Jackie Robinson West stripped of Little League championship

I feel bad for the kids from what turned out to be a regional all-start team, but LLI was right to pull the national Little League championship from Chicago's Jackie Robinson West.

JRW's coaches and at least some of their parents should be ashamed.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

"Jackie Robinson West Little League and Illinois District 4 Administrator knowingly violated Little League International Rules and Regulations by placing players on their team who did not qualify to play because they lived outside the team's boundaries," a Little League news release says.

Little League International found that Jackie Robinson West Little League used a falsified boundary map for their 2014 tournament, and that Jackie Robinson West Little League officials met with other leagues in Illinois District 4 to try to get the territory they wrongfully claimed was theirs for their 2014 tournament, the Little League release said.

JRW's Great Lakes Regional championship has also been stripped, the league says. And manager Darold Butler has been suspended, the league said. Illinois District 4 administrator, Michael Kelly, has also been removed from his position.

"For more than 75 years, Little League has been an organization where fair play is valued over the importance of wins and losses," said Mr. Stephen D. Keener, Little League International President and CEO. "This is a heartbreaking decision. What these players accomplished on the field and the memories and lessons they have learned during the Little League World Series tournament is something the kids can be proud of, but it is unfortunate that the actions of adults have led to this outcome."

Cheating is not okay--even if adults say otherwise. And it doesn't matter what color you are.

Look for kneejerk howls of "racism" from the institutional left to come out very soon.

UPDATE 9:35pm: It has started. Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times stepped into the batter's box on this issue tonight:

Worse yet, the punishment doesn"t seem to fit the crime, and is a reminder that throughout history — no matter what the offense — African-Americans seem to endure the harshest penalties.

Here's what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his "I Have a Dream" speech:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Again, I feel bad for the kids. But not the grown-up officials and yes, the parents of the kids who lived outside of the team boundaries. How did the boys get to the games from the suburbs?

UPDATE 10:00pm: It's getting worse. Operation PUSH, Jesse Jackson's race-baiting organization, will host a rally for JRW on Saturday.