I’ve actually watched 5 games of the Little League World series this year, and it is exactly how baseball, Little League or otherwise should be played.
Compare this year to last year.
This year, kids are respectful and courteous.
Last year, we had the AssHats from the New York team do the following:
“Call their shot”: a player pointed with his bat toward centerfield and promised to deliver a home run, but failed to come through. IIRC he did hit a double.
After a New York player did hit a home run he stood at the plate and made a “fake binoculars” gesture with his hands, showing up the opposing pitcher.
And perhaps most classless of all, the New York player who "pimpwalked around the bases after hitting a walk-off home run.
This whole series of events coming just a year after Danny Almonte, representing New York, was found to be several years older than eligibility allowed. Typical for New Yorkers, they bitched and screeched about how cruel it was to do this to the kid, as if the blatent breaking of the rules was insignificant and was beneath notice.
I normally don’t watch much of the LLWS, but I caught the last couple of innings of the game Thursday night between the teams from Texas and Massachusetts. And that was an exciting game to watch. Texas rallied in a big way, sent the game into extra innings, where they went ahead in the 7th inning. Some kids in the Massachusetts dugout were in tears at what happened.
And then Massachusetts rallied back in the bottom of the seventh and won the game. Great game, and a hell of a lot more exciting than most of the Detroit Tigers games that I’ve watched since I moved to Michigan in January.
Oh, and about the OP:
“Typical for New Yorkers”? Your arm must be awful tired from lifting that big heavy brush.
Because they got heart, and they make all sorts of insane-looking plays, and you KNOW they’re not doing it all for the money, unlike MLB. Also, it’s fun to watch them cry when they make bad plays…but that’s just me.
Some of the kids do look like someone needs to check their birth certificates, though – but after the Allmante situation, I’m sure that part’s checked VERY thoroughly, these days!
Baseball has unwritten rules and a code of ethics. The opposing pitcher should have let them know what happens when you break one, Little League or no.
I don’t watch the LLWS. It’s a bad idea to have it televised and hyped to the extent it is right now. People are always saying how great it is because of how raw and emotional it gets. It’s little kids crying - oh boy.
Just wait until the first point shaving scandal occurs.
The Bronx overage-player thing was 2 years ago. Louisville, KY won last year.
Why watch, if you don’t have a kid in it? At this level anyway, you’ll normally see the Little Leaguers play mechanically soundly, advancing runners, throwing to the right bases, staying in the batters’s box, not complaining about calls, and generally playing the game properly. That isn’t a given for major leaguers anymore. I haven’t made a practice of watching the LLWS before, but I’ve certainly enjoyed it this year.
In my opinion, Little League Baseball should be played in the kid’s city, not a national stage with this kind of pressure. I think it would be better if instead of having these silly tournaments full of kids whose dads are coaches, they simply let the regular season of each individual league go longer. Instead of playing 15-20 games and then picking 15 or so kids to be on the “all-star” team, why not let everyone play for longer?
I mean, we don’t even let high-school age kids play for anything more than a state championship (officially). Why do we need to know who the best 12 year olds in the world at baseball are?
I don’t know anything about baseball…but what’s so bad about what they did? If you hit a ball really far…then yeah, why not walk the bases? It does look pretty cool, and why expend energy when you don’t have to? It just seems that if you’re having a good time, show it. It’s just a fucking game, anyway, right?
Umm, that would be wrong. At every age group and every level there are traveling teams as part of a national organization. Sure, they play high school ball which is limited to a state championship. But, the other 9 months of the year, the kids aren’t sitting around doing nothing. Babe Ruth leagues, Cal Ripken leagues, etc. heck, there are national teams at the upper high school level that play against other countries as well.
People like to test their talents and see how far it can take them. Others like to watch those talents tested in competition. There are still others that bemoan the idea of intense competition and testing of one’s abilities.
I don’t know if anyone watched the game yesterday, but it was great. Japan really came on in the 4th to score (I think it was) 8 runs and ran away with it. After the game, for their celebration the Japanese team ran out to centerfield to pay hommage to the statue out there (I’m not sure who it is). About 5 seconds after they got the the American team was out with them giving hi-fives, maybe a couple of hugs. No crying from anyone. It looked like great sportsmanship and a great way to foster understanding between the kids of different cultures.
The bust is of Howard J. Lamade, who acquired the land and paid for the stadium named after him. Two years ago, a Japanese player asked who it was and his manager, not knowing, answered “The God of Baseball”. When the team won, they all went out to the outfield wall to give a prayer of thanks to the God of Baseball. That’s quickly become a tradition, and not just among the Japanese teams anymore.
