Why Should Kids Play Fair Unless Adults Do?

Between games of capture the flag, the discussion on the Seal Beach baseball field turns to crack cocaine, fallen heroes and just how much rule-bending is acceptable for a winning team with a key player in trouble.

“I think he should play,” says one baseball-capped sixth-grader, confidently stating her position on whether Angels leadoff batter Tony Phillips should rejoin the lineup following his arrest on drug charges.

“He’s really good, and the Angels are winning with him.”

“No way,” counters 13-year-old Nick Trump. “Because the people who do sports will think that it’s OK to do drugs . . . because even if they do, they get to play anyway.”

Phillips, who was arrested Sunday at a motel in Anaheim, was charged Tuesday with one felony count of cocaine possession.

He joined his division-leading team in Chicago on Tuesday but was pulled from the lineup pending a meeting this week with league doctors.

Phillips isn’t talking. The team isn’t talking. Angels General Manager Bill Bavasi says, “The reason we’re not talking is we have a pennant to try to win, and the more we talk about this, the more it distracts the ballclub.”

But plenty of other people are talking. Especially the parents of young fans concerned that mixed signals are being sent about actions and consequences.

There’s talk of “innocent until proven guilty” and what to tell kids. How, parents ask, do they explain to kids the decision to allow players accused of unsportsmanlike or unlawful behavior to remain in the game?

Tell the truth, says Laguna Niguel sports psychologist Darrell Burnett.

“If [Phillips] is allowed to play, how do you sugarcoat that? The frustration is that, unfortunately, until some of these sports figures are really held accountable for their actions--like gone because of them--we can’t teach kids that there are consequences.”

In an age where dollars rule sports, Burnett says, there will always be slaps-on-the-wrist in place of jail time as well as double standards and “a lot of excuses.”

“I would just tell my kids that in reality, some people get played favorites. Kids are smart. You can make all the excuses as to why one of these players got off easy, but every time something like the [Mike] Tyson thing or this happens, it’s harder to raise kids to be accountable,” Burnett says. “They know when the consequences are just a joke.

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But to parents such as Sherrie Perez of Garden Grove, the increasingly “disgusting” behavior of some athletes is no joke.

“Look at the people our kids are looking up to these days,” says Perez, 36, mother of two boys. “Dennis Rodman? Mike Tyson? And now this guy? My kids, their friends, they think it’s cool. . . . That’s what’s really disgusting.”

“It’s a bad message,” says Bill Price, 42, tossing a baseball with his son in a Stanton park on Tuesday afternoon.

“I have to explain to my kids that just because you can run faster or play a game better that anyone, it doesn’t mean you can act like a jerk or break the law . . . not easy when nothing ever happens to these [pro sports] guys.”

Gabe Ponce of Home Run Park Baseball Batting Cages in Anaheim says the Phillips arrest is all the buzz at the 36-year-old Beach Boulevard business.

“Everyone’s talking about it,” Ponce, 21, says. “Parents say he shouldn’t play. Everyone is sort of mad and disappointed because [the Angels are] so close to the pennant.”

Taking drugs is behavior that flies in the face of the tenacity it takes to be a top athlete, says Steven Davis of Buena Park, helping his son with his swing at Home Run Park.

Phillips’ alleged drug use “shows lack of discipline,” says Davis, 31. “I’m a big Angels fan, and I would hate to see him not play. But as far as a message to kids, I think he needs to be punished.”

The message, says psychologist Burnett, should be delivered by parents.

“It gets back to the parents to communicate to their kids that they have to choose other role models than these supposed ‘stars,’ ” he says. “That’s a tough thing to communicate.”

Not all Angel fans were hard on Phillips, citing Major League stress and the fallible nature of human beings.

“I think he should at least be given a second chance,” says Mike Paino, Home Run Park manager, “because he’s not the first guy who has done this, and he won’t be the last.”