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

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Johnny Dangerously, Aug 19, 2013.

  1. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    How about abolishing it from teevee?

    Nobody without a fairly close family member on one of the teams should ever spend 10 seconds watching little league baseball or any youth sport.
     
  2. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Make it that way for everyone. TV broadcasters, camerapeople, reporters, groundskeepers. ESPN can give all the money they make over for it to charity.
    Everyone's a volunteer, so the kids can have the best week of their life.

    Right?
     
  3. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    He wrote this last year, although the NCAA twist is new, I think.
     
  4. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    I bet you're a hell of a tipper.
     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Not at all. It's a business venture for ESPN. And not really the best week of their lives to a group of employees that have worked World Series and Super Bowls and Olympics.

    Nonetheless, even though it's an evil corporate event, it still is the highlight of the kids' lives or at least their childhoods. This isn't a difficult concept to comprehend at all, for anyone in touch with how 12-year-olds see the world.

    The tsk-tsking has become an annual rite of passage among professional tsk-tskers. It is nonetheless a very exciting event for kids to watch.
     
  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Wouldn't a good middle ground be to allow them to own marketing rights?

    That, or just serve them shrimp. That's always a good middle ground.
     
  7. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    They're gettin' free shit so why can't I sign my fucking name on a few balls and sell 'em? /Manziel
     
  8. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    DING!

    It is not often I will align myself with Starman, but in this -- and matters of stadium construction -- we stand together.

    I'm not even comfortable with high school sports on TV, especially the way it has proliferated in recent years. Youth sports is right out. If you provided all the other stuff without the TV, it would still be the highlight of the players' childhood and something they tell their grandchildren about.
     
  9. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    I can't remember the year, but a kid was called in to pitch, gave up a big home run and when his coach came to the mound, wired, the kid in a crying voice told him "I told you I didn't want to pitch."

    I have not watched it too much since then. The whole thing jumped the shark a long time ago.
     
  10. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    LLWS teams are all-star teams, picked from the best of the best of their various leagues, so virtually all the players, even the bench boys, have been the highly fawned-upon stars of their own team for the vast majority of the season, which shoots the entire concept of "these dewy innocent kids have been dreaming all their lives for a fleeting moment in the sun" right out the window.

    12-year-olds really shouldn't get any attention for just about anything except maybe if a super-precocious genius goes to Harvard and discovers a cure for cancer.
     
  11. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I didn't realize Little League had started a Fall Ball program...
     
  12. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    At the very least, the regional championship games should not be on TV.
     
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