Cheating

In seems fitting that in a sport where the USA is always accusing other countries of cheating WE are the ones that get caught with our fingers in the cookie jar.

The USA Champion Little League team vacated all their wins yesterday because they were using players not from their predetermined arbitrary geographical recruiting boundaries. What's funny is that THIS HAPPENED in Chicago, where historically arbitrary geographical boundaries are often ignored for voting purposes.

The kids supposedly had no idea what was going on. It was the adult coaches and league organizers that did the actual dirty deed. At least that's the story. For now.

In a sport where other countries have used players much older than they were supposed to, I guess at least we can be happy that a couple of small sixteen year-old kids weren't included on the roster as well.

Personally? I hate the overexposure of the tournament on a world-wide scale. I don't think any of these games should be televised. Like every other sporting event, the bigger it gets, the more likely stupid stuff like this will occur. And let's not kid ourselves, there's no real way to police the hundreds of teams world wide that participate either. There's lots of teams breaking the rules. The only way this team got caught was because some insider squealed.

The Little League organization makes most of their money from this tournament, and if anyone would care to investigate, we'll also find out that the top salaries of those running it will seem more than it should be. Adults ultimately do nearly everything for money or power or prestige. This is no different.

I absolutely detest organized ball at this age. Kids should be playing every day, on their own, with their friends with nary an adult in sight. Yes, they'll pick up bad habits, but they'll be playing the greatest game ever invented without adults around to screw it up.

There's plenty of time for that when they get older.

And I can't help but think this team got BEAT by some international team. I wonder what THEY did to assemble a team good enough to beat this one. They probably cheated to, but we'll never know because they were smart enough not to squeal.

You know the old saying, "Cheaters never prosper?" Sure they do. That's why so many do it. The key is to not get caught. More teams than ever are getting good at that part of the game.

"With greater exposure comes greater corruption."