Having attended the recent 10U turnament in Southlake I got the opportunity to observe several teams with their rolling boomboxes at the ballfields. Some of these were playing so loud the players on the other fields were being distracted by the noise. This for the players takes away from their focus during the game. For the coaches it becomes annoying when you can't hear an umpire's call because of the noise 50 yards away on the next field.
The parents at the ballfields I was sitting at the time got so annoyed that one gentleman actually walked over and almost got into a fight with the team who had the boombox blaring as loud as they could turn up. Then after he left the team continued to turn it up just to annoy the parents at the other field who complained.
Aside from almost getting to see a fight at the ballfields, the content of the music being played on these boxes is less than acceptable for 10U team. Many of the songs being played contain sexual innuendo and were not appropriate for that age group. If the parents of those kids heard the R-rated or in some cases X-rated version of those songs they would be complaining to tournament directors across the metroplex. The sad part of this is those kids will go out on the Internet and will download the R. or X. rated version without their parents knowledge and think that's cool. Then their parents will wonder how little Susie learned a new language she never spoke before that is filled with four letter words.
I took the time to have a serious discussion with an umpire after the game and he suggested to me that I should write ASA to voice my concern. While I'm not opposed to doing that I would rather the tournament directors across the metroplex addresses address this issue and ban these boxes.
I would urge all of you parents who have similar concerns to express those concerns to the tournament directors before you start each tournament. Maybe then we can prevent children from being exposed to music content that should not be allowed at the ballpark in a family atmosphere. It provides no real benefit to the integrity of the game.


























