[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by jicecone

More properly stated though, "Little League's rather strict rules on how local leagues must be structured" and societies obsession with winning at all costs, "is one of the reasons participation in Little League, both at the player and league level, has been going down in recent years."

You should take out the word Societies and put in the word Williamsport

Most if not all LL Regionals and ultimately the LLWS can now be seen on ESPN. That's approx 2 weeks of coverage.
You can bet that Williamsport wants to put on a "good show"

If the various districts STRICTLY adhered to the LL wording, do you think ESPN would waste their time televising it.

LL All Stars around the country has been "stacked" for years now. In addition, many of the LL players we see on TV have played together for years from select leagues to LL.

We had the TOMS River dinasty

The team from Florida (I think it was Apoca or something like that)

Then as Dave eluded to the Texas Team

This year there will be "someone else"

In addition to be more competitive LL changed the cut-off birth date from April 1st to August 1st beginning next year, so in essence you will have 13 yr. olds playing on a 60 ft. diamond.

As long as the LLWS is on TV for all to view, there will be some leagues that try and manipulate the system.

To Peter Osborne:

If you are going to write an article about LL, make certain you include some verbiage about Williamsport.

It might be society but one look no further than LL Headquarters itself.

Pete Booth