Krause: Junta’s example shows dangers of parental confrontations in sports

Thomas Junta is due for a parole hearing pretty soon. Should he be fortunate enough to be released, one of the conditions of his parole should be to work with local school departments to sponsor information nights on the subject of excessive parental involvement in their children’s sports.Junta, for those who don’t know, is the so-called “hockey dad” who beat Lynnfield’s Michael Costin to death in 2000 as the result of an argument at a youth hockey scrimmage. He received a 6-to-10-year sentence on an involuntary manslaughter conviction in January of 2002.Without a doubt, Junta did not wake up on July 5, 2000, with the intent of killing anyone. He took his son to a “stick practice” at the Burbank Arena in Reading and got into a confrontation with Costin, who was supervising the scrimmage, about excessive violence. One thing led to another, a fight ensued, and Costin wound up dead.Why bring this up now? Because Monday, at Graf Rink in Newburyport, two parents – one from Winthrop and the other from Revere – were charged with assault and battery after a fracas broke out between periods of a game between the two teams.And it begs the question: Why, oh why, can’t adults behave themselves at their children’s games? Even better, why do they think they have the right to scream insults at kids from the stands, say absolutely horrendous things to referees, confront coaches in public, confront each other over perceived slights, and, generally, act like depraved imbeciles?You expect this from kids – even high school kids. They sit together at these games, and go back and forth with the obligatory put-down chants. And as long as they stay within acceptable parameters, it’s all in good fun. If they cross the line, there’s usually a school official ready to quiet them down.But, as the saying goes, the adults are supposed to be the grown-ups here. They’re supposed to be the ones who exercise restraint, good sportsmanship, fair play, and all those other words that seem to get tossed in the dumpster outside the rink once the game starts. They’re supposed to set the example so that their kids don’t go overboard and turn a sporting event into World War III. And as far as I’m concerned, parents who can’t understand that – regardless of how justified they think they are – should stay home.Frankly, I don’t care who started Monday’s fracas ? and who felt compelled to join in, or for what reason. Mercutio said it best: A plague o’ both your houses.To me, one party’s just as guilty as the other. As the state of Massachusetts proved, convincingly, all Thomas Junta had to do was walk away on July 5, 2000, and he’d be a free man today regardless of how he may have felt about his manhood at the time. But instead, he ratcheted up the violence, it escalated, and Michael Costin ended up dead.What’s it going to take? Do we need another Thomas Junta to make parents realize that unchecked testosterone can be a very dangerous thing?When does discretion finally become the better part of valor? If some jerk in the stands calls your son a name, is it incumbent upon you to go up to said jerk and aggressively defend his honor? Is it worth having to go to court? Or perhaps go to jail if things get out of hand?Which would your son rather have: His dad at his side through his high school graduation, and beyond? Or would he prefer his dad to be sitting in a jail cell because of some slight that would have been better forgotten five minutes after it happened?Ask Thomas Junta. I have a feeling I know where he’d rather have spent the last six years.More and more schools and youth sports venues – and rightfully so – are taking a zero tolerance policy toward these types of incidents. Cause trouble at a youth sporting event, and, at the very least, there’s a good chance you’ll be asked to leave ? and escorted out of the building by the local constabulary if you’re not careful.These are people who either never grew out of adolescence or who feel the need to relive their lives thr