Sign your an over involved parent

How about the top ten signs that your an over involved parent at a sporting event.

If I can think of a list I will come up with it.

Lets stick to a basic one that will definitely be on that list. I noticed it today at a soccer tournament I was working at.

I saw a father of 7 or 8 year old girls wearing matching pants with his teams uniforms. Nothing says important quite like that. Matching the uniform color (maroon) with maroon pants.

Isn't that a little too over the top? Isn't that a little too highly identified with your daughters team?

Maybe not. I mean when the TV crews show up for the post game interview he wants to look like he belongs.

If its a coincidence that you are wearing maroon pants and your 7 year old youth team wears maroon jerseys then fine. If that is planned, that's a little unnecessary as far as I am concerned. Matching clothes is important for branding purposes, not teaching kids youth soccer.

I sort of laugh when I see coaches of 7 year old youth teams with clipboards and matching adidas track suits. Isn't it a little over the top? Do you really feel important when you walk around with "South Salem Youth Soccer" official team gear? Again, maybe nice, but it looks so unnecessary and over the top.

This reminds me I got talking about my little league with a friend of mine. We spoke about the overcompetitive coaches in our little league. In my league it was the O'Leary's. They were a little over the top. Every little league has someone in it takes it too seriously. Although I must admit too seriously in little league is so much better than the kid who just wanted his parent to buy bubble gum and a soda for them. They usually played in left field every other inning and would compete with their counter parts in the dugout to see who could build the bigger pile of dirt.

Which brings me to an interesting thing about baseball. In what other sport do you see people spitting and moving around dirt so much during a game? It's like a hobby and tradition to move dirt in baseball. The pitcher digs into the mound. I always did that. At first base I would always kick dirt around while the pitcher couldn't find the strike zone. In the batters box, I'd also dig in. Then the umpire would move dirt off the plate. There is a lot of dirt moving in baseball. I bet if we put all the baseball players in the world in Central America we could construct another Panama Canal for free within a few months.