Saturday, February 27, 2010

Snarkiness

snark·y (snär'kē)


adj. snark·i·er, snark·i·est Slang

1.Rudely sarcastic or disrespectful; snide.


My goal is to write this post without being snarky myself. I don't know if that is possible as snarkiness is incredibly contagious. It is like the plague or something! You don't even have to be in close proximity to snarkiness to catch at least a smidge of a case of it!

OK so this all started yesterday when I noticed that it seems many of the news reports (at least on yahoo) about the Olympics are focusing on negative things. Like what coach said this, what player said that, what team did this. Was it always this way? I'm I too young to remember? Because I don't remember it being like this always...

Then today my son had a basketball game. His team has been pathetic since day one. Sorry but yeah, they had coach problems and team problems and haven't won a game all season. So, we show up today for the 1:00 game and there are only 5 kids there for our team. It takes 5 kids to play. This means that our kids cannot switch out, take breaks etc. They have to play non-stop. But, they did incredibly awesome! Brandon made at least two baskets and their spirits were high even though they looked like they were about to pass out. One ref is pretty old and sometimes doesn't make the best calls. It's pretty even all around though because he makes bad calls against both teams lol

But some of the parents started getting really rude about it. They started raising their voices, questioning the calls, booing and one even called the ref stupid. I finally had enough because the kids can hear this. I told them I didn't think we needed to be teaching the kids to argue with the refs. One lady then asked someone if I was talking to her... I said yes I was talking to both of you! She said she wasn't arguing she was making a statement. To which I replied that I didn't think we needed to teach the kids to be disrespectful of authority figures... By this time I'm shaky and probably red in the face because although I was not steaming mad, I get very nervous about confrontation.

Around this time I was thinking of moving to the other end of the court so I could see Brandon's team better but after that I decided to stay so they wouldn't think I was leaving because of them. So, I stayed, cheered etc. After the game one of the refs came up to me and Brandon (right in front of this lady) and said that Brandon has the best attitude of any basketball player. That he is always smiling and cheering even when the other team is scoring. I was so proud! But... I was snarky a little and I was angry. The kids saw the adults acting like they were and they started to act poorly to the point that one parent came on the court at the end and made two of the kids apologize to each other.. It was completely ridiculous!

OK rant over. I'll be back later with something positive I promise!!


2 comments:

Sr. Ann Marie said...

Sounds to me like a positive attitude is contagious also. Your son seem to have "caught" your belief in being both positive and respectful. Congrats on being a great role model!

Suzanne said...

Good for you, momma! :)
I have found that some parents acts so ridiculous at these sporting events. I wanted my son to play baseball. Well, he never did. I know he would have been good..had a great arm whenever we'd be playing around here..anyway, he didn't think he liked it. Well, I didn't push, although still wish he would have..anyway..to the point. There was this one team and it has been this way for years where the parents all sit in the stands and go off on each other every year. It is a highly competitive team and yet everyone is miserable and none of the kids are having "FUN"..yes..just plain ol fun. When I think about it ...it would have been miserable to even have had to attend games when it would have been time to compete against that horrible "team of parents!" Isn't it a shame how completely immature some adults can be? I have my silly points, but to be outright rude and mean...how can they not see that they are teaching their children AND OTHER people's children how to act like complete idiots and then the kids get into trouble. It just isn't right.
I am sure proud of you though. "Snarky" LOL! ;) Spunky Snarky...that's better. Ha!
Sincerely, you did the right thing and what a kid you have for it.

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