The Little League Big League

I happened to stumble across an article today lamenting the fact that the Little League World Series has lost it's appeal...at least to that observer.

Written by a gentleman who calls himself King Kaufman, the article notes the business-like demeanor with which the young players go about their work in an almost joyless manner. He then says he never watched an inning of any of the games in the entire torunament...how does he know what they are like if he never saw them?

Why am I describing what he wrote? Read for yourself...

This is the first time I can remember not watching a single pitch of the annual tournament. Used to be you could only watch the championship game, but I'd make a point of catching at least some of that. The Little League World Series was the only championship I could watch on network TV and say, "I used to play in that league."

Wherever the champs of the Penmar Park youth basketball league go after clinching, the cameras don't follow.

Now, after growing increasingly uncomfortable with the LLWS over the years, at long last I can't stand it. There's such a lack of fun emanating from these little mini-professional ballplayers, the whole thing's just depressing. I'm with Yahoo's Dan Wetzel: They should pay those kids. They're seriously, stoically, providing a service.

Now I want to say I don't entirely disagree with him. But this situation with little league or any other sport played by children where there are state or national championships has always been this way.

I happened to play in the Waco, Texas Northwest Little League when I was young (I played for the Whataburger team...win a game get a free burger...with incentives like that how could you loose?). It also so happened that the "All Star" team from that very league ended up going to the Little League World Series. I was not on that team. I played on one of the teams that were essentially the practice teams for the team that was supposed to win...the rigged team...the team they put all the "good" players on. It was pretty obvious what was going on in that league even to my 11 year old eyes. Even so, I still had fun and I still enjoyed the game. So much so I kept playing and ended up playing semi-pro ball later in life. I can't say the same for most if any of the guys that played on the team that went to the World Series.

I played on a team back then that lost quite a bit, and while I didn't enjoy that too much, later on I can appreciate the lessons that taught me. Lessons I would say a lot of pro athletes never learned as children. Sometimes to be a good winner, it helps to be a good looser (by the way being a good looser doesn't mean you need to like it, just don't be an ass...there are too many of those around already). And at least that way when you do finally win you can REALLY appreciate it...you looser.