Friday, August 26, 2011
Little League World Series
When first glancing at the brackets, one might think about how unfair it is. One bracket is jam packed with American teams, as the other contains international teams. Although it seems as though America has many more chances to win, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, or other international teams are always competing at the championship level. I give a lot of credit to the international coaches and the hard work they put in, but I'm not here to talk about how great and ethically correct they are. Along with problems revolving around the age limit and how many kids are following the rules, the kids' health is also becoming an issue. Twelve and thirteen year old kids throwing 80+ pitches (half of which are curveballs, sliders, or other junk pitches) is terrible for their arms. This is the reason why most pitchers who participate in the LLWS don't have a very successful future in baseball. Of course you hear a few stories about major league players who played in the LLWS but very few pitchers. One way of relieving stress on the kids could be revising the pitch count rules to be far stricter, unless of course the coaches and Little League Baseball really don't care about kids' arms and are only in it for the money or fleeting fame. Watching little kids throwing the ball 76+ MPH and releasing hard sliders that break into the ground is a lot more fun. The game of baseball and Little League coaches should protect talented young players' arms if they wish to maintain a promising future for the kids and the Little League World Series.
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I don't really know that much about little league, but its cool that its on the international level. Shows how sports can unite the world!
ReplyDeleteMoving back the mound for 12 year olds and banning curve balls until they are fourteen (better to require an x-ray that determines if their growth plate is closed) would also help.
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely agree with you, Mr. Kramer. I think the league should do something to better the health of their players. There are a variety of things that would make the situation safer for the kids, and it's a problem that the leagues aren't doing anything about it. One of the biggest problems with sports these days is the money. Everyone is trying to make more money, and if damaging kids arms is a way to get more money, than they are going to continue to do it.
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