Little League World Series

[MyAimIsTrue]

The 2014 LLWS begins today and I love how there are two girls in the tournament, one on the team from Vancouver, Canada and the other on the Mid-Atlantic region champs from Pennsylvania.

 

Nothing wrong with throwing like a girl!

[rippleintime17]

I love that there are girls too!

 

Plus, my absolute favorite broadcaster, Dave Flemming, will be calling the games for ESPN. 

[MyAimIsTrue]

I'm a baseball fanatic in general but really look forward to the LLWS each year as it's so much fun to watch (and I often cry when I see the kids crying.)  ESPN does a damn good job with its coverage and with the broadcasters.

[Rick Kitchen]

I love that there are girls too!

 

Plus, my absolute favorite broadcaster, Dave Flemming, will be calling the games for ESPN. 

 

But dammit, that means he won't be doing Giants games.

[rippleintime17]

But dammit, that means he won't be doing Giants games.

Yeah, he is "on assignment". He starts to miss quite a few around this time of year what with LLWS, then his college football games he does. A busy man, and it makes sense seeing as how good he is at what he does! 

[Rick Kitchen]

Great Lakes team is from inner city Chicago.  ABC News did a report on them tonight, it's the first time they've represented the region in 30 years.  Isn't the Mid Atlantic team from inner city Philadelphia, too?

[shoregirl]

Yes they are. I believe for the first time ever. The star on the Philly team is a 13 year old girl Mo'ne Davis. She has a 70 mph fastball.

Edited August 15, 2014 by shoregirl

[MyAimIsTrue]

A coworker of mine is a Philly area native and he explained how Taney Youth Baseball is an all inclusive league regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, etc. so they take kids from all around greater Philadelphia and no one is turned away even if the family can't afford the dues.  I really like that.  It's only their second year as a chartered Little League member and I think I'm going to root for them.

[AimingforYoko]

And Mo'Ne Davis pitches another CG shutout. She's definitely the media darling of the LLWS.

[MyAimIsTrue]

I am amazed by her poise.  She handles this interview so incredibly well.

 

http://espn.go.com/sports/llws14/story/_/id/11358935/little-league-world-series-philadelphia-beats-nashville-mone-davis-two-hitter

[rippleintime17]

It's pretty awesome that the Little League World Series has a marquee player. 

[topanga]

I watched a great game last night-the Pennsylvania vs. Texas game.  The ESPN coverage of the LLWS has been great. They film the game very professionally--multiple camera angles, replays, crowd shots, close-ups on the parents, etc.

Edited August 18, 2014 by topanga

[MyAimIsTrue]

I wasn't home last night so I missed the game in its entirety, but I hear it was a good one.

[topanga]

I'm a baseball fanatic in general but really look forward to the LLWS each year as it's so much fun to watch (and I often cry when I see the kids crying.)

 

 

I know. That's the only part of the game I don't like. Even if I was rooting for the winning team, watching those sobbing 12 and 13-year old kids always breaks my heart.

[MyAimIsTrue]

They might be good athletes but at the same time they're still kids and sometimes it breaks my heart to see them cry.

[AimingforYoko]

Mo'ne Davis makes the cover of Sports Illustrated.

[MyAimIsTrue]

I heard about the SI cover today and while part of me thinks it's an amazing honor the other part of me worries if it's too much pressure to put on a 13 year old.  That being said I look forward to my issue arriving in the mail later this week.

[DXD526]

There's been an incredible amount of pressure placed on Ms. Davis. She's handled it with such grace, but I don't know how much longer someone so young can do so. If she goes out tonight and throws another fabulous game, she must have ice water in her veins.

[topanga]

I'm rooting for Taney, but they'll have a hard time beating the team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which hasn't been talked about much in the media. But in their first two games, Nevada demolished the competition 12-2 and 13-2. One of the victories was against the Chicago JRW team, which is also very good.

