American Legion Baseball's sportsmanship pledge

[SeeingEyeDog]

Why does A.L. recite their pledge before every game...and not enforce it? A.L. players, coaches and spectators are no better behaved towards umpires or themselves than any other youth league.

Ditto, LL's pledge...

~Dawg

[Jackrabbitslims]

We have a sportsmanship statement in NJ. No one listens...then when you bring the behavior to the player or coaches attention people just loose all sense of being human. 

My new line with HS coaches is "the student athletes/ coaches behavior is not acceptable for a co-curricular environment. It is not acceptable in the classroom and not acceptable on the field."

Shuts the coach down and knows they don't have a leg to stand on with me or the AD.

[ousafe]

On 6/22/2021 at 12:40 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

Ditto, LL's pledge...

Nothing in the LL pledge says participants or spectators will be well behaved:

I trust in God
I love my country
And will respect its laws
I will play fair
And strive to win
But win or lose
I will always do my best

[SeeingEyeDog]

2 hours ago, ousafe said:

Nothing in the LL pledge says participants or spectators will be well behaved:

I trust in God
I love my country
And will respect its laws
I will play fair
And strive to win
But win or lose
I will always do my best

That is the player's pledge, of course.

I don't work LL but, I used to handle the PA for our local All-Star teams and there is also a Parent/Volunteer pledge.

Regardless, my point was, we don't need pledges to keep us well behaved and we shouldn't recite pledges we don't intend to abide by.

~Dawg

[Aging_Arbiter]

20 hours ago, ousafe said:

Nothing in the LL pledge says participants or spectators will be well behaved:

I trust in God
I love my country
And will respect its laws
I will play fair
And strive to win
But win or lose
I will always do my best

No, but the Parent/Volunteer pledge does.....

I will teach all children to play fair, and do their best

I will positively support all mangers, coaches and players

I will respect the decisions of the umpires

I will praise a good effort, despite the outcome of the game.

[lawump]

The AL pledge DOES matter at the national tournament level (regionals and world series).  Trust me, I have spent a lot of time working those tournaments (6 regionals; 4 World Series) to have spent a lot of time talking and getting to know the national Legion Baseball staff.  They are well aware of that pledge, they take it seriously, and they tell all the game participants at the beginning of the tournament that if you violate the pledge and get ejected...you are going home.  I have never, ever received anything but support from the national legion staff when I have had an ejection in a national tournament. 

I also watched two teams have some players get into a fight (I was not umpiring this particular game) during a game at a regional tournament.  Both teams were given approximately 2 hours to have their hotel rooms emptied and be on their respective buses.  They were immediately kicked out of the tournament and sent home.  Their entire season (which up to that moment included dreams of going to the World Series) immediately came to an unceremonious end.  

So, please don't say that the Legion pledge doesn't matter.  It may not matter with the local Legion officials where you're located.  But, it does matter to a whole lot of Legionnaires.  And I can assure you (again, having worked 4 World Series) the teams that come from these areas where sportsmanship is lacking...quickly understand that the pledge matters as soon as they get to Shelby.  

[dumbdumb]

@lawump

The person in the middle is why they are so well behaved and take sportsmanship/deportment/the pledge/ so highly across the organization.

Nobody wants to look bad/use bad manners, in front of that person.

 

oops, my apologies to the person cropped off accidentally on the left.

[SeeingEyeDog]

On 7/23/2021 at 3:37 PM, lawump said:

The AL pledge DOES matter at the national tournament level (regionals and world series).  Trust me, I have spent a lot of time working those tournaments (6 regionals; 4 World Series) to have spent a lot of time talking and getting to know the national Legion Baseball staff.  They are well aware of that pledge, they take it seriously, and they tell all the game participants at the beginning of the tournament that if you violate the pledge and get ejected...you are going home.  I have never, ever received anything but support from the national legion staff when I have had an ejection in a national tournament. 

I also watched two teams have some players get into a fight (I was not umpiring this particular game) during a game at a regional tournament.  Both teams were given approximately 2 hours to have their hotel rooms emptied and be on their respective buses.  They were immediately kicked out of the tournament and sent home.  Their entire season (which up to that moment included dreams of going to the World Series) immediately came to an unceremonious end.  

So, please don't say that the Legion pledge doesn't matter.  It may not matter with the local Legion officials where you're located.  But, it does matter to a whole lot of Legionnaires.  And I can assure you (again, having worked 4 World Series) the teams that come from these areas where sportsmanship is lacking...quickly understand that the pledge matters as soon as they get to Shelby.  

Part of branding is quality control...when I stay at the Marriott in New York City and order a side salad with my meal I know it's going to come with 3 tomatoes. When I hop a flight to China and stay at the Marriott in Beijing and order that same salad...again, I know it's coming with 3 tomatoes.

I'm sure the pledge matters to the Legionnaires. I'm sure it matters to the national tournament personnel and staff. I absolutely know it matters to the umpires.

It needs to start mattering at the local level, too...or again...don't take the pledge.

~Dawg