Despicable Behavior From A Despicable Person
By Wyatt Earp | April 9, 2009
I wanted to post this story last night, but I was way too angry to put together anything coherent. This story deserves better than that.
Yesterday, Kyle had soccer practice at Parkwood Youth Organization. Parkwood is where his team, Philadelphia Soccer Club, plays all of their league games. For some unknown reason, we also have to practice there, instead of our home fields. That was not our choice; it was the decision of the league. We have expressed permission from the Philadelphia Department of Recreation – which owns the fields – to be there. Remember that for later on. Anyway, we arrived at 6:30pm and found our designated practice field, which was easy because only two of the 22 fields were in use at the time.
Seven of the 15 kids showed up for practice – the cold may have kept some players home – and Kyle’s coach started after a little warm-up. Everything was going swimmingly until a man approached our field. He was a short, very heavyset man of about 50 years of age.
And he wasn’t happy.
He came up to Dave, Kyle’s coach, and started the “conversation” this way: “Get the Hell off this field!!!” Not exactly a fine how do you do. For some reason unknown to us, the man was screaming at Coach Dave and getting into his face. My first thought was, “Damn, I am going to have to go over there and get in the middle of that.” I don’t like getting myself involved in incidents while off-duty, but it appeared that this man was going to start a fistfight. To his credit, Dave only yelled back. He did not touch the man or use profanity.
I wish I could say the same for the other guy.
After the first outburst, the man kept going. “This field is Parkwood field! You people have no permission to be here, and I want you off this field NOW!” Dave, still completely taken aback, tried to ask the man a few questions:
“Excuse me? Who are you?”
The man replied, “Tony D’Ambrosio! Get off this field!”
Oh, did I mention he was screaming like a maniac in front of a team of 8-year olds?
I thought it was bizarre that the man gave his name, but not his position or title within Parkwood Youth Organization. The name Tony D’Ambrosio means nothing to me, and it meant nothing to Dave. After a few minutes of this blowhard’s insanity, Dave finally lost it. He began shouting back at the man – who did not possess adequate listening skills – and told him that not only did we have the Department of Recreation’s expressed permission to use the field, but we also had a permit to prove it.
Mr. D’Ambrosio was not impressed, and he approached Coach Dave and bumped him with his enormous girth. Damnit, I thought, now I have to get involved. I calmly approached this raving lunatic and identified myself as a police detective. I also reminded Mr. D’Ambrosio that I just witnessed him assault Coach Dave, and that he could be arrested if Dave wished to file charges. Amazingly, his attitude completely changed. The profanity-laced tirades transformed into, “Oh, I’m sorry Officer. I apologize for losing my temper.”
By this time, however, it was too late for Dave. He was understandably livid; not because this man assaulted him, but because this man exposed our kids to such a despicable display. Dave demanded D’Ambrosio apologize to the parents and the kids, and he complied. After that, he went with D’Ambrosio to see the gentleman who runs Parkwood Youth Organization.
I figured I should tag along, just in case.
The man from Parkwood was more than accommodating, probably because he knew that D’Ambrosio was dead wrong. During the conversation, and interesting factoid was revealed: Tony D’Ambrosio, the raving lunatic with the foul mouth, is the director of the UJSL – the soccer organization to which our team belongs! When Dave and I heard that, we just giggled.
Dave summed it up perfectly. “So, you mean to tell me that you are responsible the safety and welfare of hundreds of kids, and you would act like that in front a bunch of 8-year olds? You’re supposed to be a role model!”
I wanted to mention that if anyone would know that we had permission to play on the fields, it would be the Director of the UJSL, but by that time I was too angry to speak clearly. D’Ambrosio, finally realizing his idiocy, apologized again and asked us what he could do to for us to make things right. Dave responded, “I don’t know yet.” For my part, I interjected, “You might want to change your attitude before you explode in front of a bunch of 8-year olds.”
Personally, I cannot say enough disparaging things about Tony D’Ambrosio. In my opinion, a man like that should not be dealing with children . . . ever. I don’t know what Dave is going to do about this incident, but if I were him, I would demand his resignation. I doubt that D’Ambrosio would comply with that demand, but someone should, because he is truly unfit for his position.
If anyone reading this lives in the Philadelphia area, or has a child who plays for the UJSL, you may want to keep an eye on Tony D’Ambrosio. In my opinion, he is a very angry, dangerous man.