[MyAimIsTrue]

There's been an incredible amount of pressure placed on Ms. Davis. She's handled it with such grace, but I don't know how much longer someone so young can do so. If she goes out tonight and throws another fabulous game, she must have ice water in her veins.

 

I've yet to see Philly play so I'm looking forward to tonight's game, but I also agree with you about how much longer a young person can handle these expectations.  Now I'm starting to worry about Mo'ne in a maternal way.

[topanga]

 

Now I'm starting to worry about Mo'ne in a maternal way.

Speaking of which, I've never seen an interview with her mom or dad. Has anyone seen one? Maybe this will be included in the SI article, but throughout the World Series, I've seen multiple interviews with players' parents and coaches' wives. And close-up bleacher shots at the very least. I wonder if Mo'Ne's family made the trip to Williamsburg.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Funny you should mention her family because I was thinking the same thing earlier today.  I'm sure someone is there with her.

 

And for the record I think I'm in love with Rhode Island's coach:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3H-krftI58

[shoregirl]

Little League strip Jackie Robinson West of the title. http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=12308988

Sad end.I feel bad for all the kids not only from this team but for all the teams that played them in what turned out to be not a fair game. I am suprised that it got as far as it did without anyone calling them out.

Edited February 11, 2015 by shoregirl

[MyAimIsTrue]

Shame, shame, shame on the adults who did this.  I feel for the kids of Jackie Robinson West as they're probably innocent in all this but will forever be labeled as cheaters.

[roamyn]

Shame on everyone calling out LLI as being racist!

I get so damn tired of the race card being pulled out when someone gets caught doing something wrong.

[Rick Kitchen]

It's kind of awkward that Brandon Green, the kid they trotted out to be the spokesman for the team, is one of them who was criticized for not living in the district.  And his mother said tonight in an interview that she didn't see what the big deal was, because Brandon has played in lots of different districts.  Okaaaaaay.

[Mittengirl]

Have they said how many kids are suspected of living out of the boundaries?

I feel bad for the kids that do live in the district, but were kept off the team by "imports".

[shoregirl]

I thought I read it was 3 or 4 but I could be wrong.

Edited February 14, 2015 by shoregirl

[Mean Machine]

I keep hearing that Jackie Robinson West was the first all African-American team to win the US championship.  Does nobody else remember Belmont Heights out of Tampa winning it in 1980 and losing to a team from Taiwan in the finals?  Future major-leaguers Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell were on the team.  I seem to recall that there were only black kids on that team.  Maybe I'm mistaken and they had a white kid or two.

 

Anyway, they need to change the format back to double-elimination.  It wasn't fair to begin with that JRW won the US title by beating the team from Vegas one time that had trounced them earlier in the tournament.

[Rick Kitchen]

The problem with double elimination is that ABC/ESPN can't predict if they're going to have a game or not.

[Mean Machine]

I realize it's all about the television schedule.  Just seems so blatantly unfair.  You have double-elimination at every level, from districts to sectionals to state to regionals, and then come the national tournament, you allow a team with one loss to beat an undefeated team and advance. 

 

They should at least go back to the two-bracket system and round-robin play they had for a while.  It wasn't a true double-elimination tournament but it was more fair than what they have now.

[topanga]

Shame on everyone calling out LLI as being racist!

I get so damn tired of the race card being pulled out when someone gets caught doing something wrong.

And I thought about race a different way. Because the team that broke the rules was an all-black team, there are many people in America who will think, "Of course, the black people cheated."  And that's the burden of race. As a black person, whatever you do in public is considered representative of all 13 million black people in America.

 

I feel so bad for the kids. A group of greedy and selfish adults has ruined a childhood memory for these kids.

[roamyn]

That's a good point Topanga. I never thought of it from that perspective.

People SHOULDN'T think that, but unfortunately they will.

And it's not just the coaches, but also the parents who are instilling the attitude that it's okay to cheat. These are good kids who are being held sway by cheating, apathetic & pushy adults.

