thrown at the refs was ridiculous and they should know better.

The grandpa and grandma went off on me for letting my 4 year old wander the tiny stands (no dangerous parts) and how we should actually parent my child. My wife went off on them at that point, which was fun.

They threw a few middle fingers and left.

The school called me this morning and said they had video of it all and they’re banning this family from coming back here.

I’m sure I was “that” parent when I was younger, but man, these kids aren’t playing for scholarships. It’s not the Olympics. Chill out. No parent has ever changed a game by yelling at the refs.