NWLL baseball scandal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, ultimately you play the game to win, and if, after all this draft-rigging and eligibility games, and disillusionment for so many other kids who are not the chosen ones, they're not even winning, what's the point? They're doing all this cheating and it's not even getting them anywhere!

I suppose that's why people keep bringing up the money thing. Maybe that's the motive?

Winning a state championship and getting to go to the LLB Regionals is a big deal. NWLL has gone there two years in a row. This year they won two games and were one run away from going to the LLWS. Winning a regional and going to Williamsport would be amazing for any team. But not right to say any league that is going to regionals and representing your state and being on ESPN is not getting anywhere. That is a huge prize, and why so many people care about this.

Also, it's a very recent thing that DC's sole district is treated as a state with a direct path to regionals. The DC winner used to go to the Maryland state tournament with the winner of that tourney going to the Regional. I guess representing Maryland? That happened sometimes but entailed winning your way through a whole extra and tough round to make it to regionals and ESPN. The DC state recognition has only been a thing for the last three years or so.

Well, yes, going to the LLB regionals is a big deal, but someone from DC would have done it, and considering his cheating gave him an edge over DC rivals I'm not convinced that Ricky accomplished anything particularly impressive with his cheating. And that's my point. This toxic atmosphere he's created hasn't accomplished a whole lot by any metric.

I mean, it's like his draft rigging. Wow, he coached a team that pummeled their opponents 20-0! Was it worth it? Did anyone get anything from that? I know a bunch of kids felt bad that they had to take routine beatings and felt like they never had a chance! Is that an accomplishment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a person on the board for the last 12 years who never lived in DC, but kid(s) went to a school in-boundary so they were legit NWLL players. I'm assuming they aged out years ago.

Do the rules allow this person to be an officer on the board? Absolutely.

Have they been generous in giving up their time to the community in the last 12 years. Yes. 100%.

Is it time to get new people in to replace them? I think that might make sense. I'm not sure about this person's specific situation, but...

There are no term-limits for the league, and maybe that's why the board seems so insular and immovable to the recent complainants.

Generally speaking, people should feel pressure to move on after serving on a community-based board for a while. Maybe after a few years of giving back if they do not have kids active in the league. Or, if they don't live in-boundary and once their kids leave the in-boundary school.

Here's another metric: is the organization being best served by this board?

I'm not sure how you can read the allegations and not find extensive merit in them—sure, some of the fringe things might be questionable—but the fact the current league has such shocking levels of player/parent discontent, such lopsided scores, such universal anger over the umpires and a failure to have any success in the LLWS (which a cynic might point out is because the city is not putting its best team forward), and now a horrendous and very credible accusation of widespread cheating and draft-rigging... if I were a board member I would look at the situation and think, "well this isn't working, maybe it's time for someone else to try!"

If an outside firm clears Ricky (and I don't see how they can) all those problems—tense, unhappy games, players feeling disillusioned and burned out by age 11, terrible umping, parents shouting "cheater", most games resulting in routs, etc. suggests a poorly administered operation. Cheating or not, this organization is broken and for the sake of the parents like that one who has an eager six-year-old, please clean house!

I would argue that "success in the LLWS" is a very different goal from the other ones listed. Except that talent development is very much a numbers game, and that the way to develop a lot of talented players is to keep a lot of players engaged from the beginning.

well, ultimately you play the game to win, and if, after all this draft-rigging and eligibility games, and disillusionment for so many other kids who are not the chosen ones, they're not even winning, what's the point? They're doing all this cheating and it's not even getting them anywhere!

I suppose that's why people keep bringing up the money thing. Maybe that's the motive?

It does seem that sone of the favoritism is about personal, work, and private coaching connections, but some of the maneuvering was not about the strongest players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best answer may be that klisch and Sweeney move to another league as there is no remedy otherwise. Even if another adjudicator acts it will be deemed harmless error if anything. So they need to quash this issue.

Regarding the irregularities in the All-Star team selections, it might be true that an adjudicator would deem these "harmless errors" if anything to be quashed and moved on from. But those in the know, just as those willing to actually take in the facts, know what's there is habitual attempts at cheating and gaming the system. Adjudicating it as harmless and quashing dissent just allows it to continue. And it's not harmless. It hurts the other leagues that NWLL illegally poaches or tries to poach players from. It hurts the honest teams and leagues that compete above board when they lose to illegitimately composed NWLL teams. It hurts the kids that are legitimately part of NWLL that get left off the team in favor of players that are out of boundary that are not entitled to waivers. It hurts the league experience for NWLL Majors division players that aren't part of the all-star team. It hurts the experience of the aforementioned six-year-olds and parents that don't want to deal with this stuff. So it's disheartening to hear some say: let's just move on and play ball.

