This is my son’s and my second year of involvement with

the Snoqualmie Valley Little League. Overall, I have been extremely

impressed by the level of dedication and commitment of all adults involved

to keep the game fun for the kids while teaching them the rules of play,

skill improvement and, most importantly, sportsmanlike conduct. This is,

after all, for the kids.

Last Saturday our team played a team from another local Little League.

One of the adults in the gallery of their team questioned an umpire’s call

so belligerently and continuously that the umpire felt it necessary to eject

the man from the field of play. This is the first time I’ve seen this done and I

was a bit surprised, but even I, with my limited baseball experience,

understand that the umpire runs the show. Should you question his abilities, you do

so after the game to the appropriate officials and let them deal with it.

Ten minutes later this gentlemen returned not only to the area of

play, but walked straight onto the field, during play, to interrupt the game, and

insisted the umpire talk to the person he had contacted on his cell phone.

The umpire did, the man walked away, and then came back five minutes later

and did the same thing again! Why, you may ask, did this man feel he was

so important that he could act in such a self-centered way? Well, it turns

out he was the president of the league the visiting team is a member of. In

his mind, it seems this allows him license to act in a way that would not –

and should not – be accepted by any other adult on the field.

This game is for the children. What lesson was taught by this man,

this leader of children, to all the children on the field who had to wait until

he was done soothing his wounded ego before they could get back to

playing what is, after all, only a game? This was a drama that I dearly wish I

could have spared my son from witnessing.

Thank God we are lucky enough to have true leaders running our

Little League.

Carolyn Hobart

North Bend