We all need a wake-up call once in awhile, and I recently got mine.

Just when I had started fooling myself into believing loutish parents had gone the way of the Friday afternoon pep rally in high school sports, I got an eyeful of the first disgraceful display of “parenting” I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing in nearly three years on Aug. 31 at Walton Field in Auburn.

Edward Little had just lost its season-opening football game to Oxford Hills, and EL head coach Darren Hartley, moments removed from getting the run-down from his young children on what they’d sampled at the concession stand, was trying to put into words to yours truly what had just happened.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hartley spotted a man, the father of one of his players, having an animated conversation with one of his assistant coaches. He asked the man to leave, urged the coach to seek out EL athletic director Dan Deshaies, then tried to continue the interview.

But the Father of the Year wasn’t satisfied, and persisted with the assistant. Hartley, wanting to take the heat off his assistant coach, confronted the man. The two went virtually nose to nose for a few choice words, then Hartley walked away before the matter escalated further. Deshaies then ordered the father off the premises, and he complied. If he hadn’t, Deshaies was prepared to have the Auburn police at the game handle the situation.

It didn’t end there, though. Later that night, Hartley’s cell phone rang. It was the father again, and let’s just say he didn’t call to apologize.

Deshaies said he deals with these kinds of incidents about once a year. Dad or Mom isn’t happy with their kid’s playing time and decides the best time to confront the coach is after a game. Since this is when everyone’s emotions – parents, coaches, players – are so raw, it rarely ends up being a cordial conversation.

Parents do have an outlet to voice their frustration at EL before they make an ass of themselves in public, although Deshaies said he asks parents to allow their kids try to work out their problems with the coach first.

“If a parent needs to talk to a coach, then we’ll encourage that if the athlete doesn’t really feel the issue is taken care of,” he said. “That’s the thing parents don’t understand. When they do this kind of thing, they lose that form of communication that we like to have available to the parents.”

But some parents think they have not just a right, but an obligation, to tell the coach how to do his or her job whenever the urge strikes them. And in this delusional state of mind, they think they’re sticking up for their son or daughter, looking out for his or her best interests.

Unfortunately, for all the energy they spend sticking up for their kid, their kid has to spend infinitely more sticking up for them, to their teammates and friends, after Dad or Mom has embarrassed them in public.

Qualified coaches are leaving high school and youth sports in droves because they’re sick of putting up with these kind of boors. Some kids quit, too, when they decide they’ve had enough of the embarrassment.

All of this happens because the one who really needs a wake-up call, the parent, is oblivious to little things the rest of us like to call humility, courtesy and perspective.