Posted 30 June 2011 - 10:49 AM
This week in your local little league.................
On 6/29/11 at 07:54 AM, JohnnyP wrote:
I'm so incredibly happy to see that the Folsom Telegraph is not in bed with the FALL Board. Way to go on this article!!!! After reading it, it occured to me that this may be the only justice for Will Schmidt and his family. Hopefully it will make a difference, and let's the FALL Board know that their wimpy, slap on the hand punishment for Robertson won't be tolerated EVER again!!! BTW it's not surprising in anyway that Robertson wasn't available for this article. I hear he's been 100% missing in action when it comes to this ordreal as a whole. Come on Greg, step up! You humiliated the boy and upset the Angels in "public", the boy and the team deserve a "public" apology!!!!! Bravo Telegraph!!!!
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On 6/29/11 at 08:23 AM, rwyrick1825 wrote:
I am a second year coach in FALL. I contacted my Farm Division commisioner last week and told him this was unacceptable and I would like him to contact the league President and let him know that I am asking for the resignation and expulsion of the coach from FALL. I discussed with him that there many issues here.
First, straight from the Little League Website under Coach's/Manager's Role it says "Who is responsible for the conduct of the manager and coach? First and foremost, it is the manager or coach themselves. Each of us in Little League must take responsibility for our own actions." Which exactly what I told the commisioner.
Second, I expressed that there is a double standard here of setting precedence. The league got off lucky. Hat's off to the parent/s of the boy in question for not making a physical altercation. If the father of the boy came onto the field and had assaulted the coach for his comments it probably would have been national news of an outraged parent attacking a coach. With the parent most likely being the one portrayed as the bad guy and mostly likely getting arrested and expelled from the league. Which in itself presents a double standard of rules for parents and coaches behavior?
Third, I told the commisioner this 12 year old boy will now have a memory of an adult insulting him in a moment that he already felt he had failed himself and his teammates. How will this affect this young man over time?
Rex Wyrick
FALL Farm RiverDogs
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On 6/29/11 at 08:33 AM, rwyrick1825 wrote:
Continued....
I told the commisioner I myself have a childhood memory of an opposing coach verbally accosting me during a basketball game as a youth. I am 43 years old and I still can remember the incident as if it was yesterday.
I enjoy coaching youth sports and always try to make sure my players and opponents have the best experience during their activities and I expect no less from all other coaches. I also told him that I am not going to dedicate my time and energy so coaches such as this one could take away my players enjoyment in one swoop with a verbal assault. I told him that this wasn't a simple slip of the tongue, this coach knew what he was going to say to this kid before they lined up.
I was contacted a day later by the Farm commisioner and was told that the league president told him to tell me that the matter has been resolved internally and no further action would be taken. I expressed my displeasure to the commisioner for the leagues response to the situation and told him that this was going to blow up in their face. The FALL board was trying to sweep this under the rug and I am not going to stay silent on this issue.
There should be zero tolerance for this in youth sports. The fact that it came from a FALL board member explains what kind of leadership we are dealing with.
Rex Wyrick
FALL Farm RiverDogs
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On 6/29/11 at 10:36 AM, luvfolsom wrote:
Let's get this straight. The public library in town is closing due to budget cuts. Unemployment in California is 12%. Our State is nearly bankrupt, as well as our County. People are morally bankrupt everywhere you go. We have young men getting killed over in Iraq/ Afghanistan/ Pakistan. Our schools are having cuts to the point teachers are being fired, class sizes are going up and a school period is being eliminated for JR's and SR's in High School. YET, THIS story sounds like it is THE most important thing going on in their LITTLE worlds. I think there are much more important things in life that need to be worried about. I am retired, so I played Youth, High School, and College level sports a long time ago. Football coaches screamed at me. Other players talked trash to me. Yet, somehow, I am normal. If you as parents are teaching your kids life lessons, teach them that this is NOT how adults should act, but in life, sometimes things happen. MOVE ON and be the best YOU can be, and vow never to grow up and act like this as an adult. But LIFE is not fair. Bad things happen in life. If this is the worst thing to happen to someone in their lives, they are fortunate. My father died when I was 10 yrs old. Just a small dose of reality here.
