In Stark Contrast

The southwest is hot and dry again, and conditions for outdoor sporting events are near perfect. It appears that the good weather has drawn more spectators to the fields than previous weeks. This week, I am positioning myself between two fields, with the spectator sidelines back to back. This should offer a lot of activity and social interaction to observe.

Due to the hot temperature, many people have big big soft drinks. An overwhelming majority of people who have drinks have purchased them from the gas station down the street. I'm curious to see just how much money that gas has made from fountain drink sales this morning. 

One field has two girls teams playing, while the other has two boys teams. I wonder if the makeup of the teams influences the dynamic of the spectators. Typically, the parents of girls teams get more fired up than those of boys teams. In all honesty, it's tough for me to understand why this is. 

As expected, the parents of the girls teams are louder and more energetic as the game starts. The parents of the boys teams chat among themselves while still watching the game. The boys parents are more prone to discussing players other than their own child, while the girls parents really enjoy speaking about their own daughter. 

As the game goes on, the parents of the girls teams become increasingly energetic and borderline hostile. The ref in particular is subject to incredible torment. I've heard one man say "Get your eyes checked, ref!" about 4 times now, among other insults. There is very little, if any, of this going on at the boys game. The parents of the boys team do not necessarily agree with every call the ref makes, but they are not vocal about it.

After the game, the girls teams are much quicker to leave the field than the boys.