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Local Youth Baseball Team Booted For Being Too Good
NBC 4 Columbus ^ | June 17, 2005

Posted on 6/17/2005, 3:17:32 PM by flutters

CANAL WINCHESTER, Ohio -- A baseball team of 11- and 12-year-olds has been kicked out of a recreational youth baseball team in this Columbus suburb -- not because they misbehaved or broke any rules, but because they were too good.

Other teams didn't want to play the Columbus Stars. "I wasn't going to subject my players to that," said one coach.

Since early May, the Stars have beaten the Red Sox 18-0, World Harvest 13-0, Sugar Grove II 24-0 and Sugar Grove I 10-2.

Other teams began complaining -- and canceling.

Michael Mirones, board chairman for the Canal Winchester Joint Recreation District, pulled the Stars from the league and returned their $150 entry fee. He suggested the Stars play in a travel league against better teams.

Stars coach Jerry Glick said the ouster is unjustified.

"I've been in amateur sports for 35 years," Glick said. "This isn't something I've had to deal with before."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: baseball; fired; littleleague; sports
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1 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:17:33 PM by flutters
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To: flutters

It's ridiculous to boot them. But if I was one of the kids on the booted team, I'd be sick of these blowouts and want to take on a real challenge.


2 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:19:40 PM by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander-in-Chief)
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To: flutters
Other teams began complaining -- and canceling.

I wonder if anyone asked the kids. The parents and coaches are the culprits here, and a bunch of pussies at that.

3 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:19:50 PM by numberonepal (Don't Even Think About Treading On Me)
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To: flutters

Liberals can't stand losing - even when it's fair. So they take out the winner. Unbelievable.


4 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:21:34 PM by Minnesocold
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To: flutters

Crybabies.

My son's team stunk this year, but he still went to every game and I told him he still had to try his best everytime. They even lost 21-1 one game, with 17 of the runs coming in the top of the first. It was called in the third inning. It was an accomplishment for them to get out of that first inning. Sheesh. At least they came in 3rd of 4 at season's end.

Guess what. He wants to play next year. And he isn't scarred for life either.


5 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:25:00 PM by eyespysomething ( A penny saved is a government oversight)
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To: flutters

This is why we need to insitute nationally the liberal method of sports. No score kept.


6 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:27:22 PM by Phantom Lord (Advantages are taken, not handed out)
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To: flutters

World Harvest Sugar Grove II and Sugar Grove I

Are these the names of baseball teams or the towns they come from? Please, please, I beg of you tell me they are the names of towns. If not, we are truly in PC hell.


7 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:27:31 PM by JewishRighter (Shoot 'em in the whites of their eyes)
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To: flutters
If they were booted just because they were better than the other teams the league is a waste of time. If they were not following rules they should be booted. Can't tell from the article.

One of our sons played in a little league group. When he moved up to the next age level, in the ten or twelve year old range, the coach told the team that in order to have a better chance of winning he was going to ignore the league rules. The rules included the amount of time each player had to play. When my son and his friend found out that they wouldn't be playing in games because they were new players on the team they quit. I'm happy to say that the team had a miserable season. League officials were completely indifferent to the coach's actions. That whole league was a mess.

8 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:29:07 PM by FreePaul
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To: flutters

I would have booted them too.

Running up scores 24-0 for that age group is pretty sad. That doesn't teach them anything, and at that age group it should be learning.

They have High School and beyond for Glory blowouts. That manager and his coaches should be ashamed.

That is why my boys play in a Pony league. 6 run per inning rules until last inning. we also have a draft every year and you cannot track the same kids on the same team every year. It is both fair and balanced.

Then we have two all-star teams after the season.

Sounds like those boys should be in club ball instead of a rec league.

And since I'm a Coach as well, that type of sportsmanship is lacking in some teams.

Regards,
Joe


9 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:30:16 PM by Sonar5 (60+ Million have Spoken Clearly - "We Want Our Country Back")
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To: numberonepal

Listen up kids!!!!

There comes only a few times in one's lifetime, when a person finds oneself pitted against overwelming odds in a sports contest, (although the overwelming odds could be in any contest whether it be a job, a cause to fight for etc.) It is at these times that one should be truly thankful and anxious to participate because BY PARTICIPATING YOU HAVE WON. BY SHOWING UP AND PLAYING YOUR BEST, WHEN NO ONE EXPECTS YOU TO, YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED.

And guess what, if you then play your best MAYBE, JUST MAYBE YOU WILL WIN...AND YOUR LIFE WILL HAVE CHANGED FOREVER.

If there is a possibility that the weaker teams can be physically hurt because of the mis-matching then they should not play, but I notice one team scored two runs. Some one "played."

