Part of the responsibility of being a Dad involved me in coaching Little League Baseball. As the luck of the draw would have it, throughout my tenure as a coach, there are many championship plaques and trophies to celebrate the teams I've been honored to be associated with. I've been blessed to show young men how to win, and how to lose. How important it is to be a gracious winner, and how to be humble and accept a loss, leaving the field aware you tired your hardest. Watching those youngsters develop into fine young men who serve the community and carry forward those lessons, is all the reward any man could ever ask for. It transcends any trophy or award that was bestowed. For all the good that has accomplished, it's being threatened by mediocrity.
For some reason our Little League has decided to ignore the traditional rules of competition and adopt policies and new rules that frankly, as someone who has participated in the sport for more decades than I care to think about, don't recognize. Even this innocent character building activity is being infected by the progressive strategy of leveling the playing field by inserting a platform of social justice. They don't keep score, everyone is an all-star, and apparently they don't make any effort to celebrate exceptionalism. America's favorite pastime has turned into a playground for progressive social justice. Instead of Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet, it's now Social Justice, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Government Motors.
How does it prepare our youth for life when if a pitcher walks six batters in a row, instead of changing the pitcher, you give him a trophy for participation? What drives a child to go home, practice and discipline himself to work harder and improve, if everyone makes the team, everyone gets a trophy, and everyone is asked to join the all-star team? While all this may avoid the tears of disappointment and frustration now, it just pushes those lessons further down the road. What teaches maturity best but adversity? Is this really a fair way to prepare our youth for life, or have we taken a page out of Washington politicians book and kicked the can further down the road? Experience is the best teacher! While not every experience is a good one, they all carry a valuable lesson. Who decided it was a good idea to rob the youth of the baseball community from these valuable lessons? Was it the Soccer Moms, can they all be that liberal?
Thank God for football!
God Bless!
Capt. Bill
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