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On 6/29/11 at 12:17 PM, Funbeer wrote:
Nice to see Scolini finally chime in!
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On 6/29/11 at 12:36 PM, itsallbb wrote:
Luvfolsom--your clueless--Thank you Don Chaddock for your work on this story. Thanks for sticking up for Will Schmitt when the FALL player agent would not, nor would the FALL President or any of the VP'S ? I find it laughable that Rick Brausch says "they got it right", this guy has not gotten anything right in two years. FALL has been driven into a ditch by this idiot. I hope the members will show up in mass during the annual board elections and vote this guy out of office!
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On 6/29/11 at 01:26 PM, Coach24 wrote:
@luvfolsom: So I should teach my kid that adults should not act this way towards other kids...yet I should teach him by my actions that he should not stick up for kids when adults pick on them? You are right that life is not fair, and we should prepare our kids that life will not be fair. However, one of the greatest things we can teach our kids is to defend and stick up for those that are too young or small to defend themselves. The manager is a grown adult picking on a 12 year old kid and the League's board and Player Agent did nothing to protect or even help the kid in this situation. If they wont' do it, then parents and other coaches need to step up and do what's right, and Don Chaddock has done the same. Does it rank up there in importance with wars and unemployment problems? No. But that doesn't make it pointless or unimportant.
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On 6/29/11 at 01:29 PM, luvfolsom wrote:
Well itsallbb......maybe you are just young and ignorant of the important things in life? Or you are raising your son/daughter to grow up not knowing what REALITY is......everyone has a sense of entitlement these days...not like when I grew up in the late 50's....and somehow I doubt that YOU will be one of the parents that show up to be on the FALL Board. Liberals......ruining our country.......
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On 6/29/11 at 01:50 PM, dist54 wrote:
@luvfolsom: CBS Sacramento News 13 felt the story was pretty important and will be airing it tonight during the 6:00pm broadcast. It will probably be somewhere between the budget update, unemployment update, or war on terror update. You might want to set your DVR, if you know how, since it may be past your bedtime. Enjoy retirement and the next time you want to talk about growing up in the 50's, e-mail mikeinfolsom directly since none of us yungins care about how tough you had it with your coaches!
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On 6/29/11 at 05:09 PM, jingjing88 wrote:
Attack the kid??? That sounds like Rules for Radicals. It is not right to or legal to defame a kid in public. You should remove your post and lower your screeching. Stick to the facts. Robertson made a big mistake and the board tried to sweep it under the rug with no penalty what so ever. If the Board had done the right thing and replaced the All Stars Coach, you wouldn't be feeling all this angst right now at game time. Leave the kid out of it.
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On 6/29/11 at 05:31 PM, JohnnyP wrote:
@folsomsportsmom
#1 - I'd bet my life that you're either a Robertson or a Brausch...or at least a board member.
#2 - How dare you pick on this child again!!!!! I don't care if this kid spit in the coaches face. What this adult (who is a coach and a Board member for God's sake) did to this child is so disgusting it's unbelievable. As a Board member he is the ambassador of FALL!!! It was probably among the lowest point in this kids life and to have the coach do what he did is mind blowing. I dare you to tell anyone of your friends or family (who don't live here) what he did and I know it will take their breath away.
#3 - You ma'am (if you are a ma'am) are clearly what's wrong with this league. So many excuses for a coach who totally has impulse control issues. Did you know (I'm sure you do because you know Greg) that he dropped the f-bomb on an opposing coach during a game and go in trouble for it. Unfortunately he didn't have the Brausch's to bail him out on that one.
