Dan Wetzel: Pay the players -- at the Little League World Series

This could be a fun thread. The url says it all. Is it time to pay players at the Little League World Series? Of course it is.


http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb--is-it-time-to-pay-players-at-the-little-league-world-series--of-course--it-is-162419281.html

One of the first comments I saw:

Sure, pay the kids and don't forget to sign them up at Biogenesis Jr.

Just leave it alone and let them enjoy being a kid. It doesn't last long.

 

This isn't even good trolling.

 

Well, we set the bar pretty high around here. Or is it low?

 

It would probably be better used just helping families that can't afford the reg fees, a glove etc. but want to play.

 

Good point.

I don't even know if Wetzel is serious or if he's just priming us for his college football season. But the players get an all-expense-paid trip, they get to keep the equipment from Easton, they get to play on national TV, and they end up with something they will look back on when they're old and gray as possibly the best week of their lives.

Is that not fair compensation?

 

All I know is I'm for paying everybody who does anything.

They all deserve to be paid. They try just as hard as people who do get paid.

 

Harder, probably.

 

It's as fair as a free education.

 

Nah, not really.

 

Well, a free education and all the gear the school gives them. Plus access to academic tutoring, medical care, room and board and other things I'm probably forgetting.

 

I guess this was the point of Wetzel's column, to get people pointed toward that topic, and in that case he succeeded, I guess. So maybe it was good trolling.

The two things, however, are not similar. At least not any more similar than the Google Doodle contest and American Idol.

 

I'm pretty sure those little leaguers could profit form autographs if some creepy jackass was willing to pay for one.