I have said for a long time that adults are the worst enemies of kids, and last week I was once again proven correct. The Cinderella story of the 2014 Little League World Series was Jackie Robinson West, a team made up of players from the south side of Chicago that made it all the way to the International Championship game before losing to South Korea. They were lauded by all, and they deserved it. They had gone to a place where no team from the hard side of the Windy City had ever been. They made us feel good. And then last week happened. Little League announced that JRW had used players from outside its district boundary to make its long run through regional play and the U.S. bracket. The team was stripped of all of its titles and accomplishments. An investigation into the situation by Little League found that the district director and the coach of the team had told parents of players from outside the bounds of where they could draw players from that they were in-fact IN the JRW district and convinced them to join the team. Not only did the team vacate its wins and titles, but coach Darold Butler was suspended from Little League activity, and Illinois District 4 Administrator Michael Kelly was removed from his position. Here is what Jackie Robinson West's own website says there mission is: “The mission of Jackie Robinson West, a chartered member of Little League Inc., is to bring children into a structured program environment intensely supported by adult volunteers where the values of leadership, teamwork and self-discipline are strongly emphasized.” They failed on that, and the adults around JRW have continued to fail them since the announcement by Little League. I could rail on why cheating is wrong and how this is a bad example to set for kids – and it IS both of those things. But what I have the greatest problem with is the reaction by people since that decision. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel immediately called the president of Little League International to blast the decision and demand he reverse it. Emanuel told LLI they were “a beneficiary of the JRW story and they should take that into account.” Little League did not budge. White Sox front office boss Kenny Williams held a press conference to voice his disgust by asking “where is the heart of Little League?” Jesse Jackson said what Jesse Jackson always says – “it must be racism.” And the lawyers for Jackie Robinson West say they are refusing to give back the hardware they were handed during their historic run without a legal fight. Yep ... a little league team has a legal team. Here are there arguments: “You can't take away what they earned on the field,” and “These kids don't deserve to have their titles taken away,” and “this a miscarriage of justice.” They got the last part right anyway. Shame on the adults. Shame, shame, shame. Once again, adults have failed to do the most important of tasks – provide a positive and appropriate example for kids in their care. See, the whole point of little league, AAU basketball, youth soccer etc is ... say it with me ... TO LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME CORRECTLY AND HAVE FUN BEING PART OF A TEAM. So not only did the organizers of the team cheat to win, but the reaction that has followed is a giant “what's the big deal?” The “big deal” is that adults are supposed to teach kids the right way to live. Period. That means in sports, that means at school and that means at home. We adults are the role models for kids. We teach them how to talk, we teach them how to walk and we teach them what is important – sometimes without trying. So what the people surrounding this group of well-meaning, talented and hard-working kids have taught them is three things: • cheating is OK • taking things without earning them is OK • when things go wrong blame someone else • if at first you don't succeed, take it to court What these kids gained on the field they gained against the rules. Their team cheated. And maybe they didn't really KNOW that. I don't know what they did or didn't know. I do know this: I feel sorry for the kids of Jackie Robinson West for a lot of reasons. Mainly I feel bad for them because they had a chance to learn a valuable life lesson about integrity, honesty and hard work. But unfortunately there are no adults around them to teach them about it. It's a lesson to all of us. If you are a youth league coach, why do you coach? For the glory of you? I hope not. If you are a parent of a student in school, do you show support for their teachers in front of them? Keep the big thing the big thing. We're teaching kids how to live one way or another. How are you doing with that?
