OK, off the football topic for a moment...

   You've probably seen worst displays of sportsmanship in youth sports, but here's my first real encounter with this.

   Last week I'm at my 7-year-old son's baseball (machine pitch) playoff game -- do they really need playoffs at age 7? -- and in the middle of the first inning a father from the opposing team comes running on to the field holding up a cell phone. He stops the game.

   It turns out he was upset that our team got to bat 12 kids during an inning (because that's how many kids showed up) and their team only batted 10 (because that's how many showed up). The father felt this was unfair and called the commissioner of the league during the middle of the game to report the problem. The cell phone intervention took about 15 minutes to clear up, wasting everyone's time and ruined the flow of the game.

   Of course, the squeaky wheal got his way. Sort of.

   Our coach admirably refused to "bench" two of our hitters. They compromised by allowing two of their hitters to hit twice during each inning to make up for their shortage of kids.

   It hardly mattered as our team got beat pretty good.

   Not that the kids really cared. They just wanted to have fun. Instead, as I'm leaving the field, my son turns to me and says, "Dad, why was that crazy man running on to the field with a phone?"

   Well said, son.

   I'm all for what's fair, but I just thought that incident was a sad reflection on how our society (in particular, some parents) have become completely obsessed with their children winning that they will do anything. And, by the way, it's also another reason I truly hate cell phones.

   Do you have any stories that came top that one?