Ode to the Rosedale Little League All Stars 12U 2014

Cheating!  The word gets thrown around all the time.  Someone gets a promotion or wins a contest and the common thought is "no way would he/she/they" would have ever have gotten that if they didn't..." well you get the idea!
Having been involved in youth sports in many capacities for over 30 years I thought I had seen everything. Kids play and adults scheme.  This has been going on forever.  Most kids have nothing to do with "violations", they just want to participate.  It is sometimes difficult to separate the proud adults that think their kid is the cutest or the best and cheers them on from the emotional weakling who somehow "needs" their child to supply them with some validation of their own life.  We have all seen these overbearing folks who are usually the first to proclaim that "it's for the kids".  If you have to shout that at the moon perhaps you should look in the mirror.  Most adults take that for granted but I've seen years of examples of mentally ill(yes it is that bad) parents, coaches and officials who do more harm than good to the kids they say they represent. 
Before getting into the specifics of this case I need to disclose that I am a supporter of Rosedale Little League.  My grandson plays on the team and is one of the main targets of these "adults.  That being said I have done much thinking as to the issues addressed by both sides. 
Rosedale won two tournaments and were scheduled to compete in the third when Little League based in Williamsport, Pa ruled them ineligible.  The only actual violation was that they had too many 12 year olds playing on one of the 2 regular season teams during their season.  There were 2 official protests against the team which were both denied prior to this ruling.  There was also mention of the "travel team" that many of the kids play on.  Somehow this was so horrible that my hometown Little League President went on a television station and sounded off as to the travel team trying to inject themselves into Little League.  This is the same official who has lectured parents to place their kids on the local travel teams.  This is the guy whose own 12 year division was won by a team that happened to have too many 12 year olds on it.  Amazing he would protest Rosedale but his team was allowed to play against, oh yeah, Rosedale in the first game of one of the tournaments.  The sickness of this guy goes much deeper and has been on public display for far too long. 
The bottom line is that when a jealous adult starts trouble for kids they should be removed like we would a tumor.  But if allowed to progress tumors grow and eventually kill the host.  This host is our children.  The momentum of the idiotic protests gained steam to the point other teams and officials smelled blood in the water.  Williamsport was forced to make a tough decision and took the easy way out.  Big surprise. 
I've watched many kids play over the years and I'll tell you that these kids from Rosedale are just normal kids.  They are awesome people and have fun, get along and represent what youth sports should be about.  They are a great baseball team and that is truly their only "crime".  For this they get to stay home.  They will get over this, but they will never forget it!  I only pray that everyone who hears anything about this will take a hard look at who is in charge of their kids...and then a hard look in the mirror!
I love you Brent "Bam Bam" Vasquez.  I couldn't be more proud of you!