How did your paper play the Little League World Series championship game

[Dick Whitman]

Actually, I think you're dealing with a dated model there, deck.

Kids have not been kids, in the sense you're thinking, for quite a while now. It's a different childhood than the one we lived.

They are considerably more world-saavy than they were in previous generations.

All the same, they can wait until high school to get covered by the media. And their entitled parents can wait, too.

 

[dreunc1542]

Actually, I think you're dealing with a dated model there, deck.

Kids have not been kids, in the sense you're thinking, for quite a while now. It's a different childhood than the one we lived.

They are considerably more world-saavy than they were in previous generations.

All the same, they can wait until high school to get covered by the media. And their entitled parents can wait, too.

Yeah, I'm with deck on this one. It's not like we're saying the tournament shouldn't happen. There's just no reason for the games to be on ESPN. I could see the local paper(s) in/near Williamsport covering it. But the overblown television coverage is unnecessary.

 

[LarryCathey]

Yeah, I'm with deck on this one. It's not like we're saying the tournament shouldn't happen. There's just no reason for the games to be on ESPN. I could see the local paper(s) in/near Williamsport covering it. But the overblown television coverage is unnecessary.

Have to agree with this. If anyone cares to read a column I wrote that mirrors dre's thoughts, it's here: http://www.orenews.com/Contests/2010/bnc/webhtml/bnc2010-b-210-1.html

And, yes, I'm promoting myself. At least I'm not linking you to my BLOG!, though.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I'm guessing most papers are staffed by adults and thus are ineligible to play in the game. Based on my old shops, if they did, I'd assume they played poorly.

 

[jr/shotglass]

OK, I'm outnumbered by the people in this room. I still believe you're wrong, but that's OK.

 

[Dick Whitman]

OK, I'm outnumbered by the people in this room. I still believe you're wrong, but that's OK.

I'm honestly surprised. I thought I'd be the one outnumbered for some reason. Keep in mind, I guess, that this is a board in which a lot of people have taken those whining calls from parents about listing eighth grade "B" team volleyball results.

 

[jr/shotglass]

That's absolutely true.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Yeah, I'm with deck on this one. It's not like we're saying the tournament shouldn't happen. There's just no reason for the games to be on ESPN. I could see the local paper(s) in/near Williamsport covering it. But the overblown television coverage is unnecessary.

Have to agree with this. If anyone cares to read a column I wrote that mirrors dre's thoughts, it's here: http://www.orenews.com/Contests/2010/bnc/webhtml/bnc2010-b-210-1.html

And, yes, I'm promoting myself. At least I'm not linking you to my BLOG!, though.

Honestly, Larry, well-written.

And yet, I'm left hoping you wiped the blood off your hands after that amount of hand-wringing about young psyches.

They're not nearly as fragile as you make them out to be.

 

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

We had a poster cover on A-1 with a special eight-page Little League Extra section every day of the tournament, as well as a preview tab (basically just team photos, a couple features and an excuse to sell an ass-load of ads).

But of course, our interest here in Williamsport is vastly different than anybody else's including shotglass's. I don't know another city or two or municipality in Pennsylvania defines itself with one thing the way Williamsport and South Williamsport (yes, they're actually two separate towns) define themselves around the development of Little League baseball.

Now, that being said, the way the tournament is being blown out by ESPN is disturbing. We joke around Lamade Stadium all week that within 5 years it's going to be called the ESPN World Series brought to you by Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Little League.

But shotglass, I'm totally in your court on this one. It's an absolutely tremendous experience to be around. Kids are not asked to come into press conferences after they lose and coaches are allowed to refuse to come into the press conference whether they win or lose. The kids love it. Do some of the kids have egos? Sure they do, but they're going to have egos whether they're talked about on ESPN or whether they're District 12 semifinal game is covered by the Podunk Press because a majority of your top-tier athletes (whether on a local, state, national or global stage) have an ego about them. It's a combination of confidence and cockiness and it's part of the process that makes people great at what they do in whatever they do (sports, business, media, etc.).

You can go ahead and take away the TV coverage and people are still going to show up to this event. There were 40,000 people in and around Lamade Stadium for the Pennsylvania team's first game at the Series last Friday. Take TV away and I'm going to guess that number grows to 50,000 or 60,000. Are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't have wanted the chance to play in front of a crowd like that at some point in your life? It got to the point where people on other teams were talking in the press conferences about how they wanted to play Pennsylvania just for the chance to play in front of that many people. That's the competitiveness in all of us.

You can make the argument all you want that 12-year olds should not be covered, in all actuality, I don't know that I can disagree. It seems absurd to focus any kind of coverage on it. But the people who pay to read the newspaper we put out on a daily basis want to read about it, so we're going to cover it. And I'm not about to say the Little League World Series is a bad thing, because it's a tremendous experience, something that should be on any sports fans bucket list. Those who think it's a bad thing has obviously never been to South Williamsport in August.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Well, you just said it about 70 times better than I did.

And the most salient point of all:

Those who think it's a bad thing has obviously never been to South Williamsport in August.

 

[LarryCathey]

Yeah, I'm with deck on this one. It's not like we're saying the tournament shouldn't happen. There's just no reason for the games to be on ESPN. I could see the local paper(s) in/near Williamsport covering it. But the overblown television coverage is unnecessary.

Have to agree with this. If anyone cares to read a column I wrote that mirrors dre's thoughts, it's here: http://www.orenews.com/Contests/2010/bnc/webhtml/bnc2010-b-210-1.html

And, yes, I'm promoting myself. At least I'm not linking you to my BLOG!, though.

Honestly, Larry, well-written.

And yet, I'm left hoping you wiped the blood off your hands after that amount of hand-wringing about young psyches.

They're not nearly as fragile as you make them out to be.

Ha ... thanks, jr/sg. My hands still show those scars.

 

[Ace]

I don't mind the coverage of the LLWS. People seem to enjoy it.

My beef is that Cal Ripken and other leagues and age groups seem to expect similar treatment.

Sorry. 12-year-old Little Leaguers in Williamsport are special.

Your 13-year-olds in Biloxi aren't. Sorry about your luck.