Rubin Navarrette has it right - Don't rescue those looking for a participation trophy. Let litigation teach them a lesson.

Steve Lombardi

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I read an article written by Ruben Navarrette titled, Americans' sense of entitlement is main threat to economy, as reprinted in the Des Moines Register and find the subject along the lines of what I've been complaining about for too long and parents don't seem to get. For over ten years I coached soccer and refused the "make all kids feel good about themselves" by handing out participation trophies. Not that some parents didn't bring them to the team banquet and hand them out but as a coach I refused to participate in doing so. Pop psychology is fun to read but Mother's sense of letting me feel bad about losing in Little League is better medicine for character development.

As a coach I never have liked participation trophies. I don't believe in them because they give our children the wrong message. The message given is that all you have to do is show up and you get a pay check; a concept which we all know is far from the truth. It's just another form or rescue from one's own decisions that causes misfortune in their lives. Many players shy away from a coaching style that demands performance, and does not tolerate excuses. Winners want to win. Losers want a participation trophy. I would never recommend any player who wants a participation trophy, because in my mind only losers want one. Winners want to win and losers look for the easy way out.

The sub-prime mortgage debacle is just one more example of what happens when we soften up our kids by handing them a trophy for doing poorly. The parents only get it when the kid, having been unemployed for six months is yelling for someone to bring them something to drink, as they lie in the same place where they've been lying for six months - your coach. They come down stairs at 11 A.M. and when the parent shows displeasure the child remarks with outstretched arms and hands turned up - "What's your problem? I showed up!"

Participation trophies encourage the wrong kinds of behavior and all of it is not productive. Losing is a part of developing character. A very necessary experience if the child is ever to develop into a productive young adult. Too many times this up and coming generation has had their hands outstretched looking for that next participation trophy.

Enough is enough. The team of landowners, developers, lenders, investors, and those signing the loans all knew what they were doing could never last. It was too good to be true. Paying top dollar for sub prime paper wrapped as "securitized mortgages" sounds about as good as bragging about the trophy received for just showing up and being on another losing team. Rescuing those involved in this situation is just one more participation trophy that sends the wrong message. As pointed out by David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register, stimulating by rescuing will only make matters worse for the rest of us.