re: Final Four. Little League World Series. Guess what? Race in play?

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best part about this thread is exactly why soccer is becoming so huge in the states

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You mean the effeminate European "football" with all the aimless running to generate 2 or 3 goals in an average game?

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Of course not. That's a pretty superficial way to judge people, not that I've heard them talk anyway.

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Yeah, you can't tell anything about a person by how he talks.

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Baseball in general is the shittiest sport. Regardless if Aggies play it, Tigers play it, or inner-city kids play it.

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I'd take baseball and even soccer over basketball.

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I'd take baseball and even soccer over basketball.

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Basketball is monotonous.

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You may not be able to tell how good a person is by how they speak, but you can glean quite a lot otherwise.

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Bottom line: listen to them say their names and who their favorite players are.

I don't know about all that but they are a pretty good team. I have watched a bunch of it but I expect Nevada to smoke them - once again.

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The point I was getting at earlier is that competing in little league at this level takes a considerable time commitment on the part of the parents, that derelict parents aren't usually willing to make.

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I agree 100%

To all,

I grew up in the 50s when baseball was the dominant sport in the US. We didn't need subsidies or programs to encourage us to play. Hell, we didn't need anything except a ball a bat and a vacant lot.
We didn't need an infield, a backstop, an umpire, insurance. Some of us had gloves the rest of us had bare hands.

We played every day during spring and summer. Spring was a problem because we couldn't start games till after school and darkness came way too early. Mom and Dad didn't have to go looking for us. They knew we would come home when we couldn't see the ball.

All of this happened from ages 8 to 10. By the time we went to organized ball (little league) we had skills from 1,000s of hours of unsupervised play that required no further coaching. Just make out the line up card, coach.

Today, there are no vacant lots filled with kids playing ball on their own. You have to have money to put your kid on travel teams and get private instruction. It's a shame.

And when I see all the Latin American players in MLB I know that they grew up like I did. Playing every day from the time you can walk. If the ball gets a cut, put tape around it. And for God's sake if it's rolling toward a storm drain in the street you better dive for it.

I remember in the late 70s in Monroe we'd play in the street with an aluminum bat and a tennis ball, the only time we'd stop in the summer was when the mosquito truck passed and we'd play in the fog and chemicals from it as soon as it was gone