Reports of the local school board meeting last week have stirred memories.
It seems to me that school board meetings are like baseball games. Years ago I umpired baseball games for a teenaged girls’ league. It started innocently and accidentally. It ended with name-calling and personal attacks from the parents.
Many years ago I was out for an evening stroll in Kelowna where I lived and worked. I recall getting an ice cream cone. I recall coming across a baseball game just getting underway in a local park. I recall sitting on the grass to watch.
I was the only spectator.
I hadn’t been there but a few minutes when the two coaches approached me and asked if I would umpire.
I wasn’t sure I had the skills. I had never done that before. As a teenager, I had played baseball in a summer league. As a player I had a pretty good understanding of the rules. As a catcher I had a pretty good eye for balls and strikes.
The coaches said, “Just one game … there is nobody else.”
“Okay,” I said, “if there is nobody else …”
It went well. I was happy with my performance. The coaches were happy. The players were happy.
At the end of the game, the coaches asked if I would come to the next game. I agreed.
In fact, I umpired two games a week through the summer. Did I mention that there were never any spectators?
At the end of the season came the playoffs.
The final game was played on the big diamond – the one with the lights and fences and bleachers.
It was one of the Kelowna teams against a Rutland team.
There were two umpires. We had never met before. He was from Rutland. I was from Kelowna. We decided that he would go behind the plate and I would rule the bases.
Did I mention that the stands were full and more people were around the outfield fences?
Apparently, they were parents. I don’t recall the score. I don’t recall who won. I recall being only a few feet from second base when I called a runner out.
And I recall somebody’s mother getting out of her car by the outfield fence and hurling unkind phrases. I recall that one of the teams – probably the losers – launched a formal complaint about the officials.
I recall escaping from the scene under a barrage of insults from the parents.
I got a call a few weeks later to umpire in a big ball tournament. I demurred. I never umpired again.
Did I mention that I had never seen a parent at a game before the playoffs?
School board meetings are like baseball games.
By all reports the parents came to the school board meeting last week.
It was a playoff game night. Playoff games draw spectators.
They didn’t like the outcome. They hurled invectives. Some of the umpires may have lost their taste for that role.
What a shame.
Stuart Syme, www.oliverdailycomment.com
