NWLL baseball scandal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about the $45K per year groundskeeper who was recorded saying "I know he cheated" or something like that? But then protected the King during meetings by yelling and cursing at the whistleblowers?
RELEASE THE RECORDINGS!!

Who is the past NWLL Board Member with the Steptoe connection? When I write to their managing partner about the shit sandwich they served up with their "Report" I want to make sure I get the name right. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Davenport “added that the decimal points included in Player 3’s score were intended to rank Player 3 between players of similar ability, in a manner that was reflective of Mr. Davenport-Thomas’ understanding of Player 3’s abilities and the abilities of the players ranked above and below Player 3.

Mr. Davenport-Thomas further noted that Player 3 improved throughout the spring 2022 season, becoming one of the best players in the Majors division.

Mr. Davenport-Thomas added that he was not aware that Player 3 had been a “top player” at Capitol Hill Little League (“CHLL”) and denied that he had created “fake draft scores” in an effort to conceal Player 3’s “true talent.”

Hey guys, what about the other set of higher scores Davenport had for player 3?
The ones he lost.
The ones he said he should have given the coaches…
How about the fact that Davenport and the kid’s dad work at DPR together?
Yeah, the one who drives the Lexus and Mercedes yet got his $1,900 hotel bill paid by Davenport and $2,500 of registration fees waived…

Report is a joke

The report reveals either a terrible bias on the part of the authors, or such poor research and analysis as to make the search for internal inconsistencies almost a game for any critical reader.

Here's one: Ricky possessed enough knowledge of Player 3 to *precisely* rank him in the 4th round of the draft "between players of similar ability"--going so far as to use three decimal places to get it right--yet he did not know enough to project the player in the top 20 or so players in the league. . .let alone that in a few short months he'd be Ricky's starting CF and 2-slot hitter in Bristol? (BTW, Player 3 was also the starting pitcher in the only regional game the NWLL team won!).

But Player 3 didn't attend the evaluations, sooo. . .where might Ricky have found reliable information on his ability? Let's suspend disbelief and set the Ricky-parent relationship aside for a moment. . .so how, possibly, would a Rec Center guy from NW who is laser-focused on NWLL be able to scout an unknown, middle-round talent from another quadrant of the city? Remember, this ranking was *precise*--Ricky had to use 3 decimal places to distinguish him from two other players, because these rankings are very important for competitive equity across the Majors division.

Well, let's take a look, and assume there's no other source than. . .ah, yes, the 2021 DCLL Tournament semifinal. Ricky was the manager of the NWLL team, of course, which lost an absolutely heartbreaking 3-2 game in the 6th inning after the opponent scored a run to break the 2-2 tie.

Anyone want to guess the name of the opponent's starting CF? A player who, according to the note the CHLL President submitted to the Special Committee, had a "clutch hit" in that final inning?

Anyone? Let's turn to GameChanger!

I know what you are thinking, and no, no, no, it turns out his name wasn't "Player 3". . .but since that's what the Committee is calling him, I guess it'll do for DCUM, too. Yes, you got that right: the opponent's starting CF and significant participant in the 2021 DC Tournament Semifinal rally that broke all of our NW hearts (but none more so than Ricky's. . .or maybe Rossi's. . .or maybe a pro-bono-gifting parent, or any other Board member with a kid on that team) was none other than the player who Ricky--and Ricky alone--ranked as a middling talent for the NWLL 2022 Majors draft board.

I suppose Ricky drafted him in the 4th round because he felt pity for the kid, as he knew once he took Player 3 under his wing, he might amount to something. . .maybe he'd even be an all-star one day!!!

Btw, if anyone forgot that awful game, it's the one where CHLL had its own significant rulebook issues. . .controversy, controversy, controversy. . .

[Anonymous]

This is such a shitshow. I’m a parent of a younger player. I couldn’t care less about the results of the actual games, but my kid loves playing and has had good experiences so far. I’m voting for the fresh start slate because (1) I want to know that my fees are not being used for someone’s personal slush fund, and (2) I want our league to be known for good sportsmanship and integrity. I feel we are being held hostage by this bizarre group of people who refuse to relinquish power and are operating this league like some fiefdom. They should resign and not stop dragging everyone through the mud.

