Little League Baseball has stripped the team from Chicago of the U.S. title they won last summer. The team apparently used players from outside its boundaries.

 

If only adults could be banned from participating in kids' athletics.

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If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.
- Bob Marley


 

At least it wasn't for employing the services of an 18-year-old Cuban man this time.

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You know who ruins Youth Sports? Adults.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

You know who ruins Youth Sports? Adults.

 

My son plays little league baseball. He plays fall and spring, with no travel. There are kids his same age range (8-9) that are going across the state playing "all star" ball. Most of the parents of those kids are intolerable. They all think their kid is going to be in the majors someday.

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Quite honestly, I thought some of those kids were about 15 years old anyway.  It wouldn't surprise me if that comes out as well.

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My son plays little league baseball. He plays fall and spring, with no travel. There are kids his same age range (8-9) that are going across the state playing "all star" ball. Most of the parents of those kids are intolerable. They all think their kid is going to be in the majors someday.

 

The sad thing is, there are some really wonderful stories out there about adults who get into coaching / youth sports for the most sincere reasons. All that they want is to make sure that the players learn something, develop some teamwork skills, and have fun. You will rarely hear anything about those people and be exposed to folks like this.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

Quite honestly, I thought some of those kids were about 15 years old anyway.  It wouldn't surprise me if that comes out as well.

 

I think the Little League World Series is alot like the Tour De France. I am more surprised if the winner didn't cheat.

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My son plays little league baseball. He plays fall and spring, with no travel. There are kids his same age range (8-9) that are going across the state playing "all star" ball. Most of the parents of those kids are intolerable. They all think their kid is going to be in the majors someday.

 

I've never really gotten this.  Players spend all their time and money taking kids all over....I'm sure playing better competition helps a bit, but its still all about repetition.  Pretty sure I couldn't get into that.

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OK. What does stripping them of the title accomplish? I've seen plenty of coaches stripped of wins or programs such as Paterno and Sweatervest and I'm not sure what it accomplishes. Sure, they don't have the wins in the official record books, but they know they won the games, their former players know they won the games, announcers, everyone knows they won the games. Even Michigan fans like myself know that Sweatervest won all those games as much as we love to laugh that "officially" they were 0-12 for a couple of seasons.

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OK. What does stripping them of the title accomplish? I've seen plenty of coaches stripped of wins or programs such as Paterno and Sweatervest and I'm not sure what it accomplishes. Sure, they don't have the wins in the official record books, but they know they won the games, their former players know they won the games, announcers, everyone knows they won the games. Even Michigan fans like myself know that Sweatervest won all those games as much as we love to laugh that "officially" they were 0-12 for a couple of seasons.

 

It accomplishes the fact that they were caught cheating.  Their parents master minded it and they got called out for it, as they should.  

 

When I grew up there were kids that went to other pop warner teams out of their area for an advantage.  I knew some of the kids that did it, and they knew it was wrong, but they wanted to be on a better team.  

 

It's not just the adults in a lot of cases...the kids know too.

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I understand that it means they were caught cheating. But beyond that it means nothing. They are still the US champions. Do you think the Las Vegas team that was declared US champion feels like they actually won anything?

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I understand that it means they were caught cheating. But beyond that it means nothing. They are still the US champions. Do you think the Las Vegas team that was declared US champion feels like they actually won anything?

Uh, no, they're not the US champions. That's the whole point.

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<FONT size=3>The secret to surfing is don't do anything.</FONT>

Uh, no, they're not the US champions. That's the whole point.

They won didn't they? Being ineligible doesn't change what happened on the field. Las Vegas certainly didn't win like the official results will show.

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There are no "winners" in all of this, but hopefully there are some lessons learned.

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I survived the Gus Bradley Error.

They won didn't they? Being ineligible doesn't change what happened on the field. Las Vegas certainly didn't win like the official results will show.

 

Is this all going over your head?  They won by cheating...if it wasn't for that they wouldn't have won.

 

I'm thinking about going into MMA.  I'm on a steady stream of horse tranquilizers and a heavy mix of steroids.  I also throw in some cocaine so that I can cut weight better.  I win the heavyweight championship of the world, but unfortunately the blood test shows that I have raised levels of every drug known to man.  

