What is the world coming to?
“Hockey dad mars playoff game,” reads a Boston Globe headline about a man who was kicked out of a high school ice hockey playoff game last week after shining a laser pointer onto the ice, which reflected into the eyes of the opposing team’s goalie.
Yes, a grown-up humiliated his teenage daughter in attempts to distract her competition.
The dopey dad caused a commotion in a Massachusetts town as Winthrop High, the school his daughter plays for, won its playoff game over Medway-Ashland 3-1, perhaps in part due to his unorthodox and desperate tactics.
Peter Schworm of the Boston Globe summarized the pathetic scene:
“Fans, coaches, and players noticed the green light bouncing around Larsen Rink in Winthrop, and officials halted play. The unidentified man, who had caused disruptions at previous Winthrop games and was sitting alone in the stands, was promptly kicked out of the rink and has been banned from all school events.”
It’s bad enough hearing the stories of heckling at professional sporting events where rowdy and often red-faced drunkards hurl verbal assaults at adult players from the stands, but this takes fanaticism to the lowest of lows, right alongside of parents brawling with each other and attempting to fight the children playing against theirs.
The Medway-Ashland goalie said the laser hurt her eyes as the light caused her to see bright spots for several seconds after each exposure, much like the sun’s effect after looking straight at it. Aside from any physical or health risks, this situation stinks of stupidity.
From covering high school sports as a reporter to watching little league games played by children and pre-teens as a spectator, I’ve seen adults fly off the handle: screaming, with trembling faces devoid of any rationale or self-control without having the slightest sense of awareness of their behavior.
Something about their children competing and possibly experiencing loss, hurt and failure brings out the absolute worst in some parents.
I don’t know what predisposes certain parents to acting this way, but I’ve always thought to myself, “Wow, I’ll never be like that when I have kids.” I sure as hell hope I’m right!
To read the Boston Globe article in its entirety, click here: http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-03/metro/31117476_1_playoff-game-green-light-bright-lights
Heading To The Friendly Confines, Theo Epstein Thanks Red Sox Fans With Full-Page Ad In Boston Globe
Breaking up after 10 years together would be tough, regardless of the circumstances, and Theo Epstein’s split with the Red Sox was just the icing on a cake which had already melted into a big, ugly mess in previous weeks. Despite a disastrous situation by sports standards, the former Red Sox general manager and executive vice president left Boston with a classy, parting gift as he heads to Chicago. Take a look at this full-page ad the native son took out in Sunday’s Boston Globe, thanking the fans, players, coaches and front office staff of the team he dreamed of working for as a kid.
After assembling two World Series Championship teams and ending an 86-year drought, any competitive, driven, perfectionist would jump at the chance to take on the Cubs’ North American sports team-record 103-year drought; especially given the way things unraveled with the Red Sox.
But Epstein isn’t just any competitive, driven, perfectionist. He is a graduate of Brookline High School, just a few miles away from Fenway Park. Epstein’s family roots run deep in the Boston community and his son was born in the city that haled him a hero and miracle worker for what he helped accomplish within the confines of the Green Monster and famous red clay.
I can only imagine that for him to leave his hometown and life as he knows it, Epstein must have thought there was no way he could repair his Red Sox, and that perhaps, they weren’t even his anymore.
There will be no more five minute cab rides to FuGaKyu Restaurant on Beacon Street. No more sitting in the seats of an empty Fenway Park, the same seats in which he sat as a child rooting for his home team, soaking up the summer sun while watching the guys practice in the afternoons before night games.
Chicago is a wonderful city, and the Cubbies have their own fantastic traditions and folklore. But as friendly and iconic as the ivy may be at Wrigley, it will never be like home.
(For a less-fuzzy look at the ad, click here: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/assets_c/2011/10/609Theo_thank_you-thumb-609x1100-53948.jpg )