Topics: Snarkasm |
April 9th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Mr. D’Ambrosio sounds like the kind of guy who’s well suited to being the dictator of a third world country. Sadly, fate denied him the opportunity, and he’ll have to settle for terrorizing the children and parents of a youth soccer league. What a dork.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Jeez when you volunteer to coach little league baseball, they make you take a course on how to behave. I bet soccer does too.
Parkwood - brings back memories - I played Pop Warner football vs. them.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Hi, just passing through.
Sorry the kids had to see that, what a nut case.
My kids play hockey, you have to jump through about a million hoops just to get on the ice with them, yet we still see that kind of crap from supposed grown ups. Pathetic.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
“D’Ambrosio, finally realizing his idiocy, apologized again and asked us what he could do to for us to make things right.”
yeah, you can start by arranging refreshments for us whenever we have practice on your field, shine our soccer shoes, and wash our uniforms…and let’s see…hmm…we’ll be in touch.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Everyone seems to losing their minds now days. This seems to happen more often. What are the children thinking when they see this?
April 9th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I referee youth soccer. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that I hear from coaches at parents. And not just stuff yelled at me, a lot of stuff is directed at the other teams and their own players. On the rare occasions that I hear coaches who are more positive to their players, I try to make a point of complementing them.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Pardon my French, but what a f*ckhead.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
He sounds like an asshole, you should have arrested him for assault. I cannot believe that someone in his position, can’t control his temper and used profanity in front of children. And that he got that bent out of shape because you were on his field? How does he react when things really don’t go his way?
Another thing, there’s nothing worse than a bully who suddenly backs down when a police officer is present. Jerk,
April 9th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
This is what I am thinking..what would have occurred if said detective was not present..? He should have to resign!
April 9th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
John D - I heard today that he was allegedly pissed off that Kyle’s team beat . . . Parkwood . . . last weekend by a score of 10-0. I blogged about that game, and I can assure you they didn’t run it up. Coach Dave took out his starters, moved Kyle to goaltender, and even played with two less kids during the waning minutes. Parkwood’s coach even said we didn’t intentionally run the score. What this idiot’s problem is is beyond me.
AJ - D’Ambrosio must have failed that course. We have to take similar classes every year for high school lacrosse.
Powdergirl - The rest of the parents were stunned and appalled at this “adult’s” behavior. It was sickening.
DL474 - The funny thing is that we didn’t want anything, other than to be left alone during our practice time. Although paying for mew uniforms would be a nice gesture.
Admiral - I had to explain to Kyle what happened and that “bad men” are out there, and he needs to avoid them.
VF - There is a parent on Kyle’s team that makes me cringe. He is verbally abusive to his son and it takes every ounce of effort for me to not slap him and say, “Yo! HE’S EIGHT!”
GroovyVic - Pardoned.
Mrs. Crankipants - I have been so exhausted these past two weeks - day work does that to me - that just didn’t want the hassle. If Dave wanted me to do it, I would have, though. I was well within my rights to lock him up.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
What a goof
April 9th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Mom - He may very well have struck Coach Dave. It’s gotten to the point that I feel I have to take the day off when Kyle has practice to keep this man away from the children.
Rick - You have no idea. A day later and I am still infuriated.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I’m proud of Kyle’s coach for holding himself together. I don’t know that I could have. You don’t behave that way in front of little kids (heck, teenagers for that matter).
Can I have a “take a detective to work” day? Just wondering. I have some people who need the fear of Bubba put into them.
Good job, Dad. That guy needs to resign, because as Mom said…what would’ve happened if you weren’t there…bad stuff, that’s what.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Sadly, there’s one (or two) in every organization.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I’ve seen some egotistical d-bags in youth sports but that story takes the cake. Wyatt, if the league your son is in has a board of directors you should forward the link to your post to all of them. D’Ambrosio should be forced out post-haste before his anger “issues” results in some even more serious problems.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
RT - Sorry, but I don’t do high school. Bad enough I have to coach at one.
Wagonsux - Frustrated former athlete . . . or frustrated administrator.
Jim - I thought about that, but I truly don’t think it would do any good. This guy is a True Believer, and they won’t oust the President - Yes, he’s in total control - because of some idiot’s blog post.