Why I Sit Alone At Football Games

I'm going to vent a little, so bear with me.

I like to sit by myself at football games.

Actually, I sit with the other coaches wives and their kids that I'm friends with, so I'm not really by myself.

Those ladies are amazing.

And we all agree that sitting by parents is the last thing we want to do.

I have to qualify because some of the parents are really awesome.

There are some though, that I have to smile sweetly at and be patient with.  It's dangerous to think you and yours are above making mistakes.  Oh the comments...

They range from the usual 'Aw, jeeez', to 'Come on now, gotta have those!', to 'Hey Coach, how 'bout _____ '(fill in the blank - because I'm sure the coaches have never thought of whatever it is.) to some of the more cringe worthy phrases that usually include swearing.  I once heard a snot-nosed sophomore rant on Hub and tell everyone within earshot what a jerk he is.  It took every thing I had not to say something.  I didn't say anything because of Hub and I didn't want to put him in a weird position.  I'm not a prude but hey, those are MY people out there, ok?

Yes, people can say what they want.  No, I don't have to always like it.

I'm a believer in the old adage, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Sometimes I wonder if people actually heard what comes out of their mouths that maybe they would stick duct tape in their bags, you know, just in case they had the urge to speak out loud.  I'm probably not going to heaven, but sheesh.  Then I turn that back on myself and I wonder how I sound.  I'm sure I embarrass myself all the time and I don't even realize it.

I don't want to hear the chatter of the fans. Don't get me wrong, I love the energy of the crowd when things are going well.  It's when they aren't that it's a bummer.

If it's going good then the players are awesome.  If it's not then the coaches stink.

At J's games, I have one friend I set by.  She films her kid too.  She just gets it.  We talk in between plays. We don't talk when we're filming for the simple reason of who really wants to hear a raving mother screaming on game film?  I mean, seriously.  It's not pretty.

Also, Little League parents can be insane.  Truly.

Thank heavens Hub has a really, really good perspective on it.  He enjoys his position, does his job the best he can, tries to be diplomatic when he has to and just lets go of the rest..

It's taught me to watch my mouth.  It's taught me to reserve judgement until I know a little more.  It's taught me that sometimes the truth hurts, but you get up and move forward.  Sometimes you make mistakes and you're not prepared and you need to work harder. Sometimes it just isn't your game. I'd like to think it's given me a little thicker skin, but I'm not so sure.  It's also taught me that what I say about others when they're not around, I should be able to say to them when they are.