It’s sad, but hardly surprising.
For the first time, a U.S. champion at the Little League World Series has been stripped of its title. You can’t help but feel sorry for the players of Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West Little League, who range from 11 to 13.
“I don’t have much to say,” pitcher Brandon Green said. “But I do want to say, me and my teammates work hard all year long and went down there to play baseball. And we weren’t involved in anything that could have caused us to be stripped of our championship,”
It’s sad because Green is right. He and his teammates did what they were supposed to do — play baseball. And they did it better than any other team in the land.
But what’s not surprising is that kids were made to suffer for the misbehavior and greed of adults.
And that’s where this story changes from heartbreaking to hackneyed.
Jackie Robinson West was the toast of the baseball world last summer. The team, the first solely African-American squad to win a U.S. championship, was feted with a parade through the heart of their hometown. Visits to the White House and San Francisco followed.
But last week, Little League International determined that league officials gerrymandered the boundaries to use kids who should have played for other leagues. They then tried to cover their tracks by pressuring surrounding leagues to go along with the scheme.
It’s sad, but are we supposed to be surprised that adults would break rules of a youth sports tournament?
Not when that tournament is bathed in the limelight of ESPN and the prestige that brings.
Not when youth sports continue to be infected by adults whose egos are gratified by the triumphs of pre-teenagers.
Not when there’s money involved. Jackie Robinson West’s success generated about $200,000 in major financial contributions for the league. But that’s small change when compared to Little League Inc., which reported revenue of almost $25 million and assets of more than $81 million in 2014.
This is not to lump the legions of well-meaning coaches and administrators in with the bad apples. But what the Jackie Robinson West scandal should be is a call for honesty.
Honesty, of course, is needed in how each adult involved in youth sports conducts themselves. But we should also be honest with some of the ills plaguing youth sports.
Should high school football games really be televised nationwide? Is there any reason Bellevue should play against elite teams from California and Texas other than vicarious pleasure of adults?
Should parents really be spending thousands of dollars on specialized teams and training in pursuit of a college scholarship for their child? That money, smartly invested, would be enough to pay for college tuition.
Should youth sports be so time-consuming and year-round that children miss out on trying different activities? Being elite in one narrow activity is a fickle experience that will vanish with injury or time. But being well-rounded and versatile brings benefits that last a lifetime.
It goes without saying that most coaches and parents involved in youth sports are fantastic role models.
That’s good, because the Jackie Robinson West scandal shows youth sports needs them now more than ever.
