My son advised that one of Riverdale's players is now at a public school. He checked their website last night and it appears three are no longer listed on the roster. I know there are people from Riverdale Baptist on here. What happened?

Unfortunately you are correct. Five kids were involved, and sadly, my son was one of them. Since others are involved, it does not make sense to discuss the incident on a message board. For the sake of curiosity, and please note I certainly am not taking the incident lightly, it is not anything anyone would get arrested for. The incident took place outside of school, is against school policy, and therefore Riverdale asked the kids to withdraw.

Do I agree with Riverdale's approach; No, but the focus has to be learning a lesson and moving forward. Otherwise the kids become martyrs or pawns in a discussion, so, I ask that we refrain from discussing whether Riverdale did or did not do the right thing.

All the kids are basically good; good kids that made poor moral decisions. In fact, guilt by association caused two of the individuals to be removed from Riverdale. This is the lesson I would ask each player heading off to college pay close attention to.

I know players in the past who were either suspended, lost their scholarship, or NCAA eligability just because they were at a party that was busted by police or around when something major happened. There decision to be there, there decision to stay, and their decision not to leave was their guilt. Afterwards (Second chance) is too late to say, "I wish I would have left earlier!"

One person told me a long time ago, "Take 10 seconds to think about what your are doing or going to do, then TAKE YOUR SECOND CHANCE FIRST!"

If I could be so bold, use this incident in a positive manner and help your kids/players learn to take their second chance first.

Thanks
Al McCormick

Al -

I commend you for posting this.. HS kids make mistakes, that is why they are mistakes. They are hard lessons to learn but they are part of the learning and maturing that we all must go thru..

What lucky program was able to get your son so I know which MD program to follow?

_______________
"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole."

"JustMom"

Due to Election Day, we are going to register at Arundel High School today. From a baseball perspective we will be quite pleased. We have spoken to Bernie Walters and he is excited.

Keep all the kids in your thoughts and I am sure we will all look back on this as a positive move.

Al - I second Kelly's note. I know you can make this work out for the good of all involved - we'll be watching Arundel!

I hope everything works out well for all of the boys. I'm sure they have learned a valuable lesson. Do you know what schools everyone is ending up at? My son had told me that Mr. McCormick's son was going to a school near Annapolis because that is where they live (??). I don't know anything about how you can get into different schools in the county, but I know Arundel has a good program.

Thanks Ms. Brewer. I appreciate all the kind thoughts, especially for the kids involved.

My son is going to Arundel, we live in Crofton; one is going to Bowie, and the other is returning to Florida. The other two were not baseball players.