Town set to penalize unruly parents

[RedEarth]

NUTLEY, N.J. -- Parents attending youth sports games here must behave, or risk being banned from watching their children compete.

Cursing, smoking, heckling and fighting are specifically banned by the local parks and recreation department. All parents with children enrolled in municipal sports programs must sign the policy, agreeing to its terms. If they don't, their children can't play.

"If you are going to be involved with kids, you will behave in an appropriate manner both on and off the field," Thomas Pandolfi, superintendent of parks and recreation and an occasional referee, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Wednesday's newspapers.

A brawl at Franklin Middle School earlier this year highlighted the need for the policy, Pandolfi said.

It started when a coach and a cheerleader's parent argued at a Saturday afternoon football game. The confrontation continued at a church festival later that night and led to a fight at the school Monday afternoon.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--sports-parentsbe1208dec08,0,4522319,print.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. Good

Kids won't learn about good sportsmanship unless their parents practice it.

[RedEarth]

2. Yep...I agree

Too many parents have gotten totally out of control at their kids sporting events.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Remember "Hockey Dad"

I can't remember his name, Thomas something, but he was the man who got into a fight with the coach at his son's hockey practice and the guy died as a result. "Hockey Dad" got 6 to 10 years for it. Sad situation for everyone involved. :-(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. Imagine how Hockey Dad's kid feels...

growing up without his dad. That really is sad.

[RedEarth]

6. "Hockey Dad" here's an article about the good ol hockey dad....

'Hockey dad' gets 6 to 10 years for fatal beating
January 25, 2002 Posted: 9:57 PM EST (0257 GMT)

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- A Massachusetts judge sentenced Thomas Junta to six to 10 years in state prison for the beating death of Michael Costin, 40, in a fight after a youth hockey practice in which the sons of both men participated.

A jury of nine women and three men found Junta guilty of involuntary manslaughter January 11, rejecting the more serious charge of manslaughter, which carries a 20-year maximum prison term.

.........

"I saw Thomas Junta beating my dad into the ground. For the rest of that day and for the next day, my heart was in my throat," said Michael Costin Jr. "Please teach Thomas Junta a lesson: Let the world know that a person can't do what Thomas Junta did to my dad, to my family and to me ... we all want Thomas Junta to go to prison for as long as your honor can put him there."

On July 5, 2000, Junta -- a 6-foot-1, 270-pound truck driver -- fought twice with Costin, who was 6 feet tall and weighed 156 pounds.

The second fight proved fatal for Costin. The two men had argued over what Junta described as rough play during hockey drills that both men's sons were participating in at the Burbank Ice Arena in Reading, Massachusetts.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/01/25/hockey.death.verdict/

[Anakin Skywalker]

5. A church festival? Heh heh.

I thought christians aren't supposed to hold grudges. And over a petty thing like a game, too! *tsk tsk* Sounds like redneck fundies to me, obsessing over sports.