Comments on: A Heartbreaking Story that Raises the Question: What Would You Do?

By: a random John

a random John — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 20:04:25 +0000

As a follow up, here is the original article. Not only are the Yankee coaches more than willing to steamroll the little guy due to their ambition but Gordon Monson is as well. Shame on all of them.

By: a random John

a random John — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 02:35:17 +0000

I just want to chime in and say that Gordon Monson has no balls, and he knows it. He out and out stole this story from Ben De Voe of the Davis County Clipper. Ben is a friend of the family and attended the game, interviewed the families involved, and reported on it. Gordon never would have known about it had Ben not reported on it. Yet Gordon won’t admit to getting scooped by the dinky Clipper so he won’t even mention De Voe’s name. Shame on him. Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated also reported on the story this week but isn’t too big to cite his source:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/rick_reilly/08/07/reilly0814/index.html

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, screw the coaches along with Monson.

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 02:29:57 +0000

When I was a cub scout, we had a kid with leukemia in our pack. I felt so bad when he came in second place and I came in first. It was the one time in my life I really wanted to lose.

Sigh.

By: Susan M

Susan M — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 01:13:14 +0000

“They should be grateful that he’s alive to learn how to lose.” Haha. Sorry, but that cracked me up.

By: Summer

Summer — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:19:26 +0000

How do we even know that the Yankees knew Romney had cancer?
There are plenty of bad batters in baseball and nobody knows the intimate details of why a certain batter might suck.
They made the right decision.
Whether you know the reason for a batters suckiness or not, you walk the slugger to get to the worser batter. Especially with the Championship game on the line, little league or not.
It would have been a great disservice to that child to cater to him.
And what if the tables had turned? If he had made a miraculous game winning hit they would have been praising God for such a miracle.
They should be grateful that he’s alive to learn how to lose. As he said himself, it gave him the resolve to be better. He’ll be a much better winner and fighter because of this.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:00:38 +0000

Heidi, I don’t see right vs. wrong in this situation as starkly as you do. It’s all very gray the way I see it. I think it’s very cool that the pitcher wanted to prove himself against the slugger, but I don’t think he was more right than the coach. His way was another way to be right. Except his idea about pitching slow to Romney. I wouldn’t let a player feel good about not doing his best.

By: Davis

Davis — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 06:06:38 +0000

If the kid with cancer’s name really is Romney Oaks, then I can assure you the opposing coach will be serving as Scoutmaster for the next 20 years, at which point he’ll be called as a mission president to North Korea.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 04:35:42 +0000

What the story doesn’t tell is how horrible the pitcher felt. He BEGGED his coach to let him pitch to the slugger. The coach refused. Then, when Romney got up to bat, he knew him, and again begged the coach to let him pitch slower to him. The coach again refused. The pitcher was so upset because of the whole thing he refuses to ever play in the league again.

Yes, Romney cried himself to sleep, but he woke up the next morning resolved to be the “bigger man.” He decided to become the one who would one day be walked.

What can we learn from this whole story? That children do have integrity. It is sad that these coaches blatantly have lied about what they knew.

Romney is my nephew and I am not just proud of him, but the pitcher. What remarkable young men… Romney for deciding to go on with his life and learn from it all and to the pitcher who tried to stand up for what was right, but was knocked down by a coach who let his ego get in the way.

By: Rob Osborn

Rob Osborn — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:31:10 +0000

I helped coah my sons little league team this year and I would have pitched to him for sure. I would not have given him anything to hit. I have the attitude of go after them and see who wins. We played a tournament in Evanston this summer and the Evanston team had a one armed player. When he came up to bat, my son didn’t give him any preferencial treatment and struck him out with his fastball on three straight pitches. At the age of ten, kids want to win and they are very competetive. If a player wants to play who has disabilities or past ailments that builds his heroic case, he should have to play just like any other player.

It is all in attitude I guess. If the best hitter on the opposing team is coming up to bat with the winning run in scoring position then you pitch around him to get to a not so good hitter- it’s just a game of chess anyway- either kill or be killed.

By: Eric Nielson

Eric Nielson — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:35:23 +0000

I would not even consider intentionally walking the good player at this level. If we are going to win, we are going to do it against the best would be my take. I don’t want to win a championship by stiking out the cancer kid. I want to win by striking out the stud. If he hits it he hits it.

No intentional walks at that age I say.