In the Washington Post article, Davenport says "Anyone who thinks a single player in each of the last two seasons was the secret to our success hasn't been out to see our games." Exactly! The NWLL teams can compete without trying to add illegal players. So do that! But do it with players you're entitled to. Not with those you aren't. Or if the errors are deemed as harmless, I guess that's a signal to just keep on accidentally making them.

Now if I were trying to survive this, I might keep doing what Davenport and NWLL are doing. Deny. Withold. Say I'm the most honest person/league ever. And that strategy might just work out for them.

The NWLL prez also says he has a "long-standing reputation for honesty" and has "never cheated or gamed the system." HA! He has a reputation for using every loophole to his advantage and more. Loopholes may be dirty, but are one thing. Cutting your own hole in the loop is another.

The fact that the other seven DC little league groups were also negatively impacted has sort of gotten lost. This scandal is broader that NWLL. A lot of kids worked hard for many years at a fair shot of making it to Bristol. The whole DC youth baseball community deserves an explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best answer may be that klisch and Sweeney move to another league as there is no remedy otherwise. Even if another adjudicator acts it will be deemed harmless error if anything. So they need to quash this issue.

Regarding the irregularities in the All-Star team selections, it might be true that an adjudicator would deem these "harmless errors" if anything to be quashed and moved on from. But those in the know, just as those willing to actually take in the facts, know what's there is habitual attempts at cheating and gaming the system. Adjudicating it as harmless and quashing dissent just allows it to continue. And it's not harmless. It hurts the other leagues that NWLL illegally poaches or tries to poach players from. It hurts the honest teams and leagues that compete above board when they lose to illegitimately composed NWLL teams. It hurts the kids that are legitimately part of NWLL that get left off the team in favor of players that are out of boundary that are not entitled to waivers. It hurts the league experience for NWLL Majors division players that aren't part of the all-star team. It hurts the experience of the aforementioned six-year-olds and parents that don't want to deal with this stuff. So it's disheartening to hear some say: let's just move on and play ball.

In the Washington Post article, Davenport says "Anyone who thinks a single player in each of the last two seasons was the secret to our success hasn't been out to see our games." Exactly! The NWLL teams can compete without trying to add illegal players. So do that! But do it with players you're entitled to. Not with those you aren't. Or if the errors are deemed as harmless, I guess that's a signal to just keep on accidentally making them.

Now if I were trying to survive this, I might keep doing what Davenport and NWLL are doing. Deny. Withold. Say I'm the most honest person/league ever. And that strategy might just work out for them.

The NWLL prez also says he has a "long-standing reputation for honesty" and has "never cheated or gamed the system." HA! He has a reputation for using every loophole to his advantage and more. Loopholes may be dirty, but are one thing. Cutting your own hole in the loop is another.

The fact that the other seven DC little league groups were also negatively impacted has sort of gotten lost. This scandal is broader that NWLL. A lot of kids worked hard for many years at a fair shot of making it to Bristol. The whole DC youth baseball community deserves an explanation.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a person on the board for the last 12 years who never lived in DC, but kid(s) went to a school in-boundary so they were legit NWLL players. I'm assuming they aged out years ago.

Do the rules allow this person to be an officer on the board? Absolutely.

Have they been generous in giving up their time to the community in the last 12 years. Yes. 100%.

Is it time to get new people in to replace them? I think that might make sense. I'm not sure about this person's specific situation, but...

There are no term-limits for the league, and maybe that's why the board seems so insular and immovable to the recent complainants.

Generally speaking, people should feel pressure to move on after serving on a community-based board for a while. Maybe after a few years of giving back if they do not have kids active in the league. Or, if they don't live in-boundary and once their kids leave the in-boundary school.

Here's another metric: is the organization being best served by this board?

