Increase Life Insurance for Coaches & Umpires

"Kill The Umpire" was a 1950, comedy movie staring the late actor, William Bendix. Recently, 'kill the umpire' was any thing but a comedy in Sao Paulo, Brazil. During a soccer match, (what else) an umpire ejected a player; the player begin to fist-fight with the umpire. The umpire pulled a knife (Brazilians obviously have concealed and carry laws) and he stabbed the player killing him. A mob of fans stormed the field, stoned to death the umpire and then quartered his body and stuck his head on a stick. America's youth sports programs are not that bizarre...yet; but give it time!

I spent my lifetime 'in sports!' I was a youth participant in East St. Louis where my parents told me to 'go play, have fun, hustle and listen to your coach.' I was a high school athlete and my parents, who evidently had 'some-sort-of-life' of their own told me, 'go play, have fun and listen to the coach.' I was a college athlete at Illinois State for four years and when I left for that higher institution of learning, my parents said, 'plan to have a job in four years'! I don't know what the hell happened to the charge, 'go have fun, etc.

For my entire playing career, I was told that sport would serve me long after I finished playing. Sport would 'build' my character and prepare me for life's challenges. I would learn how to work hard, dedicate to a cause, cooperate with teammates, follow instructions, sacrifice for others and be humble with success while learning and overcoming from setbacks. I believed all that stuff THEN and I believe ALL that stuff NOW. There is a problem, however! It is not the participant nor the mentor creating chaos, but the crazy-ass parents who have transformed into pathetic beings living vicariously through children's games and along the way undermining those sport values with criticism, jealousies, finger-pointing blame and angry outburst.

Today, we have many self-centered wannabes pretending to be athletes. They are coddled by 'hellicopter' parents who don't know their asses from a hole-in-the-ground when it comes to 'SPORT.'

In the USA, we have documented numerous acts of violence perpetrated at youth-sport events. With the proliferation of weapons being carried by the public, it is a matter of time when American soil is bloodied as was Sao Paulo, Brazil's.