 

Should I still be the heavyweight champion?

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It accomplishes the fact that they were caught cheating.  Their parents master minded it and they got called out for it, as they should.  

 

When I grew up there were kids that went to other pop warner teams out of their area for an advantage.  I knew some of the kids that did it, and they knew it was wrong, but they wanted to be on a better team.  

 

It's not just the adults in a lot of cases...the kids know too.

 

Agree !!  Stripping victories doesn't erase the memories but it does allow for the final chapter of the book to be discussed at more length than the victories.

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They won didn't they? Being ineligible doesn't change what happened on the field. Las Vegas certainly didn't win like the official results will show.

 

If you have to resort to cheating to win, did you really win fairly or did you unfairly win?

 

There HAS to be rules in place so all teams have the same opportunity to win as every other team, and no one team has an UNFAIR advantage over another team.

 

Does it matter if a team only cheats a little bit and wins or if a team cheats a lot and wins? Is there a difference between the two?

 

What makes this cheating/championship stripped story worse is that there were kids involved.

 

If there were only adults involved who won by breaking the rules, this would not be that big of a story.

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I survived the Gus Bradley Error.

If you have to resort to cheating to win, did you really win fairly or did you unfairly win?

 

There HAS to be rules in place so all teams have the same opportunity to win as every other team, and no one team has an UNFAIR advantage over another team.

 

Does it matter if a team only cheats a little bit and wins or if a team cheats a lot and wins? Is there a difference between the two?

 

What makes this cheating/championship stripped story worse is that there were kids involved.

 

If there were only adults involved who won by breaking the rules, this would not be that big of a story.

 

I agree with what you said, but do you think the kids didn't know they were breaking the rules?  They were probably more than happy to play on a team where they had a better chance of winning.  In the end, the adults hold the bulk of the blame for allowing the cheating, but the kids went along with it willingly.

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I agree with what you said, but do you think the kids didn't know they were breaking the rules?  They were probably more than happy to play on a team where they had a better chance of winning.  In the end, the adults hold the bulk of the blame for allowing the cheating, but the kids went along with it willingly.

 

I have no doubt that the kids knew that there were players on the team who didn't live in their area. None at all. At this high level of little league baseball, the highest level there is, they pretty much all know each other and where each other lives, for the most part anyway. Most of them have probably been teammates, or played against each other, since T-ball or a year or 2 after that.

 

While the kids might know that all of a sudden there are several new really really good players on the team, we don't know what the coaches and parents told them. As a kid who wants to win, you are always happy to get better players on your team, as long as he doesn't take your spot.

 

Even if the kids knew that rules were being broken, I'm not sure exactly what someone expects an 11-12 year old kid to say.

 

Now the parents otoh, the only way they did not know is if they just stuck their head in the sand, because parents of players on a team at this level are very aware of what is happening with the team and who is who with the players, especially the better players on the team.

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I survived the Gus Bradley Error.

I have no doubt that the kids knew that there were players on the team who didn't live in their area. None at all. At this high level of little league baseball, the highest level there is, they pretty much all know each other and where each other lives, for the most part anyway. Most of them have probably been teammates, or played against each other, since T-ball or a year or 2 after that.

 

While the kids might know that all of a sudden there are several new really really good players on the team, we don't know what the coaches and parents told them. As a kid who wants to win, you are always happy to get better players on your team, as long as he doesn't take your spot.

 

Even if the kids knew that rules were being broken, I'm not sure exactly what someone expects an 11-12 year old kid to say.

 

Now the parents otoh, the only way they did not know is if they just stuck their head in the sand, because parents of players on a team at this level are very aware of what is happening with the team and who is who with the players, especially the better players on the team.

 

I'm just saying when I was 11 or 12 and my parents said the team you are zoned to play for is just an average team.  We can bring you to another team out of our area that is much better.  

 

I'm just saying I've seen it happen.  Pop Warner, junior high, or high school....I saw kids cheat the whole way up and they all knew exactly what they were doing and more than happy to do it.

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