[kylejt]

LL is only as good as the local folks bustin' their *** at the local level.

The park I work at isn't perfect, but it's pretty close. Run by the book by a pretty hard working core of people. You'd be hard pressed to find a better place for kids to play ball.

To the north of us it's not like that at all. Hell, one league wants to leave LL altogether, and go to PONY. (They got bent out of shape because they got excluded from a post season tourney. Not paying district dues, and not attending meetings will do that). So they blame LL for not letting their kids play. Oh yeah, and their treasurer did time for grabbing $40K. Oh wait, that was the league on the south of us.

To our east and west, the play PONY. For years they've struggled to produce good high school players. And this has zero to do with the rule set, or field size. They just have poor organizations, and even worse coaches. It's that simple. Oh yeah, they're leading off, and calling balks at 9, but it doesn't seem to making a difference at age 14.

Look, LL, PONY, Dixie, Ripken, etc., it just doesn't matter what patch the kids wear on their shoulders. They're all only as good as the folks willing to step forward and make their organization work.

Oh, and "real" baseball is played at 90 feet, with wood bats, metal cleats, beer in the stands and rules that let you steamroll the catcher. Everything else is compromise for age and ability.