Moonbat Morality Hits Little League

Stop the ACLU ^ | 25 Aug 08 | Van Helsing

[Jay777]

Imagine if liberal principals were applied to sports, so that the best team is shamed and punished for oppressing the others, and the team that manages to lose the most games is awarded the championship to encourage self-esteem. In Little League, it's already happening:

Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player — too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho's coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.

But Vidro says he didn't quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league's field on Saturday urging the league to let Jericho pitch.

"He's never hurt any one," Vidro said. "He's on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?"

The answer: the same way you can rob people of their wealth for creating too much of it.

[traderrob6]

As a coach of 8-12 year olds for several years now, I run into this sort of mentality constantly.

[RightWingTeen]

It’s high time we forced the NBA to reflect the ethnic mix of the nation as a whole. I will not rest until the NBA is 88% white.

We need to have some 'little people' in the NBA, also, just to make it fair.

[Blood of Tyrants]

In little league, especially in the 9-10 year old category, I find that if you have a really good catcher, you can prevent a lot of stolen bases and that helps a lot with the number of runs the other team gets.

[RightWingTeen]

But the solution isn’t to punish the kid who is good. You could just make him pitch in the next age level. He gets some competition and the older kids get to hit against somebody closer to their physical limits. That way nobody gets punished and and everybody gets to play baseball.

I'm reading about Wayne Gretzky and that is what happened to him in hockey, he was 11 years old playing hockey against 13 and 14 year olds. Jerico Scott should be in a league that has older players.

[y6162]

I’m from Ct. This is shameful. Hangs head.

I predict the coaches are going to get a lot of grief.

[Hildy]

You don't have to politicize EVERYTHING. We discussed this story last night. This has nothing to do with liberalism..this has all to do with how little league should run and what it's there for.

The league offered to put this boy on a team that matched up to his level...why would the parents want him constantly to play on a team that he was far too good for. Maybe for THEIR EGO?

If this were, let's say, a 2nd grade classroom and the kid read at a 6th grade level..would you expect the 2nd grade class to keep stopping and try to read at the 6th grade level instead of putting the kid who could read in a 6th grade class? Of course not.

Guess who's involved now..LAWYERS...that's what's insane.

People here at FR who have experience with Little League have all agreed that this is something that happens and the kid is usually put in a different league. It has nothing to do with SQUASHING talent...I think it's the opposite...it's better for the talented child to play with kids more in his "league."

[RightField]

Years ago, when coaching T-ball, Mr. RightField taught those little 6-year olds to run the bases, catch the ball and make outs. The rules for batting were either make 3 outs or bat the lineup. The other coaches were always furious because our team made 3 outs each inning and so all of their boys didn’t get an at-bat each inning.

[RightField]

In my mind I’m picturing some liberal adult, stamping their foot, tears in their eyes shouting “It’s not fair”.

We had a mom once in a youth soccer league who complained every week that it was a shame someone had to lose the game. Why couldn't the boys just play and have fun?

[RightField]

“A fine is a tax for doing Wrong...A tax is a fine for doing well!”

This deserves repeating ... and being made into a bumper sticker ... and a tagline ... and ...

[MortMan]

The league offered to put this boy on a team that matched up to his level...why would the parents want him constantly to play on a team that he was far too good for. Maybe for THEIR EGO?

Actually, if what I read was correct, the team he was asked to play for was an opposing team in the same league. Did I read that incorrectly?

If he was slated to play for a superior team in the same league, this is an outcome-based decision, rather than a game-based decision.

[Hildy]

The article I read yesterday, CLICK HERE (and read the whole thing) stated that there were many options put on the table but the mother chose to go to a lawyer.

If you think about it, this would be the best education for the kids...if you excel in something, you move up...people notice you...that's how the world works. ESPECIALLY SPORTS. Again, I think this has all to do with this women's ego and not much to do with what is best for her son.

