A TikToker captured parents arguing with an umpire during their children’s little league baseball game.
Anna Hudson (@hudsonanne) posted a video of the umpire and parents yelling on May 16. The umpire approaches the parents and says he is going to forfeit the team if they don’t stop yelling.
“The game’s for your kid,” the umpire says. “You want to argue balls and strikes in a little league game?”
In the TikTok’s caption, Hudson wrote that “little league baseball got INTENSE.” On Thursday, Hudson’s video had over 12 million views.
@hudsonanne little league baseball got INTENSE tonight! 🥴 #Texas #Baseball ♬ original sound – Anne Hudson
Many commenters on the video expressed their support for the umpire.
“I’m on the side of the umpire,” @mrbdavis2 commented.
“So embarrassing for the parents,” @generaljury wrote. “Good for the ump.”
“As a Coach, Manager and Umpire..I can’t begin to tell you how many games have been ruined by parents. It’s little League y’all,” @rcmac319 commented. “Let your kids have fun.”
In a follow-up TikTok, Hudson sits down with the umpire, who is named Jordan, and has him tell his “side of the story.” He says that one of the team’s coaches was very “argumentative” and eventually was thrown out of the game, along with another one of the team’s coaches.
That’s when Jordan says the parents got “aggressive.”
“It is fueled by the coaches reactions,” Jordan says of little league parents’ behavior.
“Whenever the coaches act a certain way, it makes the parents think they can act a certain way.”
He also says he is not allowed to “eject spectators,” like parents, from the game. Instead, Jordan says he can suspend or forfeit the game in response to aggressive parents. He also says that he will no longer be umpiring because he just graduated college.
Commenters on Hudson’s follow-up videos rooted for Jordan.
“Kudos to this young man!” @gallionheather commented. “His answers are even calm and level headed.”
“Everything this young man said is 100% correct,” @theofficial719 said. “Parents need to chill the eff out and realize they are often the problem.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Hudson via Instagram direct message.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/parents-fight-umpire-little-league-tiktok/