Millions of kids watched the magical rise of Vista's Rancho Buena Vista Little League team in their ascent to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. It truly captured the imagination and dreams of those players, as well as anyone who's played our national pastime.

Nearby, one of the other Vista leagues, the Vista American Little League, cheered on their RBV counterparts, some of whom they've gone to school with, played against, and call as friends.

The event has become bittersweet for those Vista American players. As the RBV players come home and look forward to next year at the Optimist Fields they call home, the 300 Vista American players are wondering if they'll even have a season at all.

Why? French Field, Vista American's home field on Lee Street in eastern Oceanside, was closed by city officials last January for soil testing. The soil testing has since been completed, and preliminary results indicate a very solvable situation that could return our field to its former glory.

So what's the problem? The city of Oceanside wants us to go away. While the city of Vista graciously and rapidly opened Breeze Hill Park to us so we could begin and complete our 2005 spring season, Oceanside stood still.

While discussions have already begun for our 2006 season, Oceanside won't even schedule a meeting with the city of Vista or League officials, even though 40 percent of Vista American's families live in the city limits of Oceanside. Basically, they're stonewalling us in the hopes that our 48-year-old league will dissolve. Our kids will become homeless —— unable to play in any field anywhere in their geographic area.

That is simply not acceptable.

As a reader of this article, though, why should you care that 300 young players will be displaced?

You should care if you've ever played a sport yourself and been encouraged, molded, pushed and cheered by a coach who donated his or her time to see that you succeeded in something you thought you could never do.

You should care if you, as a parent or grandparent, have ever sat in the stands in the rain, eaten too many chili cheese fries, and wiped back your child's tears suffered in a loss, only to come back again and cheer as your boy turns into a man, or your little girl turns into a woman before your very eyes.

You should care if you, as a citizen, recognize that kids need more in their life than a day full of school and an evening of video games only to grow up without the moral compass that sports provide.

Yes, you should care that Vista American's field of dreams has turned into a field of weeds.

You can take a minute to show you care by visiting Vista American's Web site at www.vistaamericanll.org. There you'll find information and links to city officials, plus ways that you can help even if you live outside Oceanside's city limits.

With your help, this field of weeds can return to its former glory, where the grass smells sweet, the stands shake with excitement, and our players learn what can't be taught.

Sterling "Buddy" Gillogly is an Oceanside resident and a proud father of two Vista American baseball players.