NEW HAVEN — Parents are angry. There are lawyers involved. Conflicting and wild accusations are flying. The adults are fighting over the kids.
Sounds like a nasty divorce, but it’s actually a fight between a youth baseball league, one of its coaches and some parents.
“The spirit of the league was community, family, well being, nurturing. It’s an extended family and it’s been disrupted,” said attorney Peter Noble, who represents Liga Juvenil De Baseball De New Haven, Spanish for Youth Baseball League of New Haven. The league is not affiliated with Little League baseball.
The fighting started this week when Coach Wilfred Vidro refused a directive by league officials to replace 9-year-old pitcher Jericho Scott, whose pitching they say is so hard, fast and accurate that it might frighten or discourage other players.
Despite being told by league officials that there would be no game Saturday morning at Criscuolo Park, Vidro, who refuses to leave the league and his team, which refuses to disband, showed up ready to play.
Parents posted brightly-colored signs and many wore handpainted T-shirts with sayings such as, “Let’s be fair, it’s all about the kids,” “They’re only kids,” and “Let Jericho Pitch.”
Jericho’s parents, Leroy and Nicole Scott, said Saturday they just want their son and his team to be given the right to continue their winning season, 8-0 so far, and go to the playoffs.
And they are already talking with a prominent New Haven lawyer to help get the team there.
Attorney John Williams will meet with the Scotts Monday, but had already heard enough from them by Saturday to proclaim, “Holy smoke!”
“You don’t have to be learned in the law to know in your heart that it’s wrong (removing Jericho as pitcher),” Williams said. “Now you have to be punished because you excel at something?”
Well counselor, that is precisely what politically-correct, touchy-feely, self-esteem nazis have wrought in this country. Gawd forbid you should outshine other kids on a youth baseball team. It might make them feel bad.
Jericho, who said Saturday he was “sad” because there was no baseball game, practiced with his teammates, his drive to throw hard and fast apparently unaffected by the controversy.
Noble said they cancelled the game for fear the adults bickering would create an “unhealthy environment.”
“We didn’t want an escalation of the kind of tumultuous behavior caused by the coaching staff,” he said.
Nicole Scott said Jericho feels it’s his fault the team can’t play.
“I told him things like this happen in life and the message is, ‘Don’t give up, stay focused and be positive,’” she said.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/08/24/today’s_stories/20089039.txt
Unfortunately, the lad is also learning another valuable lesson; how some ‘adults’ can act more like children, than children.
Sounds like a bunch of pansy liberals whinnying about how they don’t want their kids to think about themselves as losers because they faced a better man, or in this case a better team. Well I tell you, you are only setting those kids up for a horrific failure in the future if you don’t teach them how to lose and then pick themselves up and get going again and again untill they make themselves winners!