In a PONY league baseball championship game for 9 and 10 year olds this summer in Utah, the Yankees lead by one run, and it's the bottom of the last inning, a runner on third, with two outs, reported Rick Reilly in the August 14 issue of Sports Illustrated. The star hitter of the Red Sox comes to plate. On deck is the worst hitter on the team, a "scrawny cancer survivor." Yankees coach Bob Farley walked the best hitter to get to the worst hitter. Farley called it good baseball strategy.
The worst hitter struck out. The Yankees won the championships. Parents booed. The sports editor ripped the coach's decision. That kid cried himself to sleep that night. In making this decision, the Yankee coaches made it all about themselves, not about the kids. That strategy would work in the major leagues. Not against a kid with a tube in his head.
Moving on to event numero dos as reported by CNN. Last November, in Kenton, Ohio, as a prank, two teenagers stole a plastic deer lawn decoration and placed it in the middle of a dark country road around a bend. People driving wouldn't see it until they were practically staring at a deer caught in the headlights. These two teenagers caused several accidents, including one involving two other teenagers. Robert Roby's head broke the sun roof, broke his neck, and has had more than 10 surgeries and still has to have more surgeries on his leg. Dustin Zachariah, the other teenager in the car, suffered from brain damage as a result of the accident.
In court last week, the judge presiding over the case gave the guilty teens a sentence of 60-days in juvenile detention, to be served after the football season is over.
"I was shocked," said Indiana School for the Deaf athletic director, Brian Bippus, after finding out about the judge's ruling.
Added Model Secondary School for the Deaf's athletic director Michael Weinstock: "Someone must have bribed the judge!"
It doesn't come as a big surprise for the town of Kenton, winners of the state championships in 2001 and 2002. The high school regularly draws more than 4,000 fans a game in a town of 8,000 people. Football is king in Kenton.
Weinstock said that the judge's decision sent the wrong message to kids. Bippus and Weinstock say their school handbooks clearly state that any criminal action will be met with severe consequences. Both schools state they would have benched the players for the season. Weinstock added, "I'd be ashamed if I allowed them to play."
Kenton is a split community. On one side are parents who say football players get preferential treatment, while others say that if these two boys were allowed to play, they would stay out of trouble. Now, what if this happened in the Deaf community - much like in Indiana?
"There will be an outcry of favorism and preferential treatment from families," stated Bippus.
Weinstock can't even begin to imagine the reaction if this happened in his community in Washington, DC. "I'm not sure how they would react. It's beyond my imagination."
The decision still stands in Kenton. When announcing his ruling, Judge Gary McKinley said "I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm going to. I see positive things about participating in football." The boys will start their 60-day sentence after the conclusion of the football season.
As for the cancer survivor who struck out in the championship game? He woke up the next morning, and decided to do something. He told his dad: "I'm going to work on my batting. Then maybe someday I'll be the one they walk."
Had this kind of event happened in the Deaf community after all, there wouldn't be much difference as to what happened in Utah and Ohio. In our culture where there are more and more dramatically-involved parents in their kids' extracurricular activities, we see poorer decision-making. It's up to us, as parents of Deaf children, to set the proper example and support the correct decision.
© Copyrighted material, used by permission. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the express written consent of the author. Author's views not necessarily those of i711.com.
