OT: A Rod not the only cheater,,, Little League WS champs have title taken away
 

From CBS News:
Chicago's Jackie Robinson West Little League team won America's hearts, capturing the U.S. title last year. But on Wednesday, league officials stripped the team of its national and regional titles, saying the team cheated by fielding players from outside the Windy City.

If true, good for little league for stripping the title. Little League is not supposed to be about winning. It's supposed to be an outlet for children to be children. If you're going to jump on that opportunity to fulfill some dream deferred, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Wow, I heard something about this a few days ago. Honestly there should have been a double elimination for every team to begin with. That team from Nevada thrashed Chicago the first time around so there should have been a 3rd game to allow Nevada a chance to be double eliminated. Or do away with DE all together. You could have one team blaze all the way to the final game, lose once to a team you've already lit up, and your tournament is over? Never thought that was a fair formula.

Typical of sports at the youth to high school levels. Traveling teams dominate tournaments and at times they continue the team stacking on high school courts, especially private schools. They dominate state tournaments playing against schools which generally follow the spirit of the rules. I've become sickened by it and no longer put much stock in high school sports.

It's the "adults," not he kids :mad:

This can't be helpful for the push to get black kids re-interested in the game.

Hear, hear! If there were "sticky quotes", this would be one of them!

I would disagree. The players from outside of the district knew that they did not belong on that team. They played in different districts and would have known that the players on the team that were from Chicago were not members of teams in their district. In prehistoric times when I played little league you knew who the good players were on the other teams in your league. We did not play against players in the other league in town and did not know them.

I don't think this affects Little League or baseball in a negative way. It teaches children a valuable lesson: adults will do anything to ruin a good thing.

Hopefully the take away for these kids is that cheating is wrong and you will be caught.

And don't trust anyone over 30.

My son played baseball until this year, a sophomore in high schooll when it finally got to be too much. It was fun until he was about 12 or 13. Then came all the traveling, year round long practices and work outs (even the day after Christmas), manipulating and grooming them as if baseball was going to be their whole life. This is something I just don't understand.

Maybe he'll have a chance to actually have fun again we he's old and can play in the beer softball leagues. Fun not allowed as a kid.

Cheating is endemic. I am surprised when I hear about a person or persons not cheating, not when I hear about them cheating.

This is an interesting development. My town, Pearland, Texas, had a team that was eliminated by the Chicago Team late in the playoffs.

I agree that Little League did the right thing by stripping them of their title.

Mark Mulder played against JRW when he was a kid. He says they've been cheating as long as 25 years and everyone is aware.

Its the parents living their dreams through the kids.

good decision by little league - perhaps mlb should take notice and strip awards from proven cheaters

Interesting
 

Funny coincidence - our organization supports an annual meeting of our IT development staffs around the world (45 or so people from 4 countries and 6 US cities). This year, we're in Boston for a week, and tonight we had a team event that had us on a bus to/from "F1 Boston" -a blast if you have the chance. Only downside is that traffic is still a mess due to the weather.

On the return trip, I happened to sit next to a developer from Boulder who's based in Houston ... when I asked "what part" he started to apologize, thinking I wouldn't have heard of Pearland, but I grew up in Clear Lake City and played against Pearland teams a number of times (though that was more years ago than I'd like to admit).

We talked about the town and baseball, and he told me of the Pearland team just two hours ago. Not w.r.t the Chicago game or the stripped title, but just the quality of the team ... it really is a small world.

--
Mike

As someone who's been really involved in youth sports for a number of years, I'm amazed at the behavior of parents on a regular basis. It's despicable. I've seen parents and coaches kicked out of games for arguing with umpires in games involving 9-year-old kids. I've seen coaches have to be physically restrained. I've seen parents screaming at their own kids during games, threatening umpires after games, and I even had my family threatened over a disagreement that stemmed from youth sports. I could regale you with stories that would curl your hair for hours. Literally.

It does not surprise me for a second to read this. What's worst about this, in my opinion, is that the kids just want to play. Adults are obsessed with competition and with winning, and they will do so at all costs.

I think this has to do with the cost of education, actually. Athletic scholarships are worth big money, and a lot of parents start grooming their kids to excel in high school sports at a very young age. They want their kids in the most competitive programs so that they're best equipped to make their high school teams, and hopefully excel at that level so they can earn a scholarship.

I had a kid join a team I coach a couple of years ago who loved baseball, but got sick to his stomach every time he played because his coach would yell at every mistake. The kid was a nervous wreck - 12 years old. Eventually he stopped playing, because he just wasn't having any fun.

What's the point of any of this if it isn't fun?

Al

It's really a shame this happened, but seems the right thing to do in stripping their title. Highly doubt this is unique to Chicago, and I hope all those kids keep playing ball.

When I was young, I was on another side of this. At 11 my mom moved about 20 miles from where I played little league, meaning both my parents lived outside the league area. I was able to stay in my old school and little league (they were both better than the ones where I lived) through benefit of district transfers.. and I was happy to keep playing on teams with my friends, however it broke my heart every year when I was ruled ineligible for All Star play. They'd always let me go through AS tryouts, while my dad appealed each year to get me cleared... but in the end I'd get a letter saying I was an honorary All Star. My league played it straight, but it really used to bum me out.

This is a very old story now, but the umpire in it is my uncle:http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3957744.html

I am in the process of a slide into old farthood, however i will say that one of the worst things we do to kids is that we do not allow them to play sports without a uniform on and an adult present. There are so many organized leagues right now a kid never just learns the love of the game.

This is a big problem. Most of us do not become major leaguers, but in figuring out where we are going to play, agreeing on a set of rules, rallying the neighborhood kids and procuring equipment, we were developing management and leadership skills. Kids today mostly just do what adults tell them to. It's easier. They never have to worry about who has the bats and balls. And they get so much less out of learning the game than we did.

Hmmmm... Might lawsuit concerns, over protective parents, and a nanny-state mentality that over protects those children of parents that are NOT overprotective have something to do with it? ;)

I agree ^^. My town has set up a great program 2-3 days a week in the summer. 9am to noon. Parents drop off their kids at the field and leave. Or they can ride their bikes (with or without helmet :eek:) One adult (an all time pitcher/umpire) facilitates. Wooden bats. Ages 7-16. Boys and girls. It's wonderful. Kids LOVE it. You can park about 100 yards away (to spy) and see it.
I also coach a 9 year-old travel team. Outside pressures can be great, but I'm very lucky to have a good group of parents. Set your goals and remember they are kids. Teaching/coaching is more important that trophies.
Good for Little League to strip that title. Too bad the research wasn't done sooner. Too bad they can't look at rosters and sniff out this stuff before Williamsport.

Wow. Small world indeed. Thanks for sharing that.