[thumpferee]

Originally posted by His High Holiness
If I may add my 2 cents:

I make fun of Little League because of the hypocrisy of it all. It is suppose to be about kids, however, the season ends for 80% of the kids before they even get out of school. Instead of playing baseball all summer, 80%+ of them are sent home by the middle of June to make way for the All Stars. By July 4, 95%+ have been eliminated so that crazy coaches can live out their fantasy of going to the Little League World Series. The summer has barely begun and 95+% kids are not playing baseball.

If Little League was for kids, there would be a program all summer long for ALL kids to play in, not just the all stars. Instead, the regular season is packed into their school year when they have homework and 99 other things to do.

Little League is an adult fantasy program masquerading as a program for children. They are not satisfied that All Stars cannot practice until June. (I have been told that it is illegal for Little League All Stars to practice more than 2 weeks before the start of tournaments. If I am wrong, correct me.) Around here, they form a separate league in the previous fall for the top players who they think will be the All Stars the next year. The All Star teams play each other all fall, and beginning again in April thru June, to get a leg up on the teams that play by the rules. They also play regular LL to "qualify" for the All Stars. However, I cannot believe that the DC area is the only one involved in this organized "cheating" so I guess that no one is disadvantaged. (except the kids developing minds about what is right and wrong)

How do I know this? They hire my umpire association for $100 an umpire to umpire these games for kids as young as 10. They only want the best. Little League umpires will not do. The only 60 foot games that I have called in 10 years were in one of these programs. I might add that they play pretty good baseball. I wrote about it last fall right here.

Now you know why it is referred to as sleazeteamz. Little League is sleazy and eteamz is a bastion of Little Leaguers. Danny Almonte is not an aberation, he is the embodiment of what the program is all about. The only thing that he did wrong was get caught.

Years ago, Firestone sponsored an event called the soap box derby which was for kids. The soap box derby morphed into a event much like Little League today which was an event for adults. Cheating was rampant. Firestone recognized that the soap box derby was terminally flawed and canned the program rather than allowing the hyprocrisy to continue. Little League Baseball should do the same. But they will not. The millions of dollars of TV contracts for the World Series insures that it will be around for decades.

Peter

=1 cent. Donate it to the LL fund so thay can play throughout the summer.