[roamyn]

The Worldwide Little League Agency just removed District 4 from their roster. Thats the Jackie Robinson District

The kids can still play, they're reorganizing the borders.

This leads me believe there was other shit going around.

[topanga]

The Worldwide Little League Agency just removed District 4 from their roster. Thats the Jackie Robinson District

The kids can still play, they're reorganizing the borders.

This leads me believe there was other shit going around.

 

Well, the whistle-blowing coach was recently arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Not directly related to Little League, but it seems like that district needs to get coaches with better integrity.

Edited March 18, 2015 by topanga

[Rick Kitchen]

College baseball player kicked off the team for calling Mo'ne Davis a "slut" on twitter

[MyAimIsTrue]

Dumbass.  No child should be subjected to that type of name calling.  I bet he's jealous becasue Mo'ne is a better ballplayer than he is.

[Rick Kitchen]

Mo'ne has asked the school to reinstate the guy.

[MyAimIsTrue]

She's amazing.  With someone like Mo'ne as our future I feel so good about the direction of mankind.

[topanga]

I loved Mo'Ne's response, that the guy should be given a second chance.

 

That being said, the male baseball player was incredibly dumb to send out that tweet. Especially if he thought no one would see it or react to it. Mo'Ne is still the "it" girl when it comes to youth sports. But I don't think a tweet should end his college baseball career. A suspension maybe? Even that would be harsh but more understandable.

[DXD526]

This kid was too dim to know that calling someone he's never met a 'slut' was way out of line? How does anyone reach college age and not know that? Bad enough to sling that kind of mud at a woman, but a little girl? His parents did just a wonderful job of raising him. Shameful. 

 

I don't think I would have been as magnanimous as Mo'Ne. 

[MyAimIsTrue]

I updated the thread title to 2015 from 2014. 

 

What a tournament it's been so far!  I still can't get enough of the young Missouri pitcher's reaction to the massive grand slam he gave up as he was truly a kid at that moment and also a fan of the game.  His "HOLY CRAP!" and subsequent smile was so endearing to me.

 

The team from Texas looks good.  I love their coach, a law professor with dreadlocks.

[topanga]

I like watching this series because not only are these kids talented, but they're still kids. Good kids. A pitcher high-fives the batter who hit a home run off him, a runner checks on the baseman he slammed into when trying to get to second base, and spontaneous comments like the "Holy Crap." Everyone seems to be having so much fun while they're playing hard.

[MyAimIsTrue]

I loved the end of the Uganda/Chinese Tapei game when the kids swapped hats and posed for pictures together.  Too bad major leaguers can't play with such unbridled joy no matter the outcome.

[topanga]

So I'm watching Game 1 of the World Series last night with my family, and we all agreed that watching the Little League World Series is more fun. Probably because it's exciting to watch really, really talented kids do their best in games where they're playing solely for the love of the game and aren't being paid millions of dollars. 

[King of Birds]

I know this thread says "2015" - but bumping it up for tomorrow/ Sunday's final:  Endwell NY (US Champion) vs South Korea. 3pm EST on ABC and ESPN.

I've missed all of this year's LLWS after seeing some of the games last year.

Edited August 28, 2016 by King of Birds

[MyAimIsTrue]

For some reason I can't find where to edit the thread title even though I did it in 2015.  Anyway due to the Olympics and then my work travel last week I didn't watch any of the LLWS until the international and US championship games yesterday, and I look forward to the overall championship game today.  Go team New York!

[MyAimIsTrue]

Thread title edited to show 2016 and just in time for the final day of the tournament!

[xaxat]

I never thought the first World Championship (Take that NFL!)  parade I would see would be for the local Little League team.

Congrats ME!

Edited August 28, 2016 by xaxat

[Shannon L.]

I just heard that they won!  Congrats to them!  The son of a kid who went to my high school is on the team (and it doesn't surprise me--his entire family was big in sports and pretty much the talk of the town for as long as I was in high school and long after).