Levine: Let's Remember Jackie Robinson West The Right Way

By Bruce Levine-

(CBS) In consuming the news of the Jackie Robinson West controversy, I keep coming back to a lingering question.

Are we all as a society a bit to blame for the debacle?

With some good reason, most will blame manager Darold Butler and district administrator Mike Kelly as the culprits and the bad guys in this sad story that resulted in JRW having its national title stripped because it violated residency rules.

Certainly, Butler and Kelly were guilty of wanting the best team possible to represent the south side of Chicago in the tournament at any cost. Skirting the boundary lines was a risky -- and in this case, costly -- violation of the Little League rules and moral judgement.

At the very least, both men were guilty of ego-driven blind ambition. Their driving force was winning and not the greater good of the noble young men who they assembled to go on to instant glory.

But in reality, are we upset with these two volunteers who went too far or is it the excessive indulgence that we as a society heaped on a kids' success story? This was never supposed to be a story of how a bunch of black kids from an area that skirts gang violence and trouble arose from the burning ashes of Chicago to gain city and country pride.

The real message should have been about the young men bonding in an area of the city and learning to work and accomplish goals as growing adolescents. They should forever be proud of those accomplishments. For that, well done, boys!

It seemed too many people wanted to jump on the bandwagon and push this story beyond realistic proportions. The national media hook, of course, was race and economic gain. Television ratings, newspapers sales and good old American greed were the driving forces behind this initial feel-good story. The whole story turned into a partially tainted expression of pride in a sometimes troubled lower economic region making good through some innocent and incredible young people. These wonderful boys just so happened to play a game better than anyone else their age in Little League in the United States.

We all felt good about these kids doing something special and representing Chicago as proudly as they did. That feeling should never change for them or us. Our civic pride in what they accomplished should forever remain. We should go out of our way as a city to make those young men understand they are still worthy of our praise. Adults did cheat, setting set a bad and questionable example for them. They can learn and gain from that as well.

Another media over-saturation of praise would be fitting in this instance. This time around, we may want to pay attention to the impact the events have had on these young people.

Many of them will one day be decision-makers like Kelly and Butler. Kids are more resilient and insightful than we give them credit for. Let them be the judge and jury on the people who once gave them a great chance and then took it away.

Exploiting young people for personal gain is never a good thing. We all need to look beyond Kelly and Butler into that mirror.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.