#4 - It is unfortunate that this had to go on this long. The Brausch's and Greg made their bed and now they have to lay in it. They offere zero transparency in the manner they operate the board. Hell, they rewrote the by-laws so they could control incidents like this The president, his wife and their daughter are the first three people on the Board's "investigative committee" and their buddies with this guy. Hello conflict of interest!!!!
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On 6/29/11 at 05:35 PM, JohnnyP wrote:
@folsomsportsmom
#5 - Apologize to his wife and kids??? Did you drink a cup of crazy. If anyone should apologize to them it is him. He did this and brought shame on himself and Folsom American Little League. The family wanted a public apology in front of the team. This was agreed upon and Greg text messaged that "logistically he couldn't make it". Well let's try another time and place. You're upset that the all-stars are being distracted by this. Try being the Angels lady....with a TOC game to play just days after another coach/board member attacked a fellow player infront of half the team. This will not go away until this team and child (again how can you attack him???) get the justice, a public apology. But alas...the board says it's over. Not hardly!!!
On 6/29/11 at 07:29 PM, mykidsdad wrote:
This is an embarrassment to Little League, and I say this as someone who has coached an managed in a different league the past few years. Because of that, I totally get being caught up in the moment of competition. At the same time, it's our job as adults to rise above that, and remember the real reason we're out there, devoting all our spare time.
Assuming for a moment that the accusation is correct and the young man has displayed a poor attittude throughout the season, then that is something that should have been brought up by opposing coaches to his coach, during the season. And if his coach doesn't handle it, then take it to the player agent, then the board. For an adult to lower themselves to a kid's level of poor sportsmanship is just inexcusable. Period. That he issued an apology is a good start, and the coach shouldn't be kicked out forever (unless there's a previous pattern of such behavior). But, the board should still take some sort of punitive action, if for no other reason than to give other future coaches who may be so inclined a reason to think twice. We're teaching a game here, folks. To kids. Unfortunately, all too often it's we adults who have something to learn.
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On 6/29/11 at 07:31 PM, dist54 wrote:
My kids have played in FALL for the past 10 years. They have been on Greg's team at one time or another. I have never involved myself with the politics of this league, although we have done more than our share of volunteer hours. Unfortunately, I have never seen it ran as poorly as it is at the present time. Greg's behavior was not completely out of character, he coaches with great intensity and let's his emotions run wild at times. What he did was inappropriate and the consequences imposed by the league were a joke. He should have been removed as the All-Star Manager and nothing less. Does this deserve as much attention as it has gotten, probably not, however, this exemplified everthing that is wrong with the league today. We have the wrong people in power, don't get me wrong, we have some excellent coaches, managers, maybe even some decent board members, but we have some really bad apples that are screwing everything up. There is so much frustration amongst the families in this league and too many good families that have given up and gone elsewhere. If it takes an incident like to to bring change....then some good has come of it all. I will gladly be at that the board meeting in August, and having completed my volunteer hours, I will let my votes be heard.
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On 6/29/11 at 07:53 PM, KuntzMom wrote:
folsomsportsmom you are an clueless. Robertson was in complete violation of the Coaches Code of Conduct & should have been suspended. He was given several opportunities to apologize. Right after the Folsom Championship game, he refused, saying the kid deserved it. He was again given the chance after the Dist54 TOC game, his game was 2 hours earlier than the Angels game, he had 2 hours to to drive from Roseville, he was a no show.
He left a message on the Schmidt's answering machine. The Brausch's response was if Will wants an apology then he should track down Robertson?! Are you kidding me? He was supposed to send a letter of apology to ALL the players on the Angels team. He has only sent them to a select few. He thinks he can decide which players deserve humiliation and which players deserve an apology. HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS PUNISHMENT!
