Monday, July 13, 2009

Opinion
The Drive By

By John Philbeck

I was again reminded last night of one of the most imperative reasons we are involved as sports officials. It has nothing to do with game management, mechanics, partner support, positioning, style or even making the correct calls and acting as the impartial representative of the game.

As I was finding parking for myself and my partner on the street behind Garfield High School I noticed a few odds and ends with a photo of a young boy. There were some candles, well loved stuffed animals, other odds and ends and a small, old, used baseball mitt, just lying on the steps up from the fields at the school. Very little was written on the photo attached to the rail other than an empty plea to "Stop Violence". No dates, no description of the reason for the little memorial, little else to express the enormity of the grief and loss from this tragedy.

As I was sitting behind my car three young boys came walking down the sidewalk. As they approached I asked them "What happened?" Two of the boys ignored the old, white man sitting on a chair in their neighborhood. The third paused and thought about me and what I had asked for a moment. I asked him again, "What happened over there?"

His response broke my heart in too many ways. This fourteen year old boy said "He passed away............. He got shot................ It was a drive by...................... It's cool." And then he continued down the sidewalk after his buddies.

That was it! A child had been slaughtered in some drive by on the steps of their school in their neighborhood and "It's cool!"

My partner and I were starting the second game of the evening a couple of hours later. I'm on the rail next to the fence, near the north wall of the school. A fourteen year old kid comes riding up on his BMX and skids to a tire screeching stop. In a minute three more come riding up. They congregate on the sidewalk outside the gate near first base. In just a minute, after nobody has acknowledged or even looked sideways at them, one kid calls out to a player moving onto the field "Hey, you suck!" His buddies were all most impressed by his eloquence and insight. For about two minutes he repeats himself, addressing various players and the field in general "You suck!"

Soon they tire of the game as there is no reaction from anybody and they finally realize they aren't going to score a big triumph and disrupt anything. They ride away.

I know I shouldn't, but I do. I look over at the player on first base and comment "They certainly have an impressive vocabulary! I expect that will take them quite far in life!"

Thank God we have twenty five kids on this field tonight. Playing. Playing a game they can love. Seeing adults support and encourage and teach them the game. Seeing adults doing their jobs that allows these young men to play the game. And, yes, seeing adults disagree on a call and resolve their disagreement. Without resorting to the ultimate cowardice of anonymous, drive by shooting!