Cheers crossing the line?

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At what point do cheers cross the line. We recently played a team, where their girls AND parents were cheering things like "You gotta cheat us to beat us" when they didn't agree with a ball and strike or field call. There was also one that went, "We hit the ball, you miss the ball so in your face" after our shortstop booted a grounder. Their older team was there standing behind the fence screaming at our hitters as they were batting. We alway preach to our kids to cheer for "our" team and never direct cheers at the other pitcher or batters. Now they always forget because they are kids, but we hop on them and correct them right away.

 

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we had a "hot " game on sunday with the organizations 10u, 12u, and 14s combining to make quite a cheering section. everything was the typical chants so it was cool. The chants you mentioned were bush league . Wish our 10's and 14's would have been around, us old fogies can't holler like kids MD

 

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I've had teams in the past that cheered and team that did not. I pretty much leave it up to them but I mandated that the cheers would be for our team and not intended to distract the pitcher, batter or to taunt the other team in any way, shape or form.

My current team (12U) all voted not to do organized cheers. They feel it is "silly". They want to play softball - not chant. That is their choice and I respect that.

I to have seen teams that directed cheers at the pitcher, batter, etc. I have seen teams/parents that raise the volume to "jet takeoff levels" when the pitcher would begin her windup or when the batter was ready to hit - etc. Those types of cheers are bush league. jmho

 

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Cheers begin to cross the line when they go from support foryour own team to negative, taunting comments directed toward the other team.

There is nothing in writing that says "this cheer or that cheer" is illegal. Any unsportsmanlike comments are to be judged by the umpire on their own merit, and it is strictly a judgement call. So the judgment can vary from umpire-to-umpire.

Different organizations or different leagues might have their own rules on how to handle this. That can lead to even more variation in the enforcement of this rule.

As an umpire, generally you have no control over cheers coming from the stands. But you do have a say in what happens on the field. If a situation like this is getting out of hand, the umpire needs to deal with it quickly before any bad feelings can escalate. If one team is being taunted, there is a very real possibility that the taunting can lead to retaliation. Let it get out of hand and things can ramp-up to batters being hit by pitches, runners crashing into fielders or other dangerous, unsportmanlike activity.

In the immortal words of Barney Fife: "Nip it in the bud, Andy, nip it in the bud!".

If this gets out of control in one of my games, I'm going to have a talk with the coach of the offending team. If the taunts continue, I'm probably going to issue an official warning at that point. I will give the coach a little bit of leeway here, as the rule is not crystal clear what comments are allowed and what are not. Maybe we just have a misunderstanding as to what is acceptable, since the rule falls into a somewhat grey area. I'm going to give the coach a fair chance to get his team under control so the game can continue without interuption.

By now, the offending team and coach are on thin ice. They have been warned and any continued abuse will be subject to ejection or possible forfeit (as a last resort).

Beyond the written rules, this situation is handled with good game management techniques applied by the umpire to keep the game under control.

 

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My current team (12U) all voted not to do organized cheers. ?They feel it is "silly". ?They want to play softball - not chant. ?That is their choice and I respect that.

Ahhh, Johnnies- a team after my own heart! ?

 

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Not a good scenerio. Parents and coaches should be the ones held responsible for such nonsense cheering. The girls will use cheers they have heard and try to use them during thier games and if the coaches and parents do not nip this in the butt immeadiatley and explain why that type of cheering is not good then it will only get worse. I would sure like to hear someone try to validate that type of sportsmanship.

 

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My favorite of course is the over-the-top parent that feels the need to bring an air horn or extremely loud cow bell to every game. Come on, use your hands like every other parents. No need to try and make the loudest noise and outdo everyone, everytime, at every hit made by your team. The girls on the opposing team are calling out the play to each other only to be drowned out by your in-the-stands air horn - well, perhaps it is your intention to make sure that the opposing team cannot communicate with each other - which is very sad. Why not keep the extra noisy materials for over the fence homeruns - they the extra noise may be tolerable - at least understandable.