In Rick Morrissey’s piece on the proliferation of organized sports and the lack of kids just getting together, he left out one important reason: liability.
Thanks to the barristers in this country, owners of vacant property can no longer make their property available for kids to have sandlot games.
Should Johnny get a broken ankle running after a fly ball, the parents no longer let it go.
They sue the property owner for not taking “reasonable precautions”–since the property owner knew sandlot games were taking place and didn’t object, he was responsible to ensure the property was in condition to avoid such an injury.
When you do sign up for games you list the family physician and the local hospital and you sign a waiver absolving the league of liability in case of accident or injury.
As long as we promote a legal system where “justice shall prevail” every time Johnny gets an owie, property owners will fence off their yards, municipalities will enact laws prohibiting games from occurring within their right-of-ways (streets, alleys, etc.) and schools and parks will only permit their facilities to be used for organized play, where insurance covers any mishaps.
As they read this, there are some lawyers getting in their cars to go hand out business cards at the playground.
