Back to Basics

by Jaime R on Aug 15, 2006 1:43 PM EDT in News Comment 19 comments

No booing. No Bronx Cheers. No heckling. No questioned motives. No tabloids. No gambling problems. No steroids. No distracting model wives. No trade demands. No contact disputes. No arbitration. No suspensions. No egos. No new stadium plans. No ownership. No management.

Just Baseball

This Friday 16 teams play baseball the way it was meant to be played. For fun. Watching some of the regionals, I saw ear to ear grins after timely hits and unending hustle only a few players in the big leagues exhibit. There are no California teams, so I will root solely for Mid-Island Little League (Staten Island). Good luck kids.

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what about this cute and cuddly kid?

http://deadspin.com/sports/little-league-world-series/little-league-potty-mouth-193870.php

"A precious moment last night during the New England/Midwest game as I was flipping through--a kid gave up a couple walks or hits, not sure, Skip was coming out to pull him, and ESPN's mikes caught the little scamp expressing his frustration. "He's not giving me shit! The ump won't give me shit. Don't touch me! This is bullshit!" Two regrets: 1. I was so embarassed and disgusted by this f---er that I impulsively changed the channel like it was the Wonder Years and Kevin just got wood in gym class, thereby losing the Tivo continuity, and 2. Hal Reynolds wasn't there to give the kid a "hug"."

by murph on Aug 15, 2006 2:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I can't be excited

As with college sports, all I can think is "At least pro athletes get paid to be exploited and analysed by ESPN."

Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.

by jscape2000 on Aug 15, 2006 4:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

speak for yourself

in Big 12 Land, we pay our athletes quite well!

http://tinyurl.com/zpe46

"90% of the game is half mental." - Yogi

by lee on Aug 15, 2006 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Touche

Once again, lee, I yield to the breadth of your knowledge and hyperlinking ability.

Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.

by jscape2000 on Aug 15, 2006 11:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What about the Utah Little League team

that intentionally walked a kid (which is almost never done at that level) to pitch to a kid that was recovering from cancer and could barely hold up the bat. Caused a national uproar.

by sanchez96 on Aug 15, 2006 6:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What nation? Or did I miss that?

Everything looks nicer when you win. The girls are prettier. The cigars taste better. The trees are greener. --Billy Martin

by garp on Aug 15, 2006 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's still on the front page of ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2549340

Rick Reilly, Keith Olbermann, Dan Patrick all publicized the story, ripping the coaches for their move. ESPN's story is the best, but there are others worth reading:

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=117428

by sanchez96 on Aug 15, 2006 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The sick kid shouldn't have been playing

Those kids are there to win. This isn't some pick-up game played for fun with no one watching.

"That was pure youth, speed and recklessness." --Mike Mussina on Melky Cabrera's 6/5 sprint for home

by JaneKnowles on Aug 16, 2006 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what are you talking about?

It's a 9 and 10 year old league where the whole team bats, (including those who are not playing in the field) and when a team scores more than four runs in an inning, the inning ends.

That said, I have read that the opposing coach did not know that the player was a cancer survivor. While I think intentionally walking a 9-year old is in a bit of bad taste, man, when I was 9, I wanted to win as much as Don Mattingly ever did so I understand the coach doing it.

Coaches always get a bad rap for being uber-competetive, but a lot of times they are doing it for the kids, who want to win even more than the coach does.

Truth be told, there are a lot of lessons to learn in little league, and they are not all about having fun. A big one is learning to deal with people who are a lot more, or a lot less, competitive than you.

by hugo on Aug 16, 2006 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't understand why you would

have a League Championship Game if you are not supposed to try to win.

Everything looks nicer when you win. The girls are prettier. The cigars taste better. The trees are greener. --Billy Martin

by garp on Aug 16, 2006 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

of course you are trying to win

but the rules of the league makes significant and specific concessions to the idea that this is not the mlb world series. the rules are specifically designed to ensure parity and prevent humiliation and exclusion of the participants. no reason to throw that out the window just because it is the championship. hey, it's the coach's call. I'm just saying that I would not have done the same thing (I coach baseball after having played it through HS and college).

by hugo on Aug 16, 2006 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The bottom line is that

cancer or no, if you play for a team called the Red Sox against a team called the Yankees, you deserve to lose. :)

Everything looks nicer when you win. The girls are prettier. The cigars taste better. The trees are greener. --Billy Martin

by garp on Aug 16, 2006 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

double true

by hugo on Aug 16, 2006 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Funny

"That was pure youth, speed and recklessness." --Mike Mussina on Melky Cabrera's 6/5 sprint for home

by JaneKnowles on Aug 16, 2006 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The other funny thing about the story

is that his family and team are upset that he was given the opportunity to win the game. They actually did not want him to hit. And then you get a stupid statement like this,

"The reason this story is so compelling is that gray area," said De Voe. "It is a microcosm of what we have degenerated into in our society."

If we "degenerated" as a society, we did it over 35 years ago because my little league coach was a hyper-competitive asshole way back then.

Everything looks nicer when you win. The girls are prettier. The cigars taste better. The trees are greener. --Billy Martin

by garp on Aug 16, 2006 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I have an 11-year-old

who plays on a travel sand-lot team and that is what I believe. If you play on a team with the potential to progress to a national competition, then you are doing that because you are playing to win. That's why they keep score. If you don't like that idea, you put your kid in less competetive leads that wrap up their seasons in June.

If that kid was so weakened by his illness that he was batting and fielding poorly, trust me, there were plenty of parents AND kids who wished he would have taken an out.

Yes, they are kids so many of the rules are different (though my son thinks the distance between the bases and the distance from the pitchers mound in Little League is b.s.), but they're not babies and a little competition won't kill them.

"That was pure youth, speed and recklessness." --Mike Mussina on Melky Cabrera's 6/5 sprint for home

by JaneKnowles on Aug 16, 2006 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

interesting story

i can see both sides of it. no one actually says just how good or bad a hitter the "sick" kid was. the tumor and surgery were five years ago. and the kid was batting in the #5 position.

probably the most telling line in the story was what the league president said: "At the moment it happened, nobody thought it was a big deal. And now, it's the lead story."

"90% of the game is half mental." - Yogi

by lee on Aug 16, 2006 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs