As a mother whose children play organized sports- including baseball- I find myself watching those children and thinking not of the parents who support the children (and all those dang fundraisers we have to put up with), not of the coaches who volunteer their time and energy to the children (because they get at least as much out of it as their players), and not of the losers, who will remember in time, that they made it to that level.

I think of those boys who won and wonder: what next? What if that's the biggest thing that ever happens to them? Let's face it, most of our lives are pretty mundane, and going to the Little League World Championships is pretty amazing....so what if their biggest memory of accomplishment ends up being something that happened when they were 12?

And I have seen too many kids get burnt out on a sport because they were overstressed and overplayed. It is one of the reasons I haven't allowed my little star goalie (and he's been 'recruited' since his second year) to play "travel" hockey....too intense, too competitive. Time enough for both of those in one's chosen sport! Let those young players enjoy the innocence of playing for the sheer joy of it, with a gradual stepping up of competition. They are far more likely to stick with a sport, and will at least enjoy it more.

It's a game. A game. Fun. Fun. We need to make sure they don't lose that feeling of playing the sport- not working the sport.

I read an article [Peter King?] this week about the media coverage of this event. The writer pointed out that ESPN tries not to get too heavily into the replay thing for the exact reason that these are kids and they don't want to harp on the mistakes, bad calls, etc.

So it's probably a good thing that the people watching at home couldn't see the replay over and over in slo-mo. Best to let the call stand and the kids get on with life.

Good comments above. The irony is that the part that I see — the game — looks like the least fun part for the players and coaches. But would I want my kid to be able to play in the L.L.W.S.? Sure. Win or lose, he'd be telling stories for life. I just hate to see those kids crying on both sides every damn game. I wonder if naming a world champion of pre-teens is unnecessary.

One other thought: Each team is made up of all-stars: the best athletes in town. I'm not sure they grow up to be the nicest people in high school, and I wonder how much of the adulation bestowed upon a 12-year-old breaking ball is responsible for that.

And ESPN is right not to get too heavily into mistakes and replays. But psssst ... that guy blew the call (and that wasn't Ichiro flying down the line).

just pointing out the fact that i'm commenting on a NON sex related post. don't point out the fact that I actually don't have a comment for this post though :P

An interesting post about Little League. Makes one stop and think.

I think the kids are old enough to learn about the agony of defeat, that in real life we don't always win, and that it is okay to feel passion and cry every now and then.

Or, that's what I think right now.

Except for stickball, some company softball games and Monday night beer and league bowling the only experience I ever had with sports was intermural sports in college. The most fun I had was when we played tackle football (no equipment) during club hours on Wednesdays) I didn't really care if we won or lost, I was just so into the rush of clobbering people. I loved catching guys bigger then me low and fliping them 180 degrees. That was a great rush along with body blocks.

Sports should be about the high you get doing what you love. I don't know if that is Zen. But that is how I always felt.

Lucy hit it on the head. For the majority of people, life is pretty mundane. Those boys will be telling the story of this game until they die. For some , it'll be a motivating factor in future accomplishments. For others, it'll be their glory days. Either way, I think they become better for it.

You think kids benefit long-term from playing a nationally televised game this competitive at 12? I doubt it. I don't think there are many life lessons learned from playing for the national and world championship at 12 when the town or county championship would have sufficed.

I'm not sure there are negative long-term effects, either, but why play games where the kids are crying so damn much?

I don't think the crying part or the national competition are that much of an issue. When I was 13, I cried when my soccer team lost our town league's "cup game". [I know, I'm a girl. But I'm pretty tough for a girl!]
I was the goalie; we lost 1-0 with 32 seconds left in the second sudden death overtime. I still have two scars on the inside of my right knee from the last play of the game. But it made no lasting impression. Really, it didn't. I'm okay now.

I think it's actually a good sign that the kids are crying because it's a normal reaction to the situation. If they were all ice cold and super-professional about it, I'd be worried.

I think the real problem is the media coverage. It shouldn't be televised, at least not live. Way too much pressure for 12-year-old kids. These aren't those almost-professional-live-1000-miles-away-from-home-to-live-breathe-eat-drink-and-shit-gymnastics freaks. These are normal kids who probably play a little too much baseball [I read that they practice 5 hours/day. I wonder if they ever have time to learn how to swim.]. I don't know about those baseball players, but I know I have no interest in watching a tape of that cup game and seeing my 13-year-old self lying in front of the goal, bawling like an idiot. And I definitely wouldn't want it showing up on ESPN Classic for all eternity!

