On a cold, Saturday morning here in NorCal, I was coaching my merry band of 8- and 9-year-olds in our final tournament of the year. We were matched up against a stout, hard-throwing 11-year-old and some of her town's other all-stars. We weren't expected to win, but I felt we had a good enough team to give them a fight.
During the game, I was tipped off that someone was behind the backstop calling pitches for the other team. I thought it was comical - remember, this is just 10u softball - but I didn't confront him at the time, because he was outside the field of play and I only had 1 assistant on the bench.
I saw that team playing later and again, there was the guy. I don't know whether he was a coach or a father or what, but I don't know that he's permitted to call a game from that position. That is, if he'd been in the team's dugout, I would not have had a problem with it at all.
So, I broke out my camera and filmed him for a while. After a few minutes, this little guy (a parent from the same team) comes up and asks me what I'm taking pictures of. I looked at him and said, "Excuse me?" (GetBigger style, of course) And he repeated his question. I then said, "That guy over there." He then asked - in a confrontational manner - "Why? Do you know him? Is he a friend of yours?" to which I replied, "No, I just feel like it. Is there a problem?" This guy may have been trying to protect his team's parent, but immediately realized he was overstepping his bounds, so he backed the fuck down and went back to sipping his latte'.
Smart move.
