This is from a long time ago, a very long time ago so I'm not sure the links work or the references make any more sense now than they did then (or less sense, depending on how you're feeling). At the time I called it:
The Kids Are Alright
As school-age children across the USA start to reconcile themselves to the inevitability that the next academic year is beginning (for some) in a matter of days and/or hours, I feel compelled to note, in the interests of good sportsmanship and fair play, the boys of summer (subject to the rules and interpretations of the respective national governing boards) are in the process of crowning the next Little League World Series Champion.
I have NO idea who is playing and (obviously enough) no knowledge about any of the players. Here's the remaining schedule, with the championship game(s) this Sunday, and after you've looked at it, tell me if your interest and/or expectations about any of the contests were altered or changed in any way. I didn't think so.
In a world where we pay grown men and women (though to a far less fiscal extent) wages that approximate the gross national product of some Third-World nations to participate professionally in sports our children play for free, there is something about the joy and exhilaration of the competition that culminates in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, that I find a tonic for the soul.
The enthusiasm and engagement of the television announcers, some of whom as youngsters, played on these same fields in pursuit of a championship, is contagious and inspiring. If you can listen to the Little League Pledge, almost as old as I am, or even just read it and not get goosebumps, don't bother checking your pulse, call your coroner as you're no longer among the living.
For a few days, youngsters can serve as role models for grown men. A team of players, who've just been white-washed and whose run to the Series has ended prematurely stand one behind the other along the first and third base lines after the final out and shake the hands of the team sending them home and tell them 'good game' and really mean it because the Little League World Series isn't just about baseball, it's about life, as it should be lived.
-bill kenny
I have NO idea who is playing and (obviously enough) no knowledge about any of the players. Here's the remaining schedule, with the championship game(s) this Sunday, and after you've looked at it, tell me if your interest and/or expectations about any of the contests were altered or changed in any way. I didn't think so.
In a world where we pay grown men and women (though to a far less fiscal extent) wages that approximate the gross national product of some Third-World nations to participate professionally in sports our children play for free, there is something about the joy and exhilaration of the competition that culminates in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, that I find a tonic for the soul.
The enthusiasm and engagement of the television announcers, some of whom as youngsters, played on these same fields in pursuit of a championship, is contagious and inspiring. If you can listen to the Little League Pledge, almost as old as I am, or even just read it and not get goosebumps, don't bother checking your pulse, call your coroner as you're no longer among the living.
For a few days, youngsters can serve as role models for grown men. A team of players, who've just been white-washed and whose run to the Series has ended prematurely stand one behind the other along the first and third base lines after the final out and shake the hands of the team sending them home and tell them 'good game' and really mean it because the Little League World Series isn't just about baseball, it's about life, as it should be lived.
-bill kenny
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