A True WORLD Series

As school-age children across the USA start to reconcile themselves to the inevitability that their 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) have nearly finished the process to crown the next Little League World Series Champion.

On any given day during the past two weeks, I have had NO idea who was playing and (obviously enough) no knowledge about any of the players. It didn't matter. In a world where we pay grown men wages approximating the gross national product of some Third-World nations to participate professionally in a sport our children play for free, there is something about the joy and exhilaration of the competition 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.

All you can be is reminded and refreshed about why you choose to follow baseball. Why, in an era of a dozen other sports all grabbing more headlines and world-wide attention, the simple beauty of a contest that, at its most basic, involves striking a small leather-bound, round spheroid with a stick, be it wood, metal or some kind of composite and doing it better than a like number of others attempting to do the same on the other team.

For a too brief period, eleven-year-olds served as role models as entire team, who'd just been white-washed and whose run to the Series ended prematurely and with a drubbing no one would wish on anyone else, each 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 prematurely 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.

"... I will play fair. And strive to win. But win or lose, I will always do my best."
The Kids Are Alright.
-bill kenny