Lastly, I take note that this is not a Little League of AMerica Baseball League. Therefore there could very well be a vast disparity between teams.

nick


10 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:30:46 PM by nikos1121
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To: flutters

WHINERS!


11 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:31:33 PM by Constitution Day
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To: flutters
"Other teams didn't want to play the Columbus Stars. "I wasn't going to subject my players to that," said one coach. "

I remember getting my tail kicked in little league baseball.

We lost one game 22-0, but that team had half the all-stars that year.

Two of their pitchers were brothers and they started every game. I am not sure how fast they threw then, but the two of them and their younger brothers all eventually hit 90 MPH on the radar gun.

That was before they enacted the mercy rules that call the came at a certain point.

We were friends with the guys on the other team.

We hated losing, but only one team can win.
12 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:34:13 PM by Preachin' (Georgia finally saw the light in 2000.)
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To: flutters
What a bunch of pathetic whiners!! Sad to say but this once great nation, which was founded on and became successful because of the indomitable spirit of it's citizens, is rapidly becoming a nation of characterless, wimpy crybabies.

A town in NJ has stopped having tryouts for their cheer leading squad and instead allowed all who wanted to join the squad to be accommodated. The results of this attempt at avoiding disappointment and a feeling of not being pretty enough in the poor dears is a squad with butt ugly girls. It seems that being a cheer leader or majorette was a status symbol and the good looking girls wanted the recognition it brought them. Now since anyone with a heartbeat can be a cheer leader being on the squad has lost it's cachet.

One can only wonder what the hell will become of these pampered wusses when they have to venture out into the business world and face disappointment on a daily basis?
13 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:34:18 PM by Eagles Talon IV
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To: flutters
Since early May, the Stars have beaten the Red Sox 18-0, World Harvest 13-0, Sugar Grove II 24-0 and Sugar Grove I 10-2.

Hmmm. I guess teams UNICEF, Farm Aid, and Sally Struthers could see what was in store for them....

14 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:36:40 PM by Diddle E. Squat
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To: flutters
This happened to my daughter's soccer team. They were so good in the 10 year old league that they were punished by being forced to move to the 11 year old league.

Parents went to the league officials with complaints that the girls were not really 10. Everyone of them was 10. When it was proven the officials then made them go up a league.

Her team paid their dues with blowouts against them for years. They kept their team together, practiced and were having a storybook season. They were not rewarded but punished. Instead of cheering for every goal they were made to take the girl scoring girl off the field.
15 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:37:53 PM by Republican Red (DU: ''Reality sucks. That's the problem. We want another reality.'')
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To: Sonar5
Why boot the team? Why not just institute the 6 run rule? This sends an awful message to the other players that if they whine and mope after getting their asses whipped they can get rid of the competition and avoid the experience again.

Tell me how they can ever deal with a real life experience in which they are badly over matched if they are allowed to run from a beating in something that is after all a GAME? Children play games in order to prepare for the reality that comes later in life. Children need to experience disappointment and even some humiliation so they will be able to deal with it as adults. People who believe that protecting children from the pain of defeat and the hurt of not being chosen for a sport are foolish in the extreme. They are doing these children more damage then they can ever know.
16 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:42:35 PM by Eagles Talon IV
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To: Sonar5
Running up scores 24-0 for that age group is pretty sad.

How do you know they ran up the scores? I am involved in little league and can tell you that it is not uncommon to have very lopsided scores. The rules generally don't permit a mercy until the 3rd or 4th inning and some teams give up a lot of runs. A team I was involved with was down 22 runs in the second inning. Trust me the other teams manager was no longer trying to score. He pulled his pitcher and then his entire starting infield. The fact that the losing team made 14 unforced errors in one inning didn't help.

17 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:43:41 PM by CharacterCounts
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To: Sonar5
I agree that running up the score was a pure display of poor sportsmanship. The coach could have taken steps to keep it from happening. I am not convinced that booting them from the league was the right thing to do, though. What message does that send to the kids?

It tells the good kids that you will be punished for succeeding, and it tells the not so good kids that they do not have to try harder, they just have to eliminate those that are better then they are from the competition.

Just my opinion.

18 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:44:20 PM by Turbo Pig (...to close with and destroy the enemy...)
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To: flutters

I've coached rec council sports (baseball, soccer, lacrosse) over the years, and when we came across teams like that, we simply moved them up to the next age bracket.


19 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:46:41 PM by dmz
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To: Preachin'
"I wasn't going to subject my players to that," said one coach.

This team sounds like it has had very poor coaching. Perhaps they would do better if he wouldn't subject his players to his coaching.

20 posted on 6/17/2005, 3:46:49 PM by CharacterCounts
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