[Anonymous]

* stop, not “not stop”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is such a shitshow. I’m a parent of a younger player. I couldn’t care less about the results of the actual games, but my kid loves playing and has had good experiences so far. I’m voting for the fresh start slate because (1) I want to know that my fees are not being used for someone’s personal slush fund, and (2) I want our league to be known for good sportsmanship and integrity. I feel we are being held hostage by this bizarre group of people who refuse to relinquish power and are operating this league like some fiefdom. They should resign and not stop dragging everyone through the mud.

Why are they still fighting over this? Isn't anyone other than the Special Committee chairman (who just quit) fed up with having to waste time on what looks like an open/shut case of utter incompetence, at a minimum? At some point, either the kamikaze run will end, LLI will intervene, or the litigation will resolve the worst of the charges, but only after a very few succeed in embarrassing the entire community.

Just stop with the spinning, stop lying, stop the petty personal arguments, and settle these fights before it destroys what remains of the league.

The Board was right if it bet that the report would change the momentum of the battle: we are sick of ALL of you now, and it appears the only hope this community has for relative normalcy is to do away with the lot of 'em.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a shitshow. I’m a parent of a younger player. I couldn’t care less about the results of the actual games, but my kid loves playing and has had good experiences so far. I’m voting for the fresh start slate because (1) I want to know that my fees are not being used for someone’s personal slush fund, and (2) I want our league to be known for good sportsmanship and integrity. I feel we are being held hostage by this bizarre group of people who refuse to relinquish power and are operating this league like some fiefdom. They should resign and not stop dragging everyone through the mud.

Why are they still fighting over this? Isn't anyone other than the Special Committee chairman (who just quit) fed up with having to waste time on what looks like an open/shut case of utter incompetence, at a minimum? At some point, either the kamikaze run will end, LLI will intervene, or the litigation will resolve the worst of the charges, but only after a very few succeed in embarrassing the entire community.

Just stop with the spinning, stop lying, stop the petty personal arguments, and settle these fights before it destroys what remains of the league.

The Board was right if it bet that the report would change the momentum of the battle: we are sick of ALL of you now, and it appears the only hope this community has for relative normalcy is to do away with the lot of 'em.

Agree 100 percent (I’m the PP quoted). Though — if it were just incompetence, wouldn’t they have resigned already?? The fact that these people are clinging to these (ostensibly) unpaid positions, and slinging so much mud at the whistleblowers, strongly suggests to me that there was at least some financial malfeasance here. This is not the behavior of people who were just making errors due to incompetence.

[Anonymous]

This has gotten so out of control it’s hard to watch. There is a recognition that things need to change and the recommendations of the special committee are a great place to start, but there will be more work to do. I look forward to the board being able to focus on the future of the league and the baseball and softball players that deserve to be the priority instead of spending all their time defending themselves. It’s hard to watch Mike Klisch write the majority of these posts and to continue with the negative rhetoric. It’s now easy to tell his “voice” and how much of what makes up this chain comes directly from him. One added point, Mike Klisch has been the most divisive and toxic member of the NWLL community well before all this craziness ensued. He was consistently accused of being aggressive, arguing with parents and umpires, running up scores and being unsportsmanlike in front of kids and parents. I am more than happy to have new members of the Board and many of the people put forward look like they will be great for NWLL. It would be disappointing and a huge disservice to the league if the new board includes Mike and all his destructiveness in their fresh start. I also believe the people of the special committee don’t deserve this type of targeted attack from Mike. They are parents and volunteers trying to navigate this tough situation that is being litigated in front of the entire community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has gotten so out of control it’s hard to watch. There is a recognition that things need to change and the recommendations of the special committee are a great place to start, but there will be more work to do. I look forward to the board being able to focus on the future of the league and the baseball and softball players that deserve to be the priority instead of spending all their time defending themselves. It’s hard to watch Mike Klisch write the majority of these posts and to continue with the negative rhetoric. It’s now easy to tell his “voice” and how much of what makes up this chain comes directly from him. One added point, Mike Klisch has been the most divisive and toxic member of the NWLL community well before all this craziness ensued. He was consistently accused of being aggressive, arguing with parents and umpires, running up scores and being unsportsmanlike in front of kids and parents. I am more than happy to have new members of the Board and many of the people put forward look like they will be great for NWLL. It would be disappointing and a huge disservice to the league if the new board includes Mike and all his destructiveness in their fresh start. I also believe the people of the special committee don’t deserve this type of targeted attack from Mike. They are parents and volunteers trying to navigate this tough situation that is being litigated in front of the entire community.

