Imagine having a basketball hoop in your yard that could easily tip over during really strong winds. What would you do to secure it or keep it from falling over?

In this story, one homeowner’s solution to this problem is to tip the basketball hoop over on its side so that it can’t be knocked over. He didn’t think this was a problem.

Then, one day a landscaping contractor he hired tells him what the neighbors said about the basketball hoop.

He was surprised and unsure what to make of this odd complaint.

Let’s read all about it.

AITAH My Neighbors are “sick and tired of looking at” my basketball hoop

The short part of the story: I have a portable basketball hoop that I usually lay on its side on my front lawn when not in use because we get very strong wind gusts that can easily topple the hoop if I left it standing.

The hoop is entirely on my lawn, on my side of the property line.

I recently found out that my neighbors hold a grudge against me because of it and that they are “sick and tired of looking at it.”

It started with some landscaping work.

How I found out about this is a longer story.

I recently hired a contractor to do some heavy duty landscaping work in my backyard. He needed to park some heavy machineries near the house.

He used my curb and my driveway as much as he could, but there just wasn’t quite enough space, so one day he parked on the curb between my house and my neighbors, that is almost always unoccupied.

The next day, he arrived to find the neighbor has parked their truck on that shared curb despite their driveway being empty and more space is available on the other side of their house.

The contractor kindly asked the neighbors if they could move their truck so he could use that space.

The contractor shared what the neighbors said.

To his surprise, the neighbors lashed out at him and told him “Why don’t you ask them when they are going to move their basketball hoop ’cause we’re sick and tired of looking at it.”

After the contractor told me about the incident, I spoke to my neighbors on the other side of my house, who I am close with. I wanted to verify what the contractor told me, and also find out if I had unknowingly done something to offend the neighbors.

The friendly neighbors confirmed that the other neighbors have long held a grudge against me.

They’ve mentioned the basketball hoop to the good neighbors too.

I asked them if they know whether there was a specific reason — something I had done, something I had said — but they genuinely didn’t know either. The basketball hoop was the only thing concrete that has come up in their complaints multiple times.

I find it hard to believe that it is the actual root of it, but I wasn’t able to find out anything conclusive.

We don’t have an HOA so I am not breaking some sort of aesthetics rules. The basketball hoop is entirely within my property line and is far from encroaching onto the neighbors side. I lay it on its side when not in use for safety reasons. We have gotten strong enough wind to move it halfway across my driveway while it’s on its side.

Am I a jerk for storing my basketball hoop on its side when not in use?

If the neighbors are so upset about the basketball hoop, why don’t they just talk to the homeowner about it instead of complaining to everyone else?

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a woman who freaks out after a neighbor confronts her about the landscaping damage done by her children.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Here’s a good way of thinking about it.

This person would get petty.

One person seems to understand why the neighbors are complaining.

This is a good point!

It’s not an HOA. OP is not breaking any rules. The neighbors are just being annoying. OP doesn’t need to do anything about the basketball hoop. It sounds like keeping it tipped over is protecting it, which is a good thing.

It’s weird that the neighbors complain to the landscaper and the other neighbors but have yet to say anything to the person who owns the basketball hoop. If they hate it that much, maybe they could explain why.