What kind of message does this send to kids?

A baseball team of 11- and 12-year-olds have been kicked out of a league in this Columbus suburb for one reason - they're too good.

The Columbus Stars were removed from their league last month because they were humiliating opponents. In some of their last games, the Stars beat the Red Sox 18-0, World Harvest 13-0, Sugar Grove II 24-0 and Sugar Grove I 10-2.

Other teams began complaining - and canceling.

Michael Mirones, board chairman for the Canal Winchester Joint Recreation District, pulled the Stars from the league and returned their $150 entry fee. He suggested the Stars play against better teams.

This not only penalizes the successful kids for being too good, but it tells the losing teams that rather improve their game, they should just take their ball and go home.

They should take a lesson from Olympic basketball, a sport that the U.S. has dominated for decades. Rather than give up, competing teams came back stronger each year. They went from suffering humiliating blowouts, to humiliating the U.S. team with fundamentals and good outside shooting. Not once did you see Olympic teams refusing to play the U.S., or telling us to go play against better teams.