ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

A 501(c) organization dedicated to the survival of youth sports parents everywhere.

OUR MISSION

SportsOrDie.org exists to acknowledge, document, and gently mock the collective sacrifice of parents who have given their weekends, their savings, their lumbar health, and their lawn maintenance to the altar of youth athletics.

We believe that every parent standing at a chain-link fence at 7am in a gravel parking lot somewhere in the American midwest deserves a platform. We believe that every story of a minivan that now smells like a medium-sized crime scene is a story worth telling. We believe that the home that didn't get mowed, the oil change that didn't happen, and the dog who gave up waiting by the door — all of these are the quiet collateral damage of a lifestyle choice that felt very reasonable in October and cannot be reversed by February.

We are not here to stop you. We are here to make sure someone sees you. And to connect you with local businesses that can rescue what you've neglected, which at this point includes everything except your knowledge of exit velocity and bracket seeding.

We are not actually a nonprofit. The suffering, however, is entirely real.

BY THE NUMBERS

Documented impact of the youth sports industrial complex

4.2M
Families in travel sports
As of 2024. Number rising.
18+
Hours per week, peak season
More than a part-time job. You are not paid.
$10,230
Average annual spend
Per Aspen Institute. Plus the chair you broke in April.
0
Lawns that are fine
We have checked. They are not fine.

OUR PROGRAMS

📣

The Misery Archive

A growing collection of anonymous parent stories documenting what youth sports has done to their homes, cars, pets, marriages, and sense of self. Submitted voluntarily. Published with love. Categorized by sport and severity.

🏢

The Savior Directory

A vetted local business directory connecting sports parents with services that rescue their neglected properties. Lawn care, auto detailing, meal prep, HVAC, dog walking, and more. Your house deserves representation.

📰

The Debrief

Long-form educational content about what you're getting into, what it costs, how to survive it, and what nobody put in the welcome packet. Written by people who are still in it and have no plans to leave.

💀

The Misery Meter

Real-time diagnostic tools for the chronically sidelined parent. The Bleacher Sciatica Gauge. The Vehicle Air Quality Index. The HOA Threat Level. The Guilt Score Calculator. All scientifically calibrated. None of this is a real measurement system.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Elected during a rain delay in Bowling Green, Ohio. Ratified by nobody.

Karen "Bracket" Hollister
Chief Bleacher Officer
Three boys. Seven seasons. One chair, replaced twice. Karen has not finished a book since 2021 but has memorized the layout of 14 different tournament complexes across four states. She handles all bracket disputes, HOA correspondence, and hotel block negotiations. Her folding chair has a cupholder and lumbar support. She earned it.
Dave "The Odometer" Szymanski
VP of Deferred Home Maintenance
Dave has driven approximately 23,000 miles in the last two seasons without a single scheduled oil change. His gutters are doing things he is aware of but has not addressed. He is, by all accounts, a good father. His lawn is not a good lawn. Dave oversees our home neglect documentation program and the Savior Directory partnership initiative.
Michelle Okafor-Reyes
Secretary of Snack Logistics
Michelle has never once arrived at a tournament without a fully stocked snack bag. She considers this a basic responsibility. She has also not slept past 6:30am on a Saturday in four years. Michelle manages our submission intake process, our sponsor matching program, and the physical and emotional wellbeing of three children who are, reportedly, thriving.
Todd Bernstein
General Counsel and Grievance Officer
Todd is not an actual lawyer, but he has read the tournament rulebook twice and once successfully argued a protest at a 10U invitational in Dayton. He believes the infield fly rule is misapplied at least 40% of the time at this level. He is probably right. Todd oversees our complaint documentation process, which consists of this website, and our legal strategy, which consists of calling the rulebook by its correct name at volume.

SportsOrDie.org is not actually a nonprofit. We have no 501(c) status, no board elections, no annual report, and no fiduciary responsibility to anyone.

The suffering, however, is entirely real. The parents are real. The stories are real. The lawns are not okay and neither is the car and the dog is fine but barely.

We built this because we are these parents. We are on Field 7. We are in the folding chair. We are checking the bracket app at 6am. We are not complaining — we would do it again, and we will — but we believe that someone should be documenting it, and that the businesses who rescue our homes while we're gone deserve an audience, and that the parents who are just entering this life deserve a little bit of warning.

This is the warning. You're going to love it anyway.