While trolling around the net over lunch I came across this interesting story and am still somewhat trying to decide how I feel about it all.

The article is not written very well, so it may be confusing especially if you aren't a baseball fan, so let me "sum up:"

In the last inning of a little-league championship game, coaches ordered the intentional walk of a stronger batter in order to pitch to, and hopefully strikeout, a weaker hitter. This strategy worked very well and they won the game. HOWEVER, the catch is this, the weaker hitter happened to be a cancer "victim."

Naturally this had everyone up in arms about the whole thing. While I agree that it seems pretty shady, intentional walks ARE indeed part of the strategy of baseball. It shouldn't and doesn't need to be an option in a little league game, but the reality of the whole thing is that it *IS* an option whether we like it or not. And while these coaches made it obvious that winning was everything, as I see it, there are only TWO victims in this story, neither of them the focus of this article.

Victim 1: The intentionally walked hitter...this kid had the chance to win the game, only to be robbed of that chance by being walked. (Again well within the rules, but really bites).

Victim 2: The pitcher...he had the chance to go up against the other teams best pitcher and strike him out, thus winning the game for his team. Instead his coaches ordered the intentional walk and this kid instead got to make an easy out.

The media would have you believe that the real victim here is the boy who struckout. The say he's a cancer victim. The kid is not a victim, he's a survivor! Has he lost his battle with cancer? Matter of fact, the article calls him a "cancer survivor" as well. The pure and honest truth of what happened was this: a baseball decision was made, no-matter how "shady" and it worked as it was supposed to. The reason I'm not upset by this really is this: the cancer survivor had just as much chance of knocking it out of the park as any other kid on the team. Obviously the team wasn't hurting for hitters, they're in the championship game, but because this kid struck out, he's a "victim?"

I feel bad for the kid, I really do, I suck at baseball...I'm horrible and I would've struck out too. I feel bad for all the stuff he and his family have been through in fighting his cancer, but I refuse to drink the media's kool-aid on this one. Yes it sucks, and it wasn't a happy ending. It probably wasn't a good example put forth by the coaches. It WAS a game, and all games have a winner and a loser. Not everyone can win. Had he hit the ball out of the park, I wouldn't be writing this now.

The problem is, we're turning into a society nobody is allowed to experience any negativity. "Everyone is a winner"...blah blah blah. The other half of the problem is people don't except "not winning" very well. I guess its a catch 22, but its all life...and sometimes...life throws a curveball.