Coach who blew whistle on Jackie Robinson West team now subject of death threats

The coach who blew the whistle on the now-dethroned Little League World Series finalists from Chicago, Jackie Robinson West, is now receiving death threats.

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Chris Janes is not a very popular man in the Chicago area these days.

You see, Janes is the man-snitch who called for an investigation of the Jackie Robinson West Little League team who had its United States title stripped from them on Wednesday morning. His whistle-blowing efforts aren’t going so well, as he has received a series of death threats over the course of the day.

“We got about 50 messages,” Janes told DNAinfo.com. “I only listened to a few. Some were gibberish … saying things like ‘You’re an asshole.’ A couple said, ‘You deserve to die.'”

Janes said he wasn’t too worried about the threats, yet still didn’t turn down the Evergreen Park police car that has resided in front of his house since early Wednesday afternoon.

Oh, do know that Janes has been on the receiving end of not-so-complimentary responses on social media, many of which aren’t suitable for this site. However, this one probably speaks best for the majority of locals:

The vice president of the Evergreen Park Athletic Association, Janes also was the coach of a team that Jackie Robinson West narrowly defeated in a 43-2 victory that was called after four innings. Depending on how you feel about the situation, Janes either played the role of sore loser or concerned about the integrity of the game, which led to him issuing a complaint to Little League International, a decision that falls under the “Oh, sure…” category when he was asked if the 41-run pummeling played a role in any of this.

Janes’ complaint was that several of the Jackie Robinson West players were outside of district boundaries and that the JR-West coaches played around with them in order to add firepower to their lineup.

That the JR-West team is African-American only fueled speculation that Janes not only had “my team got its a** kicked by 41 runs” motivation, but also had racial overtones as well, a fact that has been drilled home throughout social media throughout the day.

For someone who wanted to “do the right thing” while staying out of the limelight, Janes more than milked his 15 minutes of fame on Wednesday, appearing on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” where he denied that his snitch-hunt was racially inspired. He also appeared on a host of other local and national sports talk shows, all while basking in the glory of the moment.

Janes may have done the right thing, yet it cost a group of hard-working kids their well-deserved moment in the sun. While cheating (and snitching) should be heavily discouraged, there should have been a better way to resolve the issue without throwing kids under the bus under the guise of “concerned coach.”

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