I agree, more or less. This was a big topic a few days ago on sports radio, and many of the callers brought up the point that if the kid had not been coming back from cancer, nobody would have even talked about the story.

Obviously, we'd all like to see the kid get up there and hit the game winning homer, but life doesn't always work like a movie. In reality, people often blow it in the clutch and then regret it for years to come. This was one of those cases. At least the kid seems to have the right attitude. He didn't whine about what happened. Instead, he resolved to get better for the next season. At it's best, those are the kind of positive values which sports can instill.

Of course, then you have the group of people who are opposed to competitive sports in the first place. They think every child should get a trophy and teams shouldn't even keep score. If these events didn't somehow prepare kids for things later in life, then that would be fine. But if this country gets to the point where all competition is squashed in favor of nobody getting their feelings hurt, then we are truly in trouble. If people aren't challenged or pushed, then how do we expect individuals to excel? This pansy way of thinking would trickle down into all career fields, as an entire generation of youth would be taught that everyone wins.

In the real world, everyone doesn't win. In fact, most of them fail. But then again, these folks are no more obnoxious than the drunk dad sitting in the stands and berating his 4-year-old for sucking at T-Ball.

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"Coffee is for closers." -- Glengarry GlenRoss