I can be a real dick sometimes

Hi. Thanks for reading. If you are actually reading this, that is.

So. I hadn't written a column in a while after writing the last two. And for some reason, the first 40 or so hadn't received much a response from readers than the last two did combined. So. Blog-time, yah?

So. It's one thing to have an opinion. It's another to so be comfortable with it, so in charge that you can say exactly what it is and why in a level-headed reasonable manner. Recently, I really missed the boat on that last one.

I don't have any misgivings about what I said in my last column -- which was, in a few words, that people can be mean and ugly in front of little kids -- but looking back on it, some of the language was cheapjack crap. Way too much petty name-calling -- which is a really unfair thing for someone in my position to do with a newspaper column. Not my place. Not setting a good example for kids, either, if that's what I'm going to try and be all high and mighty about. For that, sorry.

Other than that I'll stand by it. People -- all people, coaches and columnists alike -- do dumb stuff.

I do like to think that most all people, even those prone to meanness, are at their cores alike. Let's all try to be cool, yeah?

UPDATE: Tuesday evening
So after spending about 20 minutes chatting with a select group of parents who think the column was aimed directly at them -- sorry, it wasn't (really), I don't do that (not yet, anyway) -- I'm going to add another thing or two.

What I wrote was something that'd been stewing in me since 2005, after watching games played by each and every one of the three youth organizations in town, as well as some over in Manteca and Ceres. Yes, I have done all that. Yes, I have seen a lot of bad stuff from all sorts of parents, on all sorts of sidelines.

I didn't name any people, teams or organizations because I felt -- and still do feel -- that people who act like buffoons in front of little kids are a small minority, and I didn't -- and don't -- want to cast any wide dispersions on an organization. I'm not in that kind of business.

That all being said, if someone was offended by what I wrote, and angry about what I wrote, maybe it is they need to watch what they say and do in front of little kids.

Like yelling at a reporter in the dark for about 20 minutes, complaining about coverage, whining about cheap shots, and even playing the race card. Where'd that come from? Are we reading the same paper?

Someone told me today it's a free country. Another person told me they, as a paying spectator, are free to do and say what they want. Sure, but if you're a parent, you have a responsibility. If your kid is watching you act up, you're throwing your responsibility out the window. Your choice, but don't act like someone's railroading you when you get called on it.