I'm not sure how you can read the allegations and not find extensive merit in them—sure, some of the fringe things might be questionable—but the fact the current league has such shocking levels of player/parent discontent, such lopsided scores, such universal anger over the umpires and a failure to have any success in the LLWS (which a cynic might point out is because the city is not putting its best team forward), and now a horrendous and very credible accusation of widespread cheating and draft-rigging... if I were a board member I would look at the situation and think, "well this isn't working, maybe it's time for someone else to try!"

If an outside firm clears Ricky (and I don't see how they can) all those problems—tense, unhappy games, players feeling disillusioned and burned out by age 11, terrible umping, parents shouting "cheater", most games resulting in routs, etc. suggests a poorly administered operation. Cheating or not, this organization is broken and for the sake of the parents like that one who has an eager six-year-old, please clean house!

I would argue that "success in the LLWS" is a very different goal from the other ones listed. Except that talent development is very much a numbers game, and that the way to develop a lot of talented players is to keep a lot of players engaged from the beginning.

well, ultimately you play the game to win, and if, after all this draft-rigging and eligibility games, and disillusionment for so many other kids who are not the chosen ones, they're not even winning, what's the point? They're doing all this cheating and it's not even getting them anywhere!

I suppose that's why people keep bringing up the money thing. Maybe that's the motive?

There's two paths to success for a youth sports organization: win championships, or give everyone who participates a positive experience. If you can do the former you're forgiven for not doing the latter. It's when you don't win that people start looking at the bigger picture.

[Anonymous]

People are talking about the pro bono law firm’s investigation. Or maybe it’s the three person “select” committees investigation if that can thought at all impartial. I’m imagining the AEC security heading as portrayed in Oppenheimer, for those that saw the film. (Only with the committee set up to find in favor of rather than against its subject).

It’s hard to keep track! And is the law firm engaged to conduct an unbiased, 3rd party audit? Or are they there to represent and defend the interests of the board and ricky?

[Anonymous]

Hard to imagine any law firm wants to risk its reputation by getting involved with this mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve been with the league for 3 years and never received any info about any board meetings.

Because they don’t want you involved. It’s not for you. Your kid is just someone for their team to beat. Stop complaining! Coach Ricky has games to win!

This message is endorsed by a lawyer or two.

and many parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously there are major issues here to be addressed. But as a parent of a small boy who loves baseball and loved his totally-for-fun LL team, I can’t help but wish the approach had been different here? Fifty-page documents going out to parents of six-year-olds who have nothing to do with this? Naming children in messages sent to hundreds of people? Whatever problems need to be tackled, which seem to mostly involve older kids, do we need to steal the joy from everyone else? Please stop drawing the rest of us into your infighting… I did not need to get another one of these dramatic emails the night before the first game of the season for a bunch of excited first graders.

Then don't read the email. You're comfortable sticking your head in the sand. Not everyone else is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One board member stated that she "adores" Ricky but was then angry when someone objected to her being on the "special committee" investigating the allegations and said she was being defamed and started to cry. Mess. And Ricky was nominated to committee to identify next "slate" of board members so unclear if things will really change. The special committee seems to be a mix of Ricky loyalists and some more neutral folks. And some efforts to clean up bylaws but if they just keep electing more Ricky devotees, unclear if much will change. And the LL org officials seem to believe their job is to protect the President and keep any conflict quiet rather than actually helping to address the issues. All in all not super confidence inspiring. Seems to be a very poorly run non profit. No board terms, outdated bylaws, lots of conflicts of interest, etc.

She cried? And said she was being defamed but ignores what Ricky has done? disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They put a board member who repeatedly said she “adored” Ricky on a special committee to investigate the commissioner’s findings.

This is so corrupt that I would forgo baseball to avoid giving my kid's time and my $ to this bunch of self serving narcissists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe many of the posts accurately describe the meeting (appear written by Mike to weave a story).

NWLL has an outside law firm (pro bono) to help review the allegations. The DC LL officials said the paperwork for the ‘22 and ‘23 summer teams were reviewed and all players were cleared to play. They did go on farther saying Mike didn’t represent aspects correctly.
Seems like part of the allegations and 9/8 email from Mike to the community is unraveling, but let’s let a process with an outside law firm review.

Board members also entered resolutions to improve board selection and waiver processes in the future.

Most in the room thanked the NWLL volunteers for their time and commented on a desire to focus on softball, baseball, teaching kids and having fun.

Let the review of the allegations happen, grow and change from what is learned and move on to focus on baseball, softball, learning and fun.

