I Am Queen Of This Sandbox

Back in April, during baseball season, I made a brief reference to the parents of one of Jock's teammates, and how they have this lovely habit of being .... not very complimentary towards my boy. They're not overly fond of Coach, either, for reasons that have NEVER been explained to us. The boys have been on the same football and baseball teams, and have been friends, for three years now, since we moved to the Valley. So we've had to co-exist with his parents. And since we anticipate another two and half years here, with the boys continuing to play on the same teams, we'll have to continue to co-exist with these parents. In MY world, that means you are cordial to each other in public, you support each other's kids, and you don't talk badly about the other person/people to anyone else in our still-somewhat-smallish community. Apparently, that sentiment is only found in MY world.

Jock has a new girlfriend. I know, I know. I was a little surprised, as well, at how quickly his little broken heart was mended from the last one. (Ok, not really.... but I still didn't see this one coming. He had never, ever mentioned this girl before.) It seems that this girl goes to the same church as this teammate of Jock's. (Ya know what? Everyone else here at my place gets a new name when I post about them.... so this kid is getting one, too. I'll call him what his teammates all call him. Booty. And the girlfriend is going to be Senior. 'Cuz that's the year in school she is, and quite frankly it's too late at night for me to be overly creative with a name for her. If she sticks around longer than any of the others have, I might be moved to give her a better name.)

Anyway.......

When Booty's parents found out that Jock is going out with Senior, they decided to take it upon themselves to perform what I can only imagine they believed to be a community service. Booty's dad told Senior and her parents that Coach is really a not-so-nice guy! I know!! I couldn't believe it either!

We've had absolutely NO altercations or even any negative interactions with this dad. Or with Booty. In fact, Booty still says hello all the time when he sees Coach or I. Also in fact, every kid who's ever been on one of the same teams that Booty has been on still says "Hi Coach!" (yes, they actually call him Coach) every time they see him. EVERY TIME. Tell me.... would teenage boys do that if the man in question was an ass? Not in my experience they wouldn't. Especially if they don't have to even acknowledge him, since no one is making them.

So what the heck gives Booty's dad the right to have said this to Senior and her parents???

I contemplated saying something to him, since I'll see him at the game on Thursday. Just casually going up to him and asking why he would say something like that to this girl, and make life difficult for Jock. Of course, then I remembered that, at least in his mind, Booty has always been in competition with Jock. Which naturally means you make him look as bad as possible, right?

I've actually decided not to stoop to his level. We're going to meet Senior, and probably her parents. And they are all going to get to see what a really great guy Coach is for themselves, even if it kills me.

Proving that Booty's parents are just wienie-heads.

*Yes, Jock defended his dad, explaining to Senior that Coach used to actually coach Booty in baseball and football, and that he had no idea why Booty's dad would say that. And since we've never hidden from our kids any conflicts with other parents, he's actually in a pretty good position to have defended him rather well. Also...... even though Coach doesn't know just about all of this entire thing.... I'm confident he agrees with my final stance on this 100%*