an outlet..no Who

[SicilianMother@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 2/6/2004 7:20:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
pkeets@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

<P.S.  What did your kids think of the show?

My oldest, is a girl, 11 years old.  She is very mature for her age.   When I 
heard about what happened, I asked her if she saw it.  Our discussion was 
about the publicity part of it and we compared it to the Madonna/Britney thing.  

My boys ages 8 and 10, are too hyper to sit down and watch the game much less 
the half-time show.

But, they are totally into Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp right 
now.  My one son keeps asking me questions about the accents.  I love to imitate 
accents so it is fun for me to try and give them examples of the different 
English dialects.

This is off-topic, but I want to see if anyone has an opinion on this and can 
help.

My dad is coaching my 10 year old's basketball team.  The problem is this.  
My dad is "old school".  He is the Bobby Knight of the Boys and Girls Club, 
maybe not that bad, maybe more like Bobby Knight on valium.

In this age of political correctness, I have tried to explain to my dad that 
his yelling might be upsetting some of these little guys not to mention their 
parents.  I respect my dad alot, and am very reluctant about pursuing this 
issue further with him.  His response has been if these kids want to be babied, 
then they need to quit the team and go be babysat.  At today's game, we won and 
my son scored all but 5 points.  Of course I was proud.  My dad was too, but 
Joe told me that he feels like he can't to anything to make his grandpa proud. 
 My dad makes huge and loud gestures when a mistake is made.  When something 
good happens, he is much less animated.  Luckily, the assistant coach and 
myself, try and make up for it.  But, we won and the little guys were very happy 
about that.

Since alot of us on this list are in our 30's and older, what do you think?  
My dad is coaching the way he was coached growing up.  His point is nowadays, 
we are too easy on kids.  But, my heart breaks because I see everyone's 
reaction to my dad during the games.  Maybe they find it entertaining?  haha.  Am I 
being too critical of my dad? My dad is not an asshole or a jerk.  I would 
describe him as a gentle giant, except when he turns into Bobby Knight on the 
basketball court.  He is the primary father figure in my kids life, I might add.

Paul, will you waive the no-Who for a few responses?  I need some male input, 
and I am sure to get it here.

Sincerely,
Jo