This reads like a crisis management firm response to this thread. “Mistakes were made but it’s super reassuring to know the the people caught in malfeasance will put everything right, and… look over there! We all hate THAT guy!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has gotten so out of control it’s hard to watch. There is a recognition that things need to change and the recommendations of the special committee are a great place to start, but there will be more work to do. I look forward to the board being able to focus on the future of the league and the baseball and softball players that deserve to be the priority instead of spending all their time defending themselves. It’s hard to watch Mike Klisch write the majority of these posts and to continue with the negative rhetoric. It’s now easy to tell his “voice” and how much of what makes up this chain comes directly from him. One added point, Mike Klisch has been the most divisive and toxic member of the NWLL community well before all this craziness ensued. He was consistently accused of being aggressive, arguing with parents and umpires, running up scores and being unsportsmanlike in front of kids and parents. I am more than happy to have new members of the Board and many of the people put forward look like they will be great for NWLL. It would be disappointing and a huge disservice to the league if the new board includes Mike and all his destructiveness in their fresh start. I also believe the people of the special committee don’t deserve this type of targeted attack from Mike. They are parents and volunteers trying to navigate this tough situation that is being litigated in front of the entire community.

I think it’s amazing how people can simply forget about the money stealing / ruining kids championships to attack the whistleblowers.
Can we get back to that? My first question after seeing Ricky and Pete coaching a baseball game was: “Do these guys get paid to coach?” Which the response was “No, it’s all volunteer work”
I was shocked. Speechless. You’re telling me that these two dudes who clearly hate being there sitting on a bucket and yelling at those kids that they clearly dislike are coming all the way here in this super hot day out of the kindness of their pure hearts??!! So suspicious.
I guess I was right.
They need to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Who is the past NWLL Board Member with the Steptoe connection? When I write to their managing partner about the shit sandwich they served up with their "Report" I want to make sure I get the name right. Thanks in advance.

Tom Trendl is the 12u Steptoe partner that had HIS law firm serve up the shit sandwich to protect his kid's 2022 all star team that beat Cap Hill with Cap Hill's player.
That would be ineligible player 3 in Steptoe's biased report

[Anonymous]

Whistleblower - or wealthy lawyer that embellished issues and non-issues and intimated, manipulated and recorded others. Two things can be true - that improvements are needed (go new board) and that Mike is toxic.

[Anonymous]

I think there needs to be a little education around the GDS because people still seem very confused by it. Until the Fall of 2020 the GDS Lower School was in the NWLL boundary. So anyone who was in the league because of the location of their school could continue to play in the league. Typically you would need to continue to play in concurrent seasons to stay eligible, but COVID happened which changed so many things and created a lot of confusion around whether or not there was “consistency” if a player sat out during COVID. This is not specific to any situation or player or to call anyone out - it is more that it has always been a little confusing because the GDS upper school campus has always been within the Cap City Little boundary. In case anyone was wondering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whistleblower - or wealthy lawyer that embellished issues and non-issues and intimated, manipulated and recorded others. Two things can be true - that improvements are needed (go new board) and that Mike is toxic.

Is it bad to be wealthy in the US? Was that a compliment or was told in a pejorative way?
I’m confused

PS: I heard Cap Hill and Cap City think really fondly of him

[Anonymous]

Agree 100%. And yes, it matters. Mike Klisch hand-picked the Fresh Slate group and is sending messages on their behalf. He is asking people to vote for them. The question is, are they aligned with his conduct? Are they willing to stand up to him? Will they put him in a position of authority representing the league? Hard to say. Would like to hear from them. So far, only Mike, who is not trustworthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whistleblower - or wealthy lawyer that embellished issues and non-issues and intimated, manipulated and recorded others. Two things can be true - that improvements are needed (go new board) and that Mike is toxic.

Are you on the Special Committee?