Soccer Dads Lose Control

Why do kids play organized sports?

Besides the benefits of being physically active, it's fun.

While having fun, kids learn the value of self-discipline and teamwork.

Why do some of the parents of the kids ruin the experience for them by acting like jerks at their games?

I don't know, but they do act like jerks at kids' sporting events all too often.

This incident was a disgrace:

An off-duty Waukesha police officer and another Waukesha man got into an altercation this month at their daughters' soccer game, forcing the referees to stop the game and other parents to call 911 for crowd control, according to a Sheriff's Department report.

Both men have been referred to the Waukesha County district attorney for a possible charge of disorderly conduct.

...The sheriff's report describes a scene of adult bickering and name-calling escalating to more heated exchanges.

The report says deputies were called to Sunset Park in Genesee about 6 p.m. June 4 for a fight between parents at a soccer game pitting 9- and 10-year-old girls from Pewaukee and Genesee.

In a recording of the 911 call, a man tells the dispatcher to send officers for crowd control because two men are "acting like children."

According to the report, the off-duty officer was heard yelling to his daughter on the field to "get in front of her and slap her if you need to. Just slap her." That prompted another parent to call out to him that his instructions weren't appropriate.

The off-duty officer responded that if the parent has a problem with him, she should come and say it to his face. When she did, the report says, he stepped toward her and said, "You're wrong," and she went back to her seat.

The officer's wife then arrived at the park, and he told her that he just got into it with a woman on the sidelines. When she asked who it was, he said the fat lady, the report says.

The Waukesha man, who overheard the fat lady comment, called the officer a vulgar name and told him to pick on someone else, the report says.

When the off-duty officer approached him to ask if there were a problem, the two ended up chest-to-chest, verbally sparring, the report says, with the Waukesha man's elbow hitting the off-duty officer in the face. The off-duty officer told deputies he had swelling around his eye.

The Waukesha man told deputies he raised his elbow to block a punch he thought the off-duty officer was going to throw, the report says.

That was just the beginning. It gets worse!

At this point, referees stopped the soccer game and told the men to leave the park or the game would end. The wife of the Waukesha man grabbed his arm, and the couple walked to the parking lot.

Witnesses said they heard the off-duty officer say to the Waukesha man, "Let's go finish this."

The officer, witnesses said, followed the couple to their car and then got in front of their vehicle, refusing to let them leave, the report says.

He moved to the side of the car and then fell to the ground as the Waukesha man drove away. The off-duty officer said the man ran over his foot, the report says.

One witness said the fall was fake and that the officer wasn't struck by the car, the report says.

If the witnesses' accounts are correct, the off-duty officer sounds like he needs a psychological evaluation.

Seriously.

Is it any wonder that so many kids are such disrespectful brats when they're being raised by parents with no sense of civility?

A soccer game with 9- and 10-year-old girls is not the place for such boorish behavior. What a horrible display for the children to witness!

This is not what participation in sports is about.