I spoke with the coach I knew, with less than stellar results. She insisted that since she always had her team arrive early for games, none of their parents were part of the problem. She wouldn't even consider reminding her team about the legal parking spots, never mind bringing it up at the club's next meeting.

She did say that she had noticed that lately the parents have forgotten that it's a game and that they have been getting rowdy and violent. She has even stopped her practice of having an end-of-season, parents-vs.-kids game because her team was getting injured. o.O

So I spoke with my city council rep. He actually remembered his campaign promise to deal with the problem, and had a plan ready! He's got the tournament schedule and is going to have a security patrol pass by during the games.

The security patrol aren't cops, they can't ticket or tow illegally parked cars, but they have a direct line to the local police dispatch, and when they call the cops arrive within a minute or two.

With any luck this'll remind the soccer hooligans to keep it civil. If not, my councilman has an escalating plan that goes all the way up to kicking the soccer clubs out of our parks. Seems I'm not the only one who's complained lately, and not just about parking.