Robertson is an adult and should know better. The problem here is Robertson. Had he apologized this would no longer be an issue. But the fact that he feel justified in mocking children proves that he is not fit to be a Mgr, let alone an All-Star Mgr. As for his wife and family, what about all the other boys that heard the comment, did they deserve it? What about the boys on his team. Do they now think it is appropriate to jeer at your opponent after a game. What about their moms, dads, sisters? There are proceedures if you have a problem player he CHOOSE not to follow them. He is a bad example. There is NOTHING All-Star about him!
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On 6/29/11 at 07:57 PM, hmmmmmm wrote:
@folsomdportsmom .... What you are failing to see is the fact , that a leader of team and the person with power abused it. No matter what the kid has said or done up to that point doesnt matter. Regardless if there is an agenda or the kid has made some bad choices, a selfish man was wrong, and your failing to recognise that. Disregard all the other stuff because all that is for both sides is an exuse, he was wrong. He needed to let the whole team not just the kid that what he did wqs wrong . It takes a coward to bully a kid, but it takes a real man to say he is sorry to bunch of kids. Not an easy thing to do , and he continues to take the cowardly way out by making out a boy to be the bad guy......sad no accountibility for ones self.
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On 6/29/11 at 08:47 PM, JohnnyP wrote:
@folsomsportsmom
I'm sorry I simply cannot believe what you posted. Are you really insinuating that this child deserved what was said to him??? Not only have you punched Folsom American Little League in the the face, you've made Mr. Robertson out to be a coward AND a vindictive evil individual. I don't think he's that bad. Whatever this boys past is, it doesn't take away from the fact that this man violated the heart and soul of the Coaches Code of Conduct and he's ducked out of his "slap on the hand/punishment." I honestly think there is something seriously wrong with you for justifying this cowards actions....troubled kid or not. Are you really posting this inflammatory innuendo about a boy. What in the world do your sickening allegations have to do with what Robertson did to him? You are reaching so far your looking like an arse! SHAME ON YOU!!! As a matter of fact HOW DARE YOU for blaming the boy! My God people, is this person for real?!?!?! The Brauschs blew it on this one. I know 14 coaches who have been black-balled from teams for daring to challenge them in whatever way. They can't believe the board leadership is finally eating just a tiny bit of crow.
On 6/29/11 at 09:34 PM, KuntzMom wrote:
folsomsportsmom aka Joanne Brausch? Maybe I know this because I asked! Which is more that you or your daughter the aka Player Agent did. How do you you what Will said or did not say to the players of the Ranger, Orioles, White Sox or Tiger' teams? Are YOU a mouse in Will's pocket? Did YOU ask? How do YOU know what the Angel parents or the Ranger's parents witnessed? Are YOU a mouse in their pocket? Did YOU ask? AND if YOU were so "aware" of problems with explicit language and did not step in to address it, YOU are in violation of the Code of Conduct! YOU should of addressed it during the season! Now you are trying to pin this on Will's parents? Give me a break. How do you know Will's mom is even aware what occurred during the season? Are YOU a mouse in her pocket? Did YOU at anytime inform her during the season?
Robertson has admitted that this occurred. He apologized to a few players but not all. Admitted this on TV today. Why you insist on pretending that this a figment of people's imagination or a product of a rumor mill is ridiculous. The FALL board is behaving in a childish manner and YOU should be ashamed at the fact that YOU are blaming the child, his parents, and the now the players on the other majors teams. You are trying to distract everyones attention from the real problem. This is Robertson's fault and he has yet to finish his "apology!"
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On 6/29/11 at 10:43 PM, JohnnyP wrote:
OK - so I think we (99% of us - excluding the Braush clan) are all in agreement that Robertson should have had some form of punishment? So what was it? An "apology"? I know first hand that a couple players received a form letter of apology signed by Robertson - but what about the rest of the team - AND MOST IMPORTANTLY what about Will??? Mr. Robertson you have attempted to call him one time!! Was it written in your punishment that you only had to attempt to say sorry one time? Does the board not care that you didn't actually say it?
