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

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Mr. X, Aug 29, 2011.

  1. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Again, I offer that you who are that dead-set against it haven't seen it in practice, as at the LLWS.

    It's a lifetime positive experience for those kids.

    http://blog.pennlive.com/davidjones/2011/08/keystone_little_league_team_pl.html
     
  2. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Disclosure: I've covered lots and lots of Little League, especially at the regional level. And we played it big time because the winner went to Williamsport, back when going to Williamsport actually meant something.

    But this line tells me it's gone way overboard:

    "But now they were looking forward to watching some games without having to pore over scouting reports and videotape in preparation."

    http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0830-little-league-travel-20110830,0,696723.story

    Come on. It's 12-year-olds. Videotape and scouting reports? And televising not only regional finals but regional SEMIFINALS ... yeah, I'm with Dan Wetzel, give the kids some money toward a college fund. It's over the top.
     
  3. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    It was better when we didn't have a scoreboard, dad gum it.
     
  4. joe king

    joe king Active Member

    Did you see the documentary on the Kirkland, Wash. team that beat Taiwan in the '80s? Wasn't quite so positive for that team's star.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=5514329
     
  5. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    That's one. There are others. There are also plenty who thrived.

    You know, while we're at it, when did a bunch of sports journalists become so touchy-feely that they think a 12-year-old's entire athletic existence needs to consist of them not getting their superegos or ids bruised? I mean, really ...

    My 12-year-old year, I had the school bully standing behind home plate one night threatening to knock my teeth out if I didn't get a hit on a certain at-bat. I lived.
     
  6. joe king

    joe king Active Member


    No one's saying they shouldn't compete. Just don't make it a national television event comparable to the major leagues.

    And it isn't touchy-feely or worried about bruising egos. It's more about not creating gigantic out-of-control egos (like, say those of the average major college football or basketball player). I'm very much in the let-kids-be-kids camp.
     
  7. Den1983

    Den1983 Active Member

    Bingo.
     
  8. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    My bigger issue is that this event covers specific 12-year-olds. This single event has picked this very select group and blown up. There's nothing even close to this big for 10-year-old boy baseball players, or 12-year-old softball players, or 12-year-old football players, etc. Why did we pick this? Simple: Little League made a big deal out of it. Then, ESPN chose to market it as an event we should care about.

    People forced us to care about this event. This was a manufactured event, one that makes no sense in its existence.

    And I disagree with SF's point. It's only going to get bigger. It's getting bigger now. It won't be long before regular-season games between "elite" teams are televised, in the same way high school sports are televised. And I have a problem with that. Just as is true for high school students, these kids aren't getting anything but a free hat and T-shirt from being on these teams, even as the teams are helping ESPN and Little League (or high schools and conferences) rake in money. There's not even scholarships and education. If they're on TV, pay the players. I'm with Wetzel on this.

    Then again, my actual take is: Don't put them on TV.
     
  9. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    I've run into an unexpected quorum that thinks this is all very bad. I'm not quite sure if it's a snowball thing here or what, but obviously there are some people who think it's wrong.

    All I know is there are a lot of us out here who don't think it's that bad at all. Screaming coaches and pushy parents are not taken lightly where I'm from, and they are definitely not supported.

    Full disclosure: My hometown won the U.S. championship in 1990, played the Taiwanese before 30,000 at Lamade. Last Pennsylvania team to win the U.S. I know all those kids, and you had some of the dropouts, a kid or two who didn't turn out so well. But far and away, they turned out to be well-adjusted adults. And significantly, the stars of that team -- and they had two well-defined stars -- turned out pretty well.

    And if these kids are running all over the country to play, I'd prefer they do it in a situation where they have some fan interest and support rather than the travel-ball model, where they play entire weekends in a vacuum. That right there lifts Little League over Pony or Khoury or Ripken baseball for me. Not that Little League deserved to be more popular. It just is, whether there are pockets, like Oklahoma, where it's not as big.
     
  10. UPChip

    UPChip Well-Known Member

    Teased from 1, was main art on page 3.

    I'm nowhere near SoCal, and frankly, I consider the publicity level to be rather cynical these days, but there was definitely interest, and it was a slow weekend here.
     
  11. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Don't get me wrong, shotglass, I hate the travel ball model even more. And Little League basically defines my childhood. And, as you've noted, with rare exception, most of us who were part of the core group of Little Leaguers who went on to play high school ball are all well-adjusted, well-educated contributors to society.

    Despite my referencing of Shooter, this is actually one of those situations where I think that coverage of 12-year-olds is inherently wrong, not wrong because of a study or consequences down the road or any such thing. I don't believe that youth sports - pretty much nothing below varsity high school level - should receive media coverage. Let them be kids.
     
  12. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

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

    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.
     
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