Jackie Robinson West: It's not all the kids' fault

For all the controversy involved in the Jackie Robinson West scandal, people should step back and remember one thing:  it is not the kids’ fault. I do not disagree that using out-of-district players is against the Little League rules but we should not fully blame the kids for this.

The bulk of the blame for this scandal should be put on the adults involved in assembling the team and Little League itself. I think the adults who helped create Jackie Robinson West should be removed from any type of affiliation with the Little League Organization in that state. I can place blame on the adults because they knowingly put this team together with some players outside the district.

Little League International should punish people from within its corporate structure. I believe anybody responsible with checking and verifying eligibility should be removed from their position and possibly fired all together. Is it that hard to do this? It should not be hard to find out if some kids are from outside a district. I mean one of the whistle-blowers to the entire scandal looked up one of the player’s names using Google and found out the player was out of the district. Again I ask: is it really that hard? 

Another thing people should do is relax on the whole “this is the worse scandal in Little League history” thing. I am not saying that breaking the rules is acceptable but I would like to point out that there have been scandals that have been worse regarding Little League. For example, the Little League team from Bronx, NY comes to mind. I think having a player (Danny Almonte) two years over the age requirement is a bigger transgression than using of-age players with some players outside the district.