Chad's First Experience with Bad Press! :(

So, here is part of an article in the ABQ journal about Chad's all-stars team this summer.  May I say, it is not particularly flattering and frankly a little bit unfair considering the tight bind that the boys were in.  What do you think?

Dream Turns into Nightmare
Turmoil Ensues After Eastdale Senior Boys Quit Midtourney

Eastdale Little League has the best girls softball team in the world, having won the Majors World Series championship last week. But could Eastdale have won two world titles? Unfortunately, we’ll never know. Prior to Eastdale’s Majors girls softball team heading to Portland, Ore. — where it demolished all comers in capturing that division’s World Series title — the Eastdale Senior League boys baseball team was on the doorstep of reaching a Little League World Series, as well.  Like the young (11-to-12 years old) girls, the boys (up to age 16) cruised through district play. They won their three games in the Southwestern Regional in Seguin, Texas, and needed just one more win in the double-elimination tournament to advance to the Senior League World Series in Bangor, Maine. But a funny thing happened on the way to Bangor. Eastdale never got a chance to make it there, because a handful of its players opted to compete at a conflicting American Legion tournament in California. New Mexico Little League District 8 administrator Gaeton Falance called the decision to withdraw “absurd. It’s the most ridiculous, most selfish thing I’ve ever seen.” Turns out that a number on kids on the Eastdale team also played for the La Cueva American Legion (under-19) team that won the Legion district and state titles to advance to that tournament’s regional in Fairfield, Calif., from Aug. 9-13.  Dailey said when he found out he would not have enough players to compete in the World Series, he and the team decided to withdraw from regionals before the title game. “If we would have won that tournament, the second-place team could not represent (the Southwestern Region in the World Series),” Dailey said. “So after talking to everybody, I wanted to make it work, but just realized we probably couldn’t.”  Guy Feltman, whose son, Cody, played on the team and is a three-sport athlete at Manzano, said a number of Eastdale players “knew it could be an issue for a long time.We just didn’t know how it would play out,” said Feltman, who says he acted as an intermediary between the team and Little League officials in Seguin. “… We wanted the boys to go as far as they could go, and we thought that maybe — we had a hunch — that maybe something would change while we were playing in that tournament (and everyone involved would say) ‘let’s go all the way if we can. Choices. Typically, Senior Little Leaguers (who cannot be older than 16 until May 1) don’t play on a more experienced American Legion A-team. But this particular Eastdale squad featured a number of players who were good enough to play with the older Legion guys. Pineda said he didn’t know the kids also were playing Little League until running into one of the player’s parents recently. “The way I understand it, some of the kids were playing Little League after the American Legion (state tournament),” Pineda said. “After we won the state (Legion) tournament, we were supposed to fly out of Albuquerque (on Aug. 8 to California), and they weren’t going to be back for the flight (had they stayed in Seguin). “I understand they were planning to cross that bridge when they got there, and it was the perfect storm. If we don’t win state, it’s not an issue, and if they don’t win the first three games of their regional, they’re not put in that predicament. It was unfortunate. I felt bad for the kids because they had to miss out on that opportunity, but I also felt like there was a commitment to the Legion program first.”  Texas East, which lost 3-2 to Eastdale in the winners’ bracket final of the Little League Southwestern Regional, came through the losers’ bracket to advance to Bangor. The Houston-based team won its first two games in the World Series, but lost its next two and didn’t qualify for the semifinals. La Cueva, meanwhile, was eliminated from the double-elimination American Legion West Regional in three games. “We knew that the competition in California was going to be tough, because we had been there the last two or three years and hadn’t won a game,” said Justin Sanchez, who played on the Eastdale and Legion teams — and whose father, Reno, managed the World Series champ Eastdale Majors softball team that included sister Katherine. “So honestly, if we could do it again, we probably would have stayed in Texas and gone on to the World Series.” At least Justin Sanchez got to go to California. A number of the players on the Eastdale team, Erikson among them, didn’t. Their World Series dreams were vanquished by the commitments of others. Sanchez said the players didn’t realize there would be a conflict until they learned the Southwestern Regional champs had to remain in Texas until heading to Bangor. “Going out there, we thought we were going to be able to do both,” Sanchez says. “At least I know all the players did. “The problem was the championship game was scheduled for Tuesday night (Aug. 7). We would have had to play that, then drive all night (to get back to Albuquerque), then catch a flight Wednesday morning at 10 for California. It could have been done, but the regional wanted to send us to the World Series from Texas.”  Patterson said he figured it was something like that all along, but didn’t find out for certain until being contacted for this story.  “I’m upset that the actions of some deprived other kids of their dream,” he said. “There won’t be penalties, but I will let it be known that the next time a team comes out of that particular town, it will have to be clear about their participation, and they will have to prove to me they’re going to stay. Every game, I’m going to inquire, ‘Are you going to finish this game? Are you going to finish this tournament?’