OK - so let's assume the apology box on Greg's punishment card is checked - we still want to know what was Roberston's punishment? THIS SURELY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN IT!!!!! Saying your sorry isn't a punishment is it???? Being suspended from coaching or kicked off the board - that sounds fair.
I know other coaches have been suspended from a game for way less crimes (for example - not playing a kid enough innings). Surely this couldn't have been Greg's only punishment??
No, folsomsportsmom I don't really know Will Schmidt - DO YOU??? or r u going off the "rumor mill" too? You know what I'm not only defending him - i am defending my son from coaches that clearly have no impulse control - and the board that refuses to hold bad coaches accountable.
So what you're saying folsomsportsmom is if an coach deems a kid a "troublemaker" - the little league rules for coaches don't apply??
On 6/29/11 at 11:57 PM, 60ft6in wrote:
Does it really matter what has happened on or off the field for this young man? pocket knives, f- bombs, whatever....he is 13 yrs old!
The fact is an adult/coach within the league made a comment to a player that is uncalled for in any stituation! The apology is long over due and should have been a priority for Mr. Robertson and the league! The league has handled it incorrectly by trying to sweep it under the carpet! An apology is not punishment! Why would he be allowed to continue to manage his team in TOC and All Stars while this is unresolved?
As for folsomsportsmom's last post about "no crying in baseball" shame on you!!! Do you really want to blame the Schmidt family and others for wanting a simple apology that is in person and timely.....?
On 6/30/11 at 01:32 AM, CertainFacts wrote:
@folsomsportsmom: it's time we put this to rest; we know that Greg admitted to what he said; we know that the board elects it's members at the August meeting; we know that the new board will appoint the new managers for 2012; we know the 11yr old all-star team(defending Dist.54 champs) are going nowhere thanks to Greg, VP Steve Scolini (11yr old AS Coach) and others that ran out the talent and coaching so they could control the team; we know that there are brighter days ahead for FALL!
On 6/30/11 at 02:02 AM, Uclagrads wrote:
I totally agree with mykidsdad. However bad the conduct of this kid throughout the season, what the coach said was inexcusable.
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On 6/30/11 at 08:51 AM, joemac wrote:
FALL is an embarrassment to Little League. This coach should have been dismissed immediately. My son experienced bullying in this league a couple of years ago and they continue to do nothing about it. It is time for the leaders of this league to go. I have been involved in youth sports for 20 years and have never witnessed such poor management. This is why we have moved on to club baseball and are not involved with this league any longer.
On 6/30/11 at 10:55 AM, bbdad15 wrote:
I know Greg for 6 years and he is one of the biggest daddy ballers out there. He told the board members he joined the FALL board to improve his boys baseball experience and he thought if his boys had a good experience everyone else would. It has always been about his kids. Greg has had multiple problems in the past and it finally caught up to him. The Brausch's are the worst and everyone in the middle school knows it. The telegraph is finally doing a good job reporting the facts. I wish they would look into the Brausch family involvement in little league, something is dirty there. FALL board members have multiple DUI offenders and they are not doing anything about it. Little league over charges the little kids to pay for the older kids games and board members food and entertainment....shameful.
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On 6/30/11 at 11:14 AM, joemac wrote:
Regardless of what the young man has done it does not excuse what the coach did. It is ok for both to be wrong. The kid should have been handled whenever his offense or offenses occurred, the coach should have been dismissed immediately. When my son played on the 9/10 year old All Stars as a 9 year old he was verbally abused by one of the coaches and not one person on this board (yes, the Brauschs) did a darn thing about it. In fact, the coach went on to manage other all star teams. It is very sad to see this happening to such a great institution as Little League. Anyone defending this coach is a fool. If the kid is as bad as you say then he should be punished by Little League as well. I also agree having multiple DUI offenders on the board or having anything to do with our children is also inexcusable. You people need to clean up your act!