Dugout behavior

[knightsb]

For those that watched the Mizzou / Baylor marathon Saturday evening, did any notice the behavior of the players in the Baylor dugout? My 12U team demonstrates better restraint in their actions. IMHO it was unsportsmanlike behavior.

 

[chinamigarden]

I watched a lot of that game, but not the last half inning. I didn't see anything in particular that stood out. What actions did you not like?

 

[knightsb]

I watched a lot of that game, but not the last half inning. I didn't see anything in particular that stood out. What actions did you not like?

Specifically two things stood out that they showed a couple of times on the broadcast:
1. They had their batting helmets on backwards (as a rally cap), and a team member kept running outside the dugout back and forth slapping hands the extended hands of the others. What bothered me in was this action was taking place outside the dugout.
2. At another point someone was flashing the dugout lights on/off to simulate a strobe light while the other players were having a dance party hooting and hollering, and this was happening prior to the completion of the game.
It wasn't just me that noticed the obnoxious behavior, others I was watching the game with (with no vested interest in either team) thought the dugout behavior was juvenile for that age of players.

 

[EP Dad]

No problem with the helmets but the other stuff was probably too much.

 

[LAdad]

Since their behavior was not aimed at the other team, it may have lacked decorum, but why would it be unsportsmanlike?

 

[knightsb]

Since their behavior was not aimed at the other team, it may have lacked decorum, but why would it be unsportsmanlike?

Since the camera/broadcast was not focused entirely on the Baylor dugout, you only saw snippets of behavior.

The NCAA mens football defines unsportsmanlike conduct to include, but not limited to:

Any delayed, excessive, prolonged or choreographed act by which a player (or players) attempts to focus attention upon himself (or themselves).

Engage in such acts that provoke ill will or are demeaning to an opponent, to game officials or to the image of the game.

As I stated before, this is obviously my opinion that the behavior was unsportsmanlike, but even if it weren't, it isn't the kind of behavior I would approve of in the dugout of a team I had input to. I thought it looked ridiculous and in all of the softball I have watched this year, no other dugout has come close.

 

[LAdad]

[...] Engage in such acts that provoke ill will or are demeaning to an opponent, to game officials or to the image of the game.

What I meant was that they weren't taunting the other team, or engaging in excessive celebration (there was nothing to celebrate at the time). That's typically what is considered poor sportsmanship.

The "image of the game" part, on the other hand, is a catch-all clause that I'd consider more a matter of decorum than sportsmanship. Those rules tend to be rather arbitrary: In the NBA, it apparently hurts the game if players don't wear a tie. In football I imagine they would flip if the whole team engaged in a typical softball chant (that'd be funny though).

it isn't the kind of behavior I would approve of in the dugout of a team I had input to.

Without doubt coaches everywhere (me included) do frown on dancing in the dugout, or, for that matter, anything else that involves not paying attention to the game.

 

[chinamigarden]

Specifically two things stood out that they showed a couple of times on the broadcast:
1. They had their batting helmets on backwards (as a rally cap), and a team member kept running outside the dugout back and forth slapping hands the extended hands of the others. What bothered me in was this action was taking place outside the dugout.
2. At another point someone was flashing the dugout lights on/off to simulate a strobe light while the other players were having a dance party hooting and hollering, and this was happening prior to the completion of the game.
It wasn't just me that noticed the obnoxious behavior, others I was watching the game with (with no vested interest in either team) thought the dugout behavior was juvenile for that age of players.

I saw all of that, and it didn't register with me as being a problem. I actually thought it looked like a bunch of kids actually having fun with the game.

 

[Lozza]

Seriously? Dancing in the dugout is verboten? God forbid they have fun!

Even for elite players it's hard to remain focussed 100% of the time. Sometimes dancing in the dugout is a way to loosen up and regain lost focus. Heck, a lot of the cheers we did as teenagers g
had actions. I have many fond memories of standing on benches doing a softball chant to nut USB, YMCA and even a Steps version. It was a blast.

 

[rachelsdad]

Picking fly poop out of the pepper.