Suuuure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the two board members who wrote the letter have demonstrated terrible judgment in the way that they have handled this, dragging in people who would prefer not to be involved. The overall approach they are taking seems to be hurting their cause more than it is helping. And, particularly, they should have been smart enough to know that no one wants their kid's name to be prominently featured in any of these legal documents.

But it would be really unfortunate if their poor tactical choices are interfering an investigation into the merits of the allegations which, if true, are extremely problematic and should be concerning to anyone with kids in the league.

I don't think they sound like nice people, but I found it a reasonable letter... everyone knew this stuff was happening anyway and knew which kids weren't supposed to be there. Also, if they HADN'T included names, it would've been easier to brush off.

Maybe I would've written a different letter, but I don't think it hurts their cause the way they did it. I mean, if you read that letter and you thought, "Well, all this cheating stuff should probably be given a pass because they mentioned a kid's name in the letter!" you're part of the problem.

judging them as "not nice people" is a big part of the problem. What a childish choice of words. You sound like someone who tells women to speak more quietly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a person on the board for the last 12 years who never lived in DC, but kid(s) went to a school in-boundary so they were legit NWLL players. I'm assuming they aged out years ago.

Do the rules allow this person to be an officer on the board? Absolutely.

Have they been generous in giving up their time to the community in the last 12 years. Yes. 100%.

Is it time to get new people in to replace them? I think that might make sense. I'm not sure about this person's specific situation, but...

There are no term-limits for the league, and maybe that's why the board seems so insular and immovable to the recent complainants.

Generally speaking, people should feel pressure to move on after serving on a community-based board for a while. Maybe after a few years of giving back if they do not have kids active in the league. Or, if they don't live in-boundary and once their kids leave the in-boundary school.

Here's another metric: is the organization being best served by this board?

I'm not sure how you can read the allegations and not find extensive merit in them—sure, some of the fringe things might be questionable—but the fact the current league has such shocking levels of player/parent discontent, such lopsided scores, such universal anger over the umpires and a failure to have any success in the LLWS (which a cynic might point out is because the city is not putting its best team forward), and now a horrendous and very credible accusation of widespread cheating and draft-rigging... if I were a board member I would look at the situation and think, "well this isn't working, maybe it's time for someone else to try!"

If an outside firm clears Ricky (and I don't see how they can) all those problems—tense, unhappy games, players feeling disillusioned and burned out by age 11, terrible umping, parents shouting "cheater", most games resulting in routs, etc. suggests a poorly administered operation. Cheating or not, this organization is broken and for the sake of the parents like that one who has an eager six-year-old, please clean house!

I would argue that "success in the LLWS" is a very different goal from the other ones listed. Except that talent development is very much a numbers game, and that the way to develop a lot of talented players is to keep a lot of players engaged from the beginning.

well, ultimately you play the game to win, and if, after all this draft-rigging and eligibility games, and disillusionment for so many other kids who are not the chosen ones, they're not even winning, what's the point? They're doing all this cheating and it's not even getting them anywhere!

I suppose that's why people keep bringing up the money thing. Maybe that's the motive?

because it's all about the adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the two board members who wrote the letter have demonstrated terrible judgment in the way that they have handled this, dragging in people who would prefer not to be involved. The overall approach they are taking seems to be hurting their cause more than it is helping. And, particularly, they should have been smart enough to know that no one wants their kid's name to be prominently featured in any of these legal documents.

But it would be really unfortunate if their poor tactical choices are interfering an investigation into the merits of the allegations which, if true, are extremely problematic and should be concerning to anyone with kids in the league.

I don't think they sound like nice people, but I found it a reasonable letter... everyone knew this stuff was happening anyway and knew which kids weren't supposed to be there. Also, if they HADN'T included names, it would've been easier to brush off.

Maybe I would've written a different letter, but I don't think it hurts their cause the way they did it. I mean, if you read that letter and you thought, "Well, all this cheating stuff should probably be given a pass because they mentioned a kid's name in the letter!" you're part of the problem.

I'm PP and I happen to agree with you. But I am also a parent who has a lot of friends in this community and I think it is fair to say that most parents are suspicious of M and E's motives, and are not inclined to want to learn more because they don't want to get involved in an issue that has been so divisive. I'm not defending people who want to keep their heads in the sand but I also would have expected highly paid lawyers to understand that issue-avoidance is human nature, and to have taken a different approach.

Do you read what you type? Insane.