The Mountain Ridge Little League Baseball team was notified they are now the World Champions. So that means the Little League team who represented me won the title almost 6 months after the game was played. I live within the Mountain Ridge boundaries, I actually know the coach, Ashton Cave....
Why?
Because Jackie Robinson West who won the title did not abide by a very important rule that you use the players within your boundaries. It isn't an all-star situation, which some people think. It is a neighborhood team, that is why it is so hard to win. Little League officials have all kinds of checks and balances.....so how did this happen?
This is not the way Mountain Ridge wanted to win. And now that they have, so what? Did they get to hold up the trophy? Did they get to throw out the first pitch at the World Series in San Francisco or meet the President? Nope....
Mountain Ridge is a very special team who won the hearts of everyone in Las Vegas. They beat the team Mo'ne Davis played for. You remember her, the phenomenal girl pitcher who was on the cover on Sports Illustrated and also received an Espey. They even beat Jackie Robinson West 13-2 earlier in the double elimination tournament. These were not kids of privilege, these were regular kids with parents who raised money with baked sales and garage sales for the trip to Williamsport.
My friend April Nakasone sent me this message, " I liked what Coach Cave said on the radio this morning. He wishes instead of them getting the trophy, there would just be a big blank on 2014 so parents can use it as a valuable teaching lesson." Thanks April...you are right.
I feel terrible for the Jackie Robinson West players. They have spent the last 6 months thinking they won a title that was taken away today. I hope Jesse Jackson, who took them to Disney World, gathers them together and explains what happened. That is wasn't their fault but some coaches and some parents decided to pull kids in from the suburbs to play with an inner city team. It is going to be a terrible fall with brand new circumstances because they were rock stars in Chicago. And it isn't their fault this happened.
It really does come down to success in life is what you learned in Kindergarten.
Hmmm. You'd think the parents and coaches would know the rules....and would want to set an example of fairness.
ReplyDeleteI know, I just found out our coach would rather the year be left blank than give them the trophy. He thinks it would be a great opportunity for parents to teach a valuable lesson to their children.
DeleteGeez... SIX MONTHS later. Heartbreaking news for the kids who THOUGHT they had won, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteisn't that the truth? that is why our coach wants nothing to do with it...he wants it to just be blank
DeleteWinning isn't everything. Playing fair is WAY more important Too bad certain grown-ups never got that memo. (Or chose to disregard it.)
ReplyDeletegrown ups rarely get the memo!
DeleteWe, as a society, need to take the focus off winning. Whatever happened to "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game?" Time to remember that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do enjoy winning.....it is how you play the game that counts. I told my sons that if they messed up on the field I would come down and take them out by the ear. They always believed me, and they always behaved. I will never, ever forget a phone call I received from my son one Saturday. He had just returned from 2 years in Costa Rica on a mission, he was underweight and weak but through pure grit had made the travel team.. He called me from the run through before the game and said, "mom, we made it! I am going to play in front of 60,000 people...this is what college football is all about." I cry every time I remember that. he is a good boy and never did anything to cause me any worry or embarrassment. He got his scholarship back and played the next 3 years. Injury caused him to miss a lot, but although he is was very disappointed he was happy with his experience.
DeleteI am not sure I fully understand what happened, but it sounds terribly unfair.
ReplyDeleteOur coach is a family friend and he could not have been more gracious...he wants no part of the trophy. After 6 months, who cares? It won't give them the experience they should have had. Life is in the hands of a lot of amateurs
DeleteMy son was a Little League ballplayer and a perennial All-Star and trust me, we all knew the rules.... Bottom line is that this one is not on the kids -- it is the parents who lacked integrity. I think the lesson is live by example and play by the rules..... Seriously, right?
ReplyDeleteThis was supposed to be a neighborhood team....a neighborhood team. People know where they live. And you know the paperwork we had to do to prove where we live....I had to show 2 different bills going to my address, his birth certificate, and his school.
DeleteI was pretty shocked to hear this news earlier and wondered how it would be resolved. Here in Philadelphia we were very proud of our kids and Mo'ne. Cheating has been around in sports since day one and how said the kids have to suffer because of attention greedy adults.
ReplyDeleteWe were so proud of our team also, they were a bunch of neighborhood kids with a phenomenal coach...they received very little press even though they beat Mo'ne and early on in the tournament they beat Jackie Robinson west. And they were attention greedy, you are right.
DeleteThat's a sad situation. I wish they could just let Little League be what it was meant to be…FUN.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, glad your team did well enough to be in position to take first place once it was lost. That is an accomplishment, too!