As we all know, when Major League Baseball holds its All-Star Game in July, there will be the usual complaints about certain players who didn't make the team. The fans, going by name recognition & reputation rather than current stats, seemingly tend to pick the same players every year, showing no aptitude for current events.
Little League All-Star teams are chosen by each individual league's coaches based strictly on performance. Try telling that to this week's Weasel, Janet Chiauzzi, a 44 year old Long Island parent who's facing charges of stalking and, I think, harassment, simply because her son didn't make his Little League "travel team" (I'm not sure if that's current parlance for the All-Stars). Mrs. Chiauzzi sent a series of threatening letters to the coach of the travel team, claiming she'd attack the coach's wife and teenage daughter in retaliation for the perceived slight. Oh, please, give me a freakin' break!
Let's say that her son was on the bubble to make the team. The coach simply picked another player who had better stats, be it on offense or defense. End of story. Happens all the time. I grew up near one of my home city's Little Leagues, and I'd never heard of any case like this in my area. What Mrs. Chiauzzi has done, whether she realizes this or not---and I doubt it very seriously at this point---is that she has made it nearly impossible for her son to get a fair shake if he moves up to the next level of amateur play, be it the Babe Ruth or Cal Ripken or Mickey Mantle leagues, or even in high school. What if the youth decides to switch sports, to, say, football? The same thing could happen. The kid, no matter how talented he may be, may be unfairly judged because of his mother's mindless actions. That will make him work 2-10 times as hard to make the grade, if you will, and erase this stigma.
Janet Chiauzzi needs to accept the fact that it isn't just one coach that decided her son wasn't good enough to make the team. It's a team effort, ironically enough.
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