Mother as Sports Spectator

I went to Ben's basketball game tonight.  I mean, WE went to his game.  I, as a lone adult, took six children to a basketball game.  And that was right after we went to the Scout Court of Honor where Chris got the last merit badge he needs to get the last rank he needs before he can work on his Eagle.  It's been a busy night.

It's hard for me to go to my kids' games.  I love going to support them, and I like watching basketball, but when this is my boy, things get personal.  Don't know how to be calm during a game.

So tell me... how do you watch your child's sports game and remain supportive and model good sportsmanship when THEY are messing up MY flesh and blood?

The short of tonight's game is that Ben's team lost in overtime.  But the scorekeepers, more than once during the regular game, got distracted by their ipods (we were sitting behind them), and gave points to the wrong team.  David was good about bringing the mistake to their attention, and they usually fixed it.  But one basket (just a couple of minutes before regulation time ended) was not scored - even when we commented on it - and that sent the game into a tie and overtime.  Otherwise, our team would have won.  My boy would have won.

And it's not always as obvious a problem as this was.  It might be a coach who won't play my kid.  Or someone who had a chip on their shoulder.  Or another player who is verbally abusive.  Or bad referees.  Or a kid on the opposing team who puts more shoulder or hit into my child than is warranted.  We all run into these at one time or another.

Do I complain to the athletic center about their distracted teenaged scorekeepers?  Do I ask to see the paper score sheet?  Do I smile and remind my boys that life rolls like that sometimes, and we need to remember that it's just a game?  Our children look to our actions to learn how to respond to life's curveballs.

Maybe next time I'll just keep score myself.  Then I'll know that the score was 33 to 35 before Brad's shot, which should have brought the score to 33 to 37 before the other team's final score... but didn't.

Yeah, right.  Like I can do that while I wrangle six kids on the bleachers.  <sigh>