[copaliscrossing]

I agree that little Jericho should be moved up an age group to compete with those at his skill level. What WILL happen eventually, unless he is challenged, is little Jericho will not develop into a true pitcher, he will just be a hard thrower. In due time (usually around 14-15 years old) the kids WILL begin to hit the hard thrower and Jericho will be standing there wondering what the heck is going on. If Jericho gets moved up, he will be forced to learn the ART of pitching and not just blowing the "gas" right by the hitters.

Our local league uses pitching machines for 7-8-9 year olds to get them used to faster pitching.

I was a coach, director, and president for a local youth baseball league and we used machines for 8-9 year olds and I found it to be a very exciting game that kids enjoyed playing because the kids put the ball in play and defense was rewarded as it was the better defensive teams that won games. Kids also were not afraid of getting hit by a pitch and also learned what a strike looks like instead of swinging at poorly pitched balls by either a coach or kid that cannot pitch well.

I remember a study done by a University on the east coast comparing youth baseball teams coming out of their 8-9 year old years from a kid/coach pitch environment vs. a machine pitch environment. The study was done on 10 year old teams when the machine pitch teams finally started kid pitch and the machine pitch teams thoroughly trounced the kid/coach pitch teams because of superior hitting skills (identifying and hitting strikes) and superior defensive skills (having to play a batted ball instead of a bunch of kids drawing a walk).

[driftless2]

Many women do not understand the male drive for winning. Here in Wisconsin we had a female member of the state athletic board or whatever who wanted to make more classes for state athletic teams. Her reasoning?: more classes would allow more athletes the chance to have (and I quote) "a state tournament experience." She had seen how happy the students who attended state tournament games were and thought to herself "why not let all students go to the state tournament. Then everybody will be happy."

That's the same kind of "reasoning" in the passing out of medals for being "outstanding" to all kids who participate in some activity whether they were good or rotten. These people have no concept of the fun in actually earning some award as opposed to simply being given one.

[driftless2]

"machine pitch"

Very interesting story. I've always wondered why sports enthusiasts don't try different methods to seek the optimum improvement possible. The machine-pitch regimen sounds very logical. I'd also experiment with smaller balls (ping-pong sized) thrown at higher than average speeds and trying to hit them with thinner than average bats. I believe that would certainly improve the hand-eye coordination aspect.

As an aside note I remember playing most of youth baseball on an old, bumpy farm field. I really learned to field well. Bad hops were a constant. When I played city rec ball on smoothed out fields, it felt like I was fielding (short-stop) on a red carpet. Conversely since we had a wide disparity in the ages of the kids playing on our sandlot/farm field, the pitchers simply tossed the ball slowly to all the batters. My older brother would have struck out the opposing side every game he pitched. So I had problems batting against rec league pitchers because I hadn't ever batted against speed. That problem was solved when my best friend and I started played whiffle ball one-on-one. I learned to hit not only fast pitches but curve balls too. My last year of rec league I hit a ton and started on the all-star team. I credit whiffle ball and lumpy fields for my success.

[copaliscrossing]

I'd also experiment with smaller balls (ping-pong sized) thrown at higher than average speeds and trying to hit them with thinner than average bats. I believe that would certainly improve the hand-eye coordination aspect.

We would use golf ball sized whiffle balls and a broomstick to hone the hand/eye coordination.

As an aside note I remember playing most of youth baseball on an old, bumpy farm field. I really learned to field well. Bad hops were a constant.

Most youth fields out there are somewhat "bumpy" and prone to bad hops. It does make a better player if the player is taught properly how to handle bad hops. I used a "bad hop" mat for our indoor training. I was a 4'x4' flat plastic mat with different sized bubble-like protrusions randomly placed on the mat. I put it down on the gym floor and bounced balls off the mat and the results were sometimes "true" and other times "bad hops". The kids loved it because it was quite a challenge to stop the bad hops.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Sounds like a sports version of “Harrison Bergeron.”