Quick random survey of those bashing the kids who stay with madlax - which clubs do your kids play for? How many years? Yes, you are doing the same thing Madduxx did, bashing the decision of a kid. Congratulations on your hypocrisy.

11:06 you made several great points and it seems like your decision to stay with ML is a good one for your family. Also, I am sure you are aware that the guy that runs Blackwolf is a notorious screamer who does his best to cut his players down to size and dismantle their egos. So you can't go there even when your son gets older. And VLC's coaching (both skill and character) were questionable at U13 this year (great program overall in my opinion, just not that age) so you can't go there if you are that age. And the Generals are notoriously deprived of talent. Oh, I guess no program is perfect....nevertheless, the nut jobs in this board need to feel superior for some reason so they will keep flaming away. Funny thing is, I wonder how many of their kids could even make the ML AA teams...

Anonymous wrote:

In summary, my husband and I have concluded that notwithstanding Maddux’s absurd and unforgiveable emails, our son will play with his team mates this fall on a Madlax team.

Have you even taken the step of letting Madlax and Maddux know how troubled and disturbed you are by the emails? Have you told them your list of things that will make you walk if they happen again?

You say it is a "rational choice" vs. a rationalization for your family. If you view a "rational choice" as what works best for you, then perhaps, until or unless you and your family get on this guy's bad side. Sometimes a "rational choice" however, isn't the same thing as standing up for what is right.

+1 You are supporting the club and in turn Maddux with your money. By doing this all your "rational choice" crap goes out the window. Doing what is right means not supporting the guy. No matter how you protest, that is what you are doing, even when you have no interactions with the guy. As the club leader, how do you justify him wanting to make a former club player be taken out by his former teammates?

Sorry but there really is no way to explain this away.

In summary, my husband and I have concluded that notwithstanding Maddux’s absurd and unforgiveable emails, our son will play with his team mates this fall on a Madlax team.

Have you even taken the step of letting Madlax and Maddux know how troubled and disturbed you are by the emails? Have you told them your list of things that will make you walk if they happen again?

You say it is a "rational choice" vs. a rationalization for your family. If you view a "rational choice" as what works best for you, then perhaps, until or unless you and your family get on this guy's bad side. Sometimes a "rational choice" however, isn't the same thing as standing up for what is right.

Oh, and since you cite "safety in numbers" as a reason for staying. Word on the street is that there are a ton of Madlax families who will be attending other tryouts this fall, at the very least to give themselves options. What happens when many of these great kids/teammates leave for another club and now you are stuck on a lesser team run by an individual who threatens his own clients?

PP. Whatever rationalization you can come up with to make yourself feel better, go to town.

How can you condone the head of Madlax threatening to blacklist a kid from college opportunities? Or implying his team was going to "get him" at the next rematch?

As long as it's not your kid, it's kosher, right? How about sticking up for moral character and leaving as many other Madlax families are doing? Or if you really need the safety in numbers, organizing a meeting with your parents and moving over to another club as a group?

This is silly. Looking through the responses over the last several days, the parents of boys in the Madlax program have been painted as (a) facilitators of child abusers, (b) acting in a fashion akin to enablers of a Nazi regime, (c) “bad parents,” and now (d) “jokes.” That is quite a broad and execrable brush to be painted with. Any contrary point to your uninformed opinion you summarily dismiss as a “rationalization.”

Here are a few facts (really facts and not “rationalizations”).

1. FACT: My son plays on two lacrosse teams: a rec team and a madlax team. There is a large overlap of players on the two teams and the boys have had a lot of fun playing together with their team mates for several years and have had great team experiences on both teams. The fact that they play together on two teams has made the experience on each team better.

2. FACT: The interaction between my son and his team mates with Maddux has to date been essentially non-existent. We have found the coaches coaching my son’s team to be pretty good and in some cases very good. If that changes for any reason (including, but not limited to boorish behavior or intimidation of any kind) my husband and I will pull our son immediately out of the program.

3. FACT: There is lots of parental involvement (not of a helicopter variety). Most parents are at the games and some parents are at each practice. If there is an issue (and there have been from time to time) parents talk to the coaching staff. So far this has worked out. If that changes for any reason my husband and I will pull our son immediately out of the program.

4. FACT: While I cannot speak for all of the families with boys in the Madlax program, I can speak for the families of my son’s team mates. Academics come first for these boys and they are all good students. If Maddux did not know before, he certainly knows now that if he places a game, or practice above academics, parents will vote with their feet.

5. FACT: There are not an unlimited number of options to play club lacrosse in Northern Virginia. VLC has a strong program, but the Madlax program in my son’s age group has traditionally been stronger. My husband and I have looked into this and concluded that for the moment it makes sense for us to stay in the Madlax program. If things change, then we will re-evaluate. Blackwolf has an excellent program, but its program does not extend down to my son’s age level and try outs are by invitation only. In the event that the Blackwolf program becomes an option for my son, my husband and I will certainly look at it, but for the moment it is not an option.

In summary, my husband and I have concluded that notwithstanding Maddux’s absurd and unforgiveable emails, our son will play with his team mates this fall on a Madlax team. We are comfortable that this is a rational choice (not a rationalization) for our family. If things change, then we will move on and not look back. If my husband and I are “jokes” and “bad parents” in your eyes so be it, I really (really) do not care (and cannot conceive of why you so passionately care about something that is absolutely none of your concern). However, I am comfortable in concluding that given your over-wrought comments on this blog, the “joke” may be on you and that the “jokester” may be a lot closer to your home than mine.

The joke is a parent who sticks with Madlax in light of these emails and behavior by the founder. What happens when your kid is next?

Wells said pp. All the "great parenting" comments on here are jokes by those who run on emotions and it facts. Ignorance is bliss, for those blessed with it.

No... I think not. The translation is based on a translator who is highly opinionated and unencumbered by (and not interested in any) facts. There is and can be no justification for Maddux's emails. That being said, who the devil do you think you are impugning the parenting skills of the parents of ever single boy in the Madlax program? I do not know you and do not presume to judge you. What do you think gives you the right to judge me and the other parents, none of whom you know at all?

Anonymous wrote:So now we are comparing this to not only the Holocaust but also to penn state - an institution that permitted its coach to engage in repeated child rape? Guys, get some perspective please. Any valid points you may have on this topic will be completely ignored because of your over the top way of expressing yourself.

Translation - a Madlax parent trying desperately to deflect attention from this gross episode in an attempt to justify why they stick with a program that threatens kids who decide to leave.

Great parenting.

So now we are comparing this to not only the Holocaust but also to penn state - an institution that permitted its coach to engage in repeated child rape? Guys, get some perspective please. Any valid points you may have on this topic will be completely ignored because of your over the top way of expressing yourself.

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Nobody was comparing that guy to Hitler. It was an analogy of "that sucks, but as long as we're ok, I will choose to ignore a wrong doing" mentality.

This is the same rational that allowed the Penn State situation and the Rutgers basketball situation to happen. If you want to keep justifying that this behavior be tolerated because your son likes the team, go ahead. But many of us understand that there are plenty of good coaches and programs that don't tolerate this from their coaches. As a veteran of 17 years of various sports teams, we never tolerated any coach like this, We found plenty of good teams with parents that believed as we did. The only way these guys don't continue what they do is if you don't support them. Otherwise you are condoning it and supporting them financial. And they won't stop.

Anonymous wrote:HappyLax is starting a new program in Vienna. Sign up here www.happylax.com

Do you write jokes for Bob Hope as well?

HappyLax is starting a new program in Vienna. Sign up here www.happylax.com