Just flipping through channels and saw this on ESPN.
If you’re from Georgia or California or Japan or Taipei or Mexico, to make it to the finals you’ve proven that you are exceptional and you have beaten some really good teams. Then you’ve got teams from Europe and the Middle East, which basically means that your Dad got posted to the right military base. Chinese Taipei is throttling the team from Saudi Arabia 16-0 in the third inning, and it will probably get worse because the mercy rule doesn’t apply until the fourth.
Has a European/Middle Eastern team ever made the finals? How many games have they won when they’re not playing each other?
The qualification process has changed some. There used to be separate divisions for Transatlantic, which was the kids of American military and oil company people, and EMEA, which was the native European/Middle Eastern/African kids. Neither set was usually very good, but they could sometimes win a game here or there from Canada or the Pacific teams (who at the time were a separate division from Asia, so sometimes the Saudi Aramco kids got to beat the champions of Saipan, for example).
Besides the guaranteed spot for an American team, other contenders in the title game have been Taiwanese, Japanese, Mexican, Venezuelan, South Korean and Curaçaon.
The most interesting change to this year’s LLWS has been the greatly expanded availability of instant video replay. It’s been working very well, and lots of people are seeing the system in use there as a good model for expanding replay in Major League Baseball.
I appreciate baseball, and the kids who make it to Williamsport should obviously be proud of their accomplishment.
However, I can’t help but wonder what’s driving the increased popularity of the LLWS over the past 10-20 years. Really, other than family, friends, and nostalgic former player, what is the driving general interest? Even the regional games–prior to Williamsport–get prime-time slots on one of the ESPN networks, and the final weekend games usually get huge ratings.
I am honestly not trying to sound like a curmudgeon here. I have no issue with the LLWS, just wondering what gets people who otherwise have no rooting interest to care. Is it the perceived innocence? The small-town charm? Watching kids who (unlike their professional counterparts) wear their hearts on their sleeve?
I think the expansion has really just taken place in the last few years. I remember when I was a kid in the early 90s I lived for the Little League World Series because I played youth baseball (in a non-LL sanctioned league, so no Series dreams for me). But I can’t remember more than three games being on TV. There was the championship and perhaps the semifinals. That was it.
I think it’s just ESPN filling air time in the dog days, and doing a hell of a good job marketing it. They did the same thing with the National Spelling Bee. College sports haven’t started, basketball and hockey are a ways away, and football is at it’s most boring point. They need something to fill in this time of year.
ESPN is covering it more because it’s popular. The event itself has grown, also because it’s popular. In the '90s there were half as many teams invited to Williamsport.
Did ESPN cover the spelling bee at all before the 1999 film Spellbound? I would guess not. That’s what hooked a lot of people and made it really marketable. (No, I don’t call spelling “a sport.”)
I think there is a component of people: A. reminiscing about their own childhoods B. enjoying a sport that is played for fun (i.e. no monetary interests, no agents, no drugs, no shenanigans, no leaving early for the next level). I think the exchange of gifts between the teams shows that it is still naive and good natured.
I find it kind of creepy how a lot of the kids on the American teams have the mannerisms of the pros down pat. They must watch MLB constantly and practice every little quirk. Chew gum and spit just like the pros. Swing at a strike then look up and down the bat and give it a few pats. Step off the plate and retighten the gloves. Really bizarre.
That has been going on forever, or at least 35 years back to when I was in Little League and kids would flap their elbows like Joe Morgan.
Most of these kids love baseball already and they love their favorite team more than their parents (but less than grandparents). For these kids there’s nothing they want more right now than to be Derek Jeter or Joe Mauer.
And the way to be Jeter or Mauer is to do everything Jeter and Mauer do.
And that one game they did it and got three hits and scored the game winning run, so there’s no way they’re going to stop doing it.
nomar garciaparra (one of the LLWS announcers) had a training tip segment with one of the little leaguers on how to be a .300 hitter. He then went on to demonstrate his hitting stance/superstition of tightening gloves and tapping your feet. I thought it was hilarious.
I just like baseball in general, and will watch any game, but I like watching the kids-- they are pretty good. I entered the lottery they have to get tickets to the championship game this year but wasn’t selected, I guess it’s harder to get then I thought.
I’ve been watching a lot of this for the past week or so. It’s sure fun to watch! The elimination game last night (Washington vs. Minnesota) was fantastic baseball.
For me, it’s watching good well-matched teams (at least in the US pool - in the International things are usually a bit more one-sided) full of kids who still enjoy the game and play with more heart and MUCH more sportsmanship than you see in the Pro leagues. When was the last time you saw a pitcher hit a batter, then walk over to first and apologize to him?
It’s shocking to me, really. I grew up just north of Williamsport, and those hotels were usually completely empty outside of LLWS season. Now the “no vacancy” signs are up all the time. I grew up in a near ghost town and now it’s a boom town.
I just find it weird to watch these kids doing spot-on impersonations of their favorite ball players instead of focusing on playing baseball.
Sure he struck out 3 times, but he sure has the Manny Ramirez schtick down pat.
But it’s not that weird. Cal Ripken changed his stance all the time and every kid who loved Cal Ripken on my baseball team would change theirs right along with him.
I’m with you, Hampshire. I’d rather watch t-ball with the tee and the kids running to third than these wannabees imitating major leaguers. Said by a dad who had 3 sons come up through kids baseball. You wouldn’t believe the politics involved in kids baseball.
Yes. This year there will be as many as 34 games broadcast.
Now that I did not know. Hm. I don’t think I know anyone who was really aware of the spelling bee after leaving school themselves and before the movie.
