The Beckett Blog

Below is a story from the Associated Press that really ticks me off.  This country is falling apart because we coddle and spoil people too much.  Corporate greed, pseudo-fairness, absurd levels of political correctness, taking competitiveness out of kid’s lives…it’s all blowing up in our faces and the country is suffering.  Since the WWII generation this country has slowly but surely lost it’s backbone…and it’s only getting worse with these ridiculous adults acting like scared children.

In all parts of life there are winners, and there are losers.  Losing does not make a person a “loser,” it makes a person GROW and LEARN and TRY HARDER.  The best way to learn is from your own mistakes.  In some cases, one can only learn by trying, making mistakes and trying again.

You don’t learn a thing from being sheltered and protected, except dependency.  You learn from failure, the greatest and most successful people in history failed MANY times before they “made it.”

This story out of Connecticut has me livid.  What are they teaching these kids?  What kind of example is this?  This country was FOUNDED on competition, and now we are raising kids who think someone else will bail them out.  The bad thing is that, once Mommy and Daddy are gone, that “person,” more often than not, is the government.  I think it’s fairly easy to notice how big, bloated and completely inefficient it’s become.

“Noble,” what a joke of a name for this lawyer.  He is not noble at all…he’s getting paid to be a slimeball, and confuse and hurt kids.  The kid is better than the others…so WHAT?  Punish him?!  How sick is that?

His mother has every right to be mad, but not to make a screaming scene (if that was the case).  If she did, she is teaching her child nothing good.  Still, the chicken-parents who spoke out against the kid pitching are the real problem, their own children are being taught a bunch of cowardly softy-feel-good junk that has no place in real life.

Sorry for the venom, this one got to me….

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Associated Press-

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player — too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho’s team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho’s coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.

But Vidro says he didn’t quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league’s field on Saturday urging the league to let Jericho pitch.

“He’s never hurt any one,” Vidro said. “He’s on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?”

The controversy bothers Jericho, who says he misses pitching.

“I feel sad,” he said. “I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.”

Officials with the Youth Baseball League of New Haven say they will disband Jericho Scott’s team because his coach won’t stop him from pitching.

Jericho’s coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league’s administrators.

Jericho instead joined a team sponsored by Will Power Fitness. The team was 8-0 and on its way to the playoffs when Jericho was banned from pitching.

“I think it’s discouraging when you’re telling a 9-year-old you’re too good at something,” said his mother, Nicole Scott. “The whole objective in life is to find something you’re good at and stick with it. I’d rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner.”

League attorney Peter Noble says the only factor in banning Jericho from the mound is his pitches are just too fast.

“He is a very skilled player, a very hard thrower,” Noble said. “There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league. This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the sport.”

Noble acknowledged that Jericho had not beaned any batters in the co-ed league of 8- to 10-year-olds, but say parents expressed safety concerns.

“Facing that kind of speed” is frightening for beginning players, Noble said.

League officials say they first told Vidro that the boy could not pitch after a game on Aug. 13. Jericho played second base the next game on Aug. 16. But when he took the mound Wednesday, the other team walked off and a forfeit was called.

League officials say Jericho’s mother became irate, threatening them and vowing to get the league shut down.

“I have never seen behavior of a parent like the behavior Jericho’s mother exhibited Wednesday night,” Noble said.

Scott denies threatening any one, but said she did call the police.

League officials suggested that Jericho play other positions, or pitch against older players or in a different league.

Local attorney John Williams was planning to meet with Jericho’s parents Monday to discuss legal options.

“You don’t have to be learned in the law to know in your heart that it’s wrong,” he said. “Now you have to be punished because you excel at something?”

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press