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Nine-year-old told he's too good Submitted by Urban Parks on Tue, 2008-08-26 19:01.
Nine-year-old told he's too good NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- 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." 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?"
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Sick!
It is. But let's remember that Connecticut, and certainly this one county, is not representative of the whole Union.
This is still the same nation that produced Michael Phelps. And for every ninny that bans 9-year old pitchers with a genuine heater.
There are two more wise old heads that are willing to teach him the rest of the arsenal he needs to make it in the big leagues.
Of course don't expect the media to cover that as a follow-up story. Success isn't grist for their mill. Misery and injustice is.
Allegedly, they WANT to
Allegedly, they WANT to participate. That is why they are there. They WANT me to groom them so that they make it to the High School teams, but when I try to get them to even STRETCH or RUN around the bases, I get hell. I started out with 3 catchers and eventually it ended up as 2. I had fun and the kids are good, but am still a little sad that they just wanted to "be" and not to work towards improvement-and I am mostly surprised that the parents didn't push for it, I wish they had!
I cannot WAIT to see how this little ball player develops! Hopefully the Yankees will get him in about a decade! LETS GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Urban S. Parks
Mainspring Comics
To be fair...
Are you coaching kids that are there because they're being forced to by their parents or schools? I was in a rugby team because I had to play some kind of sport in middle school, I certainly didn't try very hard. I resented being there. There are better ways to encourage kids to be exceptional than to force them in to something they have no passion for.
What's so tragic and disgusting about this story is the fact that a child is being punished for being great at something he LOVES.
These kids have NO pride.
These kids have NO pride. That's what I have found as a coach. No pride in their flabby bodies-they are accepted for who they are. No pride in their skills as a player-why improve when they get mandatory innings anyhow?
Catcher is THE most demanding of all of the positions in softball and I have a strict regime I followed as a player and tried to implement it on the teenage girls...BIG MISTAKE! I got told by the girls "My legs hurt. I have bad legs. I can't run. I can't do squats. I can't do crow hops. Don't slide into me, it hurts". By the end, I had no way to practice with them and improve their skills because all of my drills were deemed to be too much-they were not just for the record, the kids are just lazy. I just had to sit back and watch them lose.
Urban S. Parks
Mainspring Comics
Bringing up the
Bringing up the handicapped, baseball, and the treatment of this kid reminded me of thread on OL http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5780 I remember it to be a surreal experience...apparently, there is a popular, emotionally charged movement to help the pathetic but which entails sacrifice of the good. Scary stuff.
Michael
www.michaelnewberry.com
But if he were handicapped,
But if he were handicapped, and with a 10mph pitch he would be in high demand. And we would be reading how wonderful he is, and how even more wonderful the league is for including him.
Sick.
Man...
you'd think there would be at least ONE father out there with a dick...
who'd put some time into a son who happens to love batting and teach him how to return a fast ball.
The dark-ages are closing in on America. What a revolting and pathetic generation of people this batch of kids are going to be.
Repulsive.
"I think it's discouraging when you're telling a 9-year-old you're too good at something,"
Ya think??? Sickening.
Unreal. No doubt, part of
Unreal. No doubt, part of the ugliness behind this is the mob's attempt to 'protect' the feelings of the others kids, 'protect' them from the fact that this phenom is just that. This is as clear an illustration of Rand's idea of envy as 'Hatred of the good for being the good' as I've seen. Disgusting.
And this is almost heartbreaking:
"I feel sad," he said. "I feel like it's all my fault nobody could play."
I sure hope his parents have the wisdom to explain to him that it's not his fault, but the mobs.
http://fawstin.blogspot.com/
Wow!
"I think it's discouraging when you're telling a 9-year-old you're too good at something," said his mother, Nicole Scott. "
Discouraging? That doesn't do it justice. It is pure evil Miss Scott.