Adults Acting Like Children in Little League Scandal

Rarely in sports does the losing team come out as the only winners. That’s the case with the decision by Little league to strip Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West All-Stars of the U.S. Championship.

The League’s first all African-American team to win a title is being stripped of that honor after it was found the coaches were using players from outside the drawn district. It’s a storyline straight out of “The Mighty Ducks” or perhaps a twisted version of “Peter Pan”, where the adults refuse to grow up.

Let’s be very clear, the coaches for Jackie Robinson West cheated. They bent the rules in order to field a far more skilled team by cherry picking the top little league talent from around Chicago’s south side. There is no question there should be punishments. Coaches should be fired, suspended or expelled from the league. But what we’ve seen from Las Vegas coach Ashton Cave following his team’s loss in the championship game is akin to a spoiled child throwing a tantrum when he loses.

Cave called out the Jackie Robinson West squad to anyone and everyone that would listen. Now that whistle blowing tantrum has resulted in a championship for him and a confusing and conflicted title for his players. Those kids on the Las Vegas team are now technically champions, but they didn’t get to storm the field after a win. They didn’t get to celebrate the way they see their MLB heroes do on the middle of the diamond. They didn’t get the trip to the White House and get to be paraded around the city. They didn’t get the thrill of victory through a hard fought series of games. They didn’t get to wake up the next morning and look in the mirror and say “we did it”. They didn’t get to battle the team from South Korea for the world championship. Those are the real perks that come along with winning and you’d have to excuse the Las Vegas kids if they don’t really feel like champions.

As for the kids from the JRW program, they did get those perks. They have been champions since the final out of that ballgame in August. Those kids took the field and battled against all challengers and came out on top despite being heavy underdogs in a number of games. They may have been technically stripped of that championship, but they know what they accomplished and no bureaucratic sanction can take that away.

This whole scandal is a microcosm of a larger problem in our society. Adults acting like children when the kids are trying to play a game. Coaches bending rules, parents throwing tantrums and playing time being heavily slanted to the most talented kids. I’m not just talking about the travel leagues and all-star leagues; I’m talking about all youth sports. Parents and coaches acting like college recruiters and angry fans have no place in youth sports. It sets a terrible example for kids that are supposed to be using the experience to learn about teamwork, unity, fair play and exercise. Youth sports are supposed to be fun, not stressful. And if you disagree then you can go ahead and shift your focus to the pro leagues. After all, that’s what they are for.