Give the Refs a Break

This is an open apology letter to all refs and umpires.

Dear refs and umps,

As a father and a coach I would like to apologize for all of the times I yelled, screamed, and questioned your calls and non-calls in my son’s games and in the basketball games I have coached. I know you are only human, and maybe even parents of players too, and that you only have a split second to make a call or non-call.

As a parent I feel that my outbursts are more a frustration on the state of how my sons and their teams are playing and since I cannot yell at them or their teammates (bowing my head in shame) I direct my frustrations onto you the refs and umps. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those parents that you can hear yelling and screaming from the stands. Though you might occasionally hear a “WHAT!!!! He beat the throw” or “He’s been in there for 5 seconds!!!” but I have always tried to share my outbursts with the parents next to me. However, I have sat next to parents who have felt the need to openly yell and shout at you and I was embarrassed for them.

As a coach, I would yell and question your calls because frankly, my basketball team was not very good and I wanted to give my players every chance possible. My thinking was that if I brought a missed or bad call to your attention, you might not make that mistake again. However, sometimes you didn’t see it that way and let me know with stern look or a verbal warning to sit down. Hey, I had to try. But in the end, most basketball refs have been very helpful in warning me when a player has been parked too long in the paint or allowing my point guards an extra step when driving to the basket.

But most importantly without you my boys and all the other kids in my town could not play basketball and baseball and I would have no games to coach. So I want to say thank you to the parents who volunteer to be the home plate umpires and do their best to call balls and strikes and to the refs who work the youth basketball leagues and have to listen to parent- coaches who think they can see a foul from their end of the bench at the other end of the court.

I also want to congratulate Jim Joyce and Armando Gallaraga for the professional and honest way in which a missed call was handled. It should be a model for all of us.

Thanks again for making the time and taking the interest in youth sports throughout the country,

Jeff