How to reward the kids
I have a proposal for a semihappy ending to the Little League cheating debacle. More on my idea in a moment.
It’s a sad story, Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West team stripped of its World Series title because team officials cheated on residence and boundary rules.
Now there might also be an age violation. Little League is investigating claims that the team’s catcher was Jimmy Hoffa.
It’s the worst Chicago baseball scandal since the 1919 Black Sox, whose Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from baseball. A recently unearthed photo autographed by Jackson will fetch $100,000 or more at auction. A lesson for those Chicago Little Leaguers: Autograph some photos!
The scandal has set off heated debate. Some says it’s the kids who are being punished when it should be the adults.
The adults absolutely should be punished. They cheated, then they cheated some more while trying to cover up their cheating. I hope their punishment involves a dungeon, without cable.
But what about the Las Vegas kids who lost to Jackie Robinson West in the championship game? They played by the rules and got beat by illegal ringers.
This has become a polarizing racial issue because all the Chicago players are black. Jesse Jackson said, “Is this about boundaries or race?” I’m a big Jackson fan, but my questions to him would be, “Is it OK to cheat if you’re black? Have white teams in a similar spot been given a pass by Little League?”
There is concern that the mess will cause black youngsters to veer away from baseball, already experiencing a steady decline in participation by African Americans.
Right. African American kids will shift to football and basketball, where there is zero chance they will ever be exploited by greedy, powercrazed adults.
Now, seriously, my solution to the Little League snafu:
The Chicago kids got ripped off by idiot adults, including Little League officials who did not do proper checking.
To say “sorry” for all the adult cheating and bungling, and to serve the kids that Little League supposedly serves, the organization should award each of those Chicago players a college scholarship.