A portion of Ralph's article touches on the volunteer time parents, put in, and how for the most part, parents are well-behaved, eager to contribute and put their egos aside. How much they make 9-to-5 doesn't ordinarily give them rank. That jibes with what I see out there: very, very few "crazy" parents.

The Time cartoon essay (I love when they do those!) reflected on a chess tournament that required the parents to wait outside, and how the author's status among the other parents depended on whether his son won or lost. (Ever been there before?) The closing line, after his son's win: "And I was instantly ashamed of having taken to much pleasure in Lars' visible pain. After all, he was only 8. And after all, I knew that face. It had been mine often enough when I was his age.

How parents can conduct themselves at events can be upgraded with just a few thoughts, courtesy of Shulman:
1.) Compliment the other team by telling the parents how well their children played.
2.) Never try to coach your kid from the stands during a game or in practice.
3.) Compliment the officials.

I like what all three of the above say, probably because it supports my own philosophy: Youth sports are about education, not entertainment, and that's where some parents get confused. That's why banging on the bleachers "to rattle the other pitcher" or whooping when a ground ball goes through the other shortstop's legs at a 10-year-old game make me blanche. Put together, these three pretty much put it into the right words.