Editorial: JRW and remembering what we celebrate

For those of us who feel embarrassed and betrayed by the fleeting sense of pride and admiration inspired by the story of the Jackie Robinson West Little League team's march to a national championship and international competition, there is consolation. The boys who played on that team were disciplined and respectful. They were dedicated athletes. They did play the game with maturity and joy and determination in the way it was meant to be played.

Now, it turns out the adults who collected them into a group didn't represent all those traits. While many details remain to be determined, Little League International learned enough about issues surrounding residency of some players to strip the team of its national title and vacate the results of games it won during its celebrated drive to an international championship game.

Cynics will chalk this up to the dark truth of human nature, to some inherent corrupting influence of athletic glory, to the declining morals of our times. They will cite Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa and Lance Armstrong and deflated footballs and East German judges and the Chicago Black Sox and a long and sordid archive of tales of tarnished glory. And who can argue with their point? Cheaters happen. They always have happened. It is a particularly painful lesson when the cheaters' glory shone with themes of honor, role modeling and leadership.

One wonders how it is absorbed by the players, the 12- and 13-year-olds who obeyed their coaches, who played with fierce pride, who showed the "leadership, team work and self-discipline" that JRW's website extols but who, though some certainly were old enough to know it was wrong, were manipulated by adults into a position that ultimately resulted in shame and disgrace.

Little League International aptly describes the disappointment in a commentary accompanying its decision attributed to Stephen D. Keener, LLI president and CEO: "What these players accomplished on the field and the memories and lessons they have learned during the Little League World Series tournament is something the kids can be proud of, but it is unfortunate that the actions of adults have led to this outcome."

Yet, we need look no farther than West Dundee for some restoration of faith and class. There, Tri-Cities Little League Coach Tim Mahoney, whose team lost big to JRW in state title games, was gracious as his team moved into the championship spot JRW vacated. Sympathizing with the kids of JRW, he saw no reason to celebrate his own team's sudden ascension to the first place.

"We didn't win, and that's OK," Mahoney told the Daily Herald's Jamie Sotonoff. "But did we work our tails off to compete at our best level? If we're going to celebrate something, let's celebrate that."

That was the point of an editorial we published when JRW fell short of the international title last May. Thanks to the - what? greed? lust for attention, for victory? - of a few adults, we may be inclined more toward cynicism than celebration right now. But that shouldn't tear us entirely away from the innocent ideals we saw in the boys of JRW. We still find those ideals in sports and in youth sports. We cannot escape a sense of disappointment from a scandal, but we can remember what it is we celebrate about an accomplishment.