Mone Davis - SI cover

That shouldn't be on ESPN either. They need to start one channel for nothing but stupid-shit kiddie sports no adults should care about.

 

It's either that or bowling. They have like 5 networks to fill, and college football hasn't started yet.

 

In southern California, Kobe was on the cover.

 

This is a joke, right? Little League plays on a field with 60-foot base paths and a pitcher's mound 46 feet from home plate. You're telling me those players could beat a lousy high school varsity team? On what kind of field? A high school field? No way.

 

Can't argue with those ratings.

And a little history for the haters: ABC started televising the LLWS in 1963 and it became one the longest-running events on "Wide World of Sports" (till ESPN gobbled up ABC sports).

And in 1989, when Trumbull, CT, upset the long-dominant Taiwan, it was also a very big deal. The winning pitcher was Chris Drury.

 

So no one should watch college football because even the national champion would lose to a .500 NFL team?

Edit: LTL made the same point first. Sorry.

 

Uh, you do realize that the LLWS is played with 60 foot bases and a 45 foot pitcher's mound, right? 12-year-olds aren't beating 18-year-olds

 

Depends how high up the high school scale you want to go. I've seen a lot of awful high school teams in my day that would absolutely get smoked by an elite group of 12-year-olds.
Several years back we had a high school team that, IIRC, had five seventh- and eighth-graders (12- and 13-year-olds) in the starting lineup. They all came off a very good travel ball team and eventually formed the core of back-to-back state championship teams. Even at that young age they held their own against varsity competition and finished right around .500. A couple of the younger kids were among the best two or three hitters on the team.

 

Along with Wade Redden and Scott Gomez, a name us Rangers fans would like to forget.

 

You'd make a terrible TV exec.

 

You'd have to look long and hard to find a LL team beating a high school team. But the point above is a nonstarter, because it's about reaction time. There's considerably less reaction time hitting a 70-mph fastball at 45 feet than there is hitting an 80-mph fastball at 60-6. If you're talking about pitches, you'd make a better case for a true, good curveball buckling the kids' knees.

* * *

As far as the original question goes ... well, I've always been torn about it on the right/wrong issue. I really enjoy the Little League World Series, not because Dugout dances with the umpires and not because the kids slide on cardboard down the hills, but because the level of baseball is stunning for a bunch of 12- and 13-year-olds. To me, the play's the thing, not the adorable aspect.

And yet, when I saw that shortstop from Texas throw away the game against Pennsylvania two Sunday nights ago on national TV, and Nomar and the boys are saying, "Oh, in 10 minutes he'll be eating ice cream and laughing with everyone else, because it's the Little League World Series, and it's all fun," well, bullshit.

That kid was somewhat damaged by that happening before a larger crowd than watches a Sunday night MLB game on the WWL. Yes, it's a lot of pressure to put on a 13-year-old.

A national-magazine cover is a lot of pressure to put on a 13-year-old. Might the past two weeks become a millstone around the neck of an 18-year-old Mo'ne Davis? Yes, that possibility exists.

But is it tilting at windmills at this point? I mean, the LLWS isn't going to get any smaller in the foreseeable future. And if I knew the answer to that, I'd be a lot smarter than I obviously am.