And on a completely different note, just what is our fascination with all sports played by males, no matter how young, when nobody will watch a professional women's basketball league on TV?

Regarding Hank Aaron, yes he is THE underrated athlete of our time. He's also a pretty great human being. He was one of the first African American baseball players to suffer through playing in the minors in the south, and did it with dignity and grace. When he got around to breaking Ruth's HR record, he was bombarded with death threats in a sad episode in American history.
I was lucky enough to hang around him last week when he came to Milwaukee to raise money for his "Chasing the Dream Foundation" charity that helps inner city kids in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Mobile and Detroit. (It's adding Chicago and LA later this year). He was classy, kind and amenable to everyone at the charity golf outing he hosted. (He'll never be confused with Tiger Woods on the links, tho!)

BHW,

The large majority of female athletes are not attractive, therefore men will not watch. They will watch the Anna K's (tennis) and the Heather Mitts (soccer)on occasion because they are hot. The only way I can ever see men watching WNBA is if the women all looked like Playboy playmates, could actually play hoops well, and then make out with each other at the end of the game. Really, why would men want to watch big,scary women play hoops and act like men?

I am a woman and the only female athletes I watch are golf. It is because I love golf, and enjoy watching anyone play. I guess women's sports doesn't appeal to me because I was an athlete in high school and college, and I find that the ones that go pro behave like men. If I am going to watch someone play ball like a man, then I would prefer it be a man.

I take my neices to the Philadelphia Charge, women's soccer, games all of the time. We have fun, but it is not as exciting to watch as men's.

The only way I can ever see men watching WNBA is if the women all looked like Playboy playmates, could actually play hoops well, and then make out with each other at the end of the game.

Snort!

Or you could substitute all of that for "if the women played nekkid".

Really, why would men want to watch big,scary women play hoops and act like men?

I guess I'm not sure what that means. First, as you point out later in your post using yourself as an example, neither men nor women turn out in droves for professional women's leagues. It's not just men who aren't watching, although they make up the majority of the sports audience in general.

Second, why is it that women are "big and scary" because they're big and strong? Why is that scary? Why is it a negative?

And lastly, why do you say women are acting like men when they play sports? All men don't act the way I see male athletes act on TV. Most don't. My husband doesn't walk around the house thumping his chest and screaming like a banshee every time he successfully takes out the trash, or at work, when he writes a kick-ass java app.

Maybe what you're describing is the way *athletes* behave, and not men in general. The only athletic role models women have are -- surprise -- male athletes!

I guess it just bothers me to hear women called "scary" because they've decided that athletic success is more important to them than fulfilling a [male] standard of women's beauty or appropriate behavior.

What is it exactly that would qualify as "playing like a woman" instead of a like a man?

Regarding David Boston: All I gotta say is DAMN!!. I saw him play my Texans last night and he seems to have the whole package. He looks better than a Sterling Sharpe, Shannon Sharpe, Terrel Owens, etc. The guy is 6'4" and 245 and has some wheels on him. Brees stuck it right in there and I think they will prove to be a lethal combo. If you take that most cbs in the league are 5'9" and about 185lbs, wrs like Boston are totally overmatched and will wreak havoc.

I like the Chargers this year to make it at least to the first round of the playoffs.

I should have been more specific in my post. As I stated--as a former H.S. and college athlete myself- the competitive nature of female athletes/teams isn't as interesting to ME as the male athletes. The female athletes that I played with and against in college were big and nasty and that is just my own opinion. I have given it a chance-- I have attended Phila. Charge games, 2 WNBA games and 1 Phila. Liberty (female pro football league)game in the last 2 years. Just not enjoyable to me. The stands are filled with young HS and college girls who play those specific sports themselves. So maybe the female athletes are role models for the young future of women's sports.

I asked a male friend what he thought about women's sports, and believe it or not he agreed with my statement (and yours as well, that they should get naked). Though, he mentioned how he enjoys watching women's tennis, and I agree with that as well. I am not trying to set the women's movement back or even go against my own. I love all sports, but I just prefer to watch men play. Depending on what sport a woman plays, like myself, her career should end at college.

I've always thought the LLWS bordered on cruelty.

-- Cut to: weeping children.
-- Cut to: weeping parents.
-- Cut to: cheering children/parents.

All with Brent Musberger yapping in the background.

Are we that empty that we must experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat through 12-year-old children? And for a week straight on ABC/ESPN? No wonder we have parents killing each other after games.

(And no, it doesn't surprise me ESPN is in on this. They really have no shame.)

