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

[frohme]

Originally Posted by WhenItWasAHobby

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.

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

[Al C.risafulli]

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

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

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

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

[itjclarke]

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.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

Originally Posted by frohme

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

Wow. Small world indeed. Thanks for sharing that.