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Worried parents force cancellation of Payton-Brooks game

By Mike Clark

A baseball game between two Chicago public schools was canceled Saturday when some parents from Payton refused to let their children travel to the South Side to play against Brooks, saying they were worried about the safety of their kids.

A baseball game between two Chicago public high schools was canceled Saturday when some parents from a North Side school refused to let their children travel to the South Side for the game, saying they were worried about the safety of their kids.

The game between Payton and Brooks was supposed to start at 7 p.m. The Payton team had played a makeup game earlier Saturday against Von Steuben and was to head to Pullman on the city’s South Side to play Brooks.

Instead, according to Payton head coach William Wittleder, “About three, four parents [came] up to me saying they’re not letting their kids go down there.”

That prompted other parents to also refuse to let their sons play at Brooks, according to Wittleder, who said he was left with too few players to field a team. The game was declared a forfeit victory for Brooks.

Wittleder said one of the Payton parents told the others he grew up on the South Side and that the neighborhood around Brooks “isn’t what it used to be.”

“This is probably one of the most embarrassing moments I’ve had,” said Wittleder, who has coached high school baseball for 10 seasons and is in his second year as Payton’s head coach. “It’s very heartbreaking. This is totally against what I believe in.”

Even without his players, Wittleder went to Brooks and apologized to Eagles coach Bryan Street for having to forfeit the game.

Brooks’ baseball fields are also used for youth teams playing in the Jackie Robinson West Little League.

Brooks athletic director Matt Barrett would not comment Saturday night, and Thomas Trotter, who oversees the city’s high school sports programs, could not be reached.

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Tom Gamboa-itis

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Nomination supported. You know the kids are going to be playing in shitty neighborhoods when they sign up. It's an important part of the whole experience.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

What are your thoughts, Conns?

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I think my high school had to play them in football last year. They showed up and won...barely.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

That's some weaque shit. I would have taken whatever kids would go and go down there and just played ball, even if it didn't count. Missed opportunity. Would have shown that not all northsiders are shitheads.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

That's not even that bad of a neighborhood for God's sakes.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

We played our home games at Gately and never had any issues. By this logic Mt. Carmel would never host a game in any sport. Besides, the area around Payton Prep is not exactly Winnetka. Also, the Payton football team plays games at Gately, Eckersall and Stagg without ever having parents keep their kids from playing, so why should baseball be different?

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I know some of those parents and I can easily believe this.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Brooks is the old Mendel Catholic. It's a beautiful school with a big and nice campus.

That being said even if it was in the middle of a war zone, WTF? In some ways, this should have been one of those moments where a kid breaks away from his parents thinking and demands to attend. Those kids are of an age where they can take some accountability for this.

Contrary to everyone's opinion on this board, I am not the toughest inner city kid around and I didn't go to the most rugged of athletic schools. Still, we would play anyone. We didn't have a home field so we would play anywhere. We would often have to pick up the other team with our bus because they didn't have one. We would play Orr it seemed almost every week. I got to know some kid who they only called Oil Can. Oil Can didn't get on the bus at the beginning of the year because he had been killed. We would play Juarez regularly as well. My more knowledgeable friends told me not to wear my hat a certain way at the park because it was a gang sign. Yes, we also played at Brooks every single year (before it was Brooks).

There was never even the hint of an objection from my parents. I think they were happy for me to get the experiences. There were never any incidents.

This is shameful of the parents and an indication of low character from the players. I've heard many uncomplementary things about what these new chicago magnet schools are producing, other than fantastic college football authors.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Is there any neighborhood that is bad enough to refuse to go?

For a high school baseball game? Nope.

Didn't New Trier go down to Chicago State to play a public league team just a few weeks after a kid was shot outside the game?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Maywood...

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I think I'm with you but are you saying you'd go places that you'd avoid otherwise for a baseball game?


Im not sure about that. I mean there are neighborhoods that I would avoid if I was driving with my daughter and Im not sure a scheduled softball game would change that

I havent really ever faced this. When I was on travelling teams, we "traveled" to other suburbs

I am talking about high school.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I know. I guess I just find it a little weird that you would be ok going to a neighborhood that you normally would avoid just for a hs baseball game

Dolphin is right, Brooks is an absolutely beautiful (& closed) campus. Worrying about anything on that massive (& fenced in) campus or in the parking lot is ridiculous. To get there the parents would have gotten off the expressway @ 111th, driven about 3/4 of a mile (& past a CPD Area station) through a fairly decent neighborhood.

Oddly enough my son's HS team beat the hell out of Payton about three weeks ago at a field at 117th & Aberdeen. Payton has exactly one player who would have even had a chance at starting on my son's current team (which is slightly above average at best). Walter would be so proud.

Oddly, when I was coaching my son's LL travel team, there was just one coach who would find every reason to avoid coming to our (Jackie Robinson) park. Once he flat didn't show, another time he cited a scheduling conflict (in March) for a late May game w/no makeup, unless we came to him. In the fall I took my team (which was mixed with members of the state champ team & kids that would go on to finish 2nd the next year) out to Oak Forest to finally play that bastard.

When the score got to 21-1 in the second inning, I informed all of my players to back from their opposite side of the plate. We scored another six runs and the "coach" asked me to stop fucking him in the ass. After the game I reminded him of his less than sportsmanlike ways in the past two seasons. I still hate we gave up the one run.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Oddly enough, any time we ever traveled (starting when my oldest was 9), any park with a solid program always had very, very peaceful parks when we played, regardless of the neighborhood or suburb. The only place we ever ran into any problem was in Richton Park. And there it was (black ) parents suggesting that "we" should hurry on back to the ghetto.

We took three teams there for a "friendly" tournament. By the time my son's game got to the mercy rule, I sought out the parents, laughed at the ridiculousness of her comment (Richton Pk is something of an armpit), pointed out the score, laughed and left.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Can't say I've ever "avoided" a neighborhood before...

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This is my signature...

I have.

We got lost coming home from Soldier field and ended up in the Robert Taylor homes. I would have avoided that if I could.

I had a few friends that lived over there back in the day. Didn't play in the streets or anything, but never had any trouble walking in that area.

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This is my signature...

We routinely ran a state sectional track meet at DuSable HS(across from Robert Taylor) years ago. One year a girl took a bat to several windows on a car parked next to the track. The car belonged to the eventual state 100M champ (from Dunbar...and a gang not in power in that area) He "tried" to chase her, until she dipped into the 5020 bldg.. He pulled up sharp, turned around quick and got his ass back to the field & his damaged car.

Good times.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I dont know. I grew up in Crestwood. Right next to Robbins. Everybody drives on 135th right thru the main intersection but nobody goes into the side streets (with good reason bullets and such)


But, yeah, if there are a bunch of shootings in one area, I will avoid that area.

Yeah, I will pretty much go through any area, but only on the main streets. I don't really like playing the "let's scare the shit out of this lost white guy" game.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The very reason I avoid wooded areas...

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This is my signature...

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This is my signature...

Is that really a thing?

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I also stay on the main streets, but its more so because I don't want to get lost and possible miss whatever it is I'm driving for rather than being afraid.

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I must say I am enjoying an image of a Regular Reader giving his Walter Matthau impersonation when playing the social dredges of the chicagoland area.

I work in recreation and we serve Dolton, South Holland, Cal City, and Riverdale. I go everywhere but I'd rather not have too many programs in Riverdale. Some nasty parts in Dolton, but nowhere that we could have a program anyway.