My best bud went to college on a golf scholarship. A woman's golf scholarship. And this was right before Title IX...she was a cheerleader in high school because that was the only 'sport' available to her. You don't even want to get her going on the subject of women's sports...

She's not the only woman I know who was a cheerleader because that's all there was for girls- that presumption that not only were girls not as able to play as boys, but also that girls wouldn't want to play as tough and get as dirty as boys. We've come a long way from the days when girls were thought to be more interested in boys and makeup then sports!

Then I read the comment on here from a female former hs and college athlete (hey, guess why you were able to be a hs and college athlete) who doesn't like watching women athletes, and presents the idea that men don't watch because the women at that level aren't 'attractive'. So we're back to girls and looks and make-up again?

I don't watch WNBA because I find basketball to be (for the most part) boring as hell. I go to a friend's daughter's softball games so I can watch the girls play. They play (not withstanding the fact that it is softball instead of baseball) differently than boys, and that is part of the interest for me. I imagine when they get older, if they still play, they might resemble men athletes in their play, but that might be because at the highest level of a sport, the skills involved are non-negotiable, regardless of gender.

My former mother-in-law is one of the most athletic women I know- and she, too, was a cheerleader in hs and college because that was all that was available. She'll kick your ass in tennis and most definitely in golf, she can ski with the best, she taught all my boys to swim, and she is the substitute assistant coach "on call" for all the boys' baseball teams. You could NEVER call her unfeminine- she's definitely a girlie girl. (or the equivalent at her age) What she wouldn't have given to be able to have the chance to play competitively in high school and college- you'd probably know her name if she had had that opportunity, she's that good.

But of course, those who enjoy the benefits of Title IX probably wouldn't watch her, because she's not a man and wouldn't take off her clothes at the end.

Which I find pretty damn depressing.

So, Jayson Stark doesn't think Bonds will pass Aaron just because no one prior to Bonds has produced in his 40's? I got news for you, folks - Bonds will pass Aaron. He'll need to average a little over 30 home runs for the next three years to do it. At 39, he'll probably put up about 50 this season, depending on how much time he takes off to spend with his family after the death of his father, Bobby.

Stark's argument that he won't do it because no ballplayer has been very productive in his 40's doesn't hold water when you think about the different training and fitness regimens ballplayers have today. Go compare Bonds' offseason workouts at his age to what Aaron was doing in the offseason at his age. I wouldn't be surprised if Bonds winds up with nearly 800 career home runs.

I really wish a man would comment on why they do or do not watch women's sports...

I too went to college on an athletic scholarship. Yes, I enjoyed being an all star athlete. I do not feel women's sports is as enjoyable to watch as men's. I am not going to act like I enjoy it just because they are women. There are male sports/teams that I don't care for either. I do not see what the big deal is.

If a woman chooses to be a professional athlete, well then more power to her. It is unfortunate that women would want to be as regarded and recognized as much as the male athletes, yet settle for so much less in the $ department to play the same sports. What about that equality? I do not feel that girls should all be "girlie" and into make-up, clothes or even boys for that matter. I was raised by parents who encouraged me to do anything and everything I wanted to do. Being an athlete was a huge part of that, and of who I am today. It afforded me an education that I could not have paid for otherwise, and I am greatful for that. I have to admit, though that I didn't follow women's sports back then either. I find it interesting that women won't rag on female athletes, but look down on cheerleaders. They are athletes as well.

I had the complete opposite reaction to this game. All I could think about was: this is what sports is about. These kids cared about the game and I don't think it was because they were on tv.. they are too young to be that cynical. I was thinking: this is one of the last times it's about loving a sport before it becomes about where they are going to get a scholarship or if they can go pro. It's just about playing and being part of a team.
and as an aside.. I don't know about the town in Florida, but Saugus, MA isn't the greatest place to be from. It may indeed be the most exciting thing that happens to these kids. (flame me if you want).

The Jayson Stark article seems pretty weak to me. I mean, you can keep giving examples of the lack of precedents to say that Bonds is never gonna hit 756, but isn't that the whole point of breaking records? No player had ever hit 73 homers or slugged .863 either. What Bonds has done over the past three seasons has no precedent, and from where I sit it looks life if Bonds decides he wants that record he has an excellent chance (at least 1-in-3) of getting it.

And I always wondered why Buice was featured in the Upper Deck two-card promo set (along with the much-coveted Joyner; I got the Buice).

DeWayne Buice, a b-ball player from the Angels, is my great uncle! He really is! He is my gradpa's brother.