The opening kick-off to the football season was fast approaching and everyone in the press box was ready for the action to begin.

 The athletic director at Hampden Academy had already checked on things in the press box and even made sure that I and a person filming the game for the Leavitt High School football team had ample room in the crowded confines. He went on his way and all seemed well.

 That’s when one of the Broncos football coaches decided otherwise. He saw the Leavitt camera set up, utilizing some of the space the Hampden camera would use right next to him. He demanded that the young man filming for Leavitt be forced to film elsewhere. He told the kid he had to leave the press box and film somewhere else. His reasoning was that Hampden camera people were given the same treatment and lack of respect when playing at Leavitt.

 When the young man packed up his equipment and vacated the press box, the coach came back over and tried to convince me of his reasoning. Apparently he thought that explaining how they had been treated rudely was justification for similar treatment. Trying to excuse bad behaviour by sighting previous rudeness didn’t quite wash with me.

 The coach might have been proud of himself or felt he had achieved some sort of vengence but it was shortlived. The kid returned to the press box and told the coach that the Leavitt athletic director wanted to speak to him outside.

 At that moment, I had a sudden desire to step out for some fresh air. I would have loved to have heard that conversation, but I stayed put. Needless to say, within a few minutes, the kid was back in the press box, setting up his gear once again. He made it through the game and managed to coincide right next to me and the Hampden camera without incident.

 I was told by a colleague that there has been some issues developing between the two football coaching staffs at Leavitt and Hampden. I don’t know the whole backstory, and I really don’t care. What I witnessed that opening night was rather petty. I don’t care what kind of gamesmanship the teams like to play, there is a thing called common courtesy. To stoop to that level and tell a kid with a video camera that he has to find another place to film is ridiculous. The kid was there to do his job and didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Keep in mind, this was the Friday night in which the remnants of Hurricane Earl were moving across Maine. Having to film a game from a spot on a hill outside under threatening skies was not the idea scenario.

I know people get caught up in their sports teams. Coaches are competitive. Bad feelings can get carried over and lead to more bad feelings, but come on, two wrongs don’t make a right. Coaches are supposed to be the role models. They’re supposed to serve as examples for the kids they oversee. When they’re acting more immature than the kids they’re not coaching at all.

When a coach acts as petty and as vindictive as this Hampden coach did, it isn’t right. I don’t care if he felt the other team had it coming. If he really wanted to show up the other team, he could have welcomed that kid, made sure he had all he needed and wished him well. He could have shown that he was a class act and taken the higher road in living up to the responsibility of being a welcoming host. All the other Hampden people did just that in the press box.

Instead, the coach went the other way. He took his time to get all bent out of shape and then force the kid out of the press box. I’d think a football coach with opening night fast approaching would have more important things on his mind and much more constructive things to do with his energy.