Baseball and Life...

To some (ok - many) baseball is life.

Unfortunately, most of the people who may believe this are office jockeys/cubicle tenents that are living their lives through their fantasy baseball teams. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fantasy baseball player (1st season) but spend less than 1 hour a week dealing with it... there are too many other things to do at this stage of my life.

The only ones that have the "right" to think that baseball is life are the kids. 5 - 13 year olds in particular playing in all the various Little League and other rec leagues in the world.

Just tune in to ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC over the next week and watch some of these kids playing in the Little League World Series in PA. Passion, desire, blood, sweat, tears, smiles. It's all there... these kids are giving all they got for the love of the game.

No million $$ contracts, no endorsement deals - just the game.

Sure, now almost all the games are on national TV and these kids are beating some of the pros in the highlight reals on ESPN Sports Center but it's only because of the purity of the game (and the fact that these kids are damn good athletes). Example - http://youtube.com/watch?v=cgsv6CBZ5sc




Certainly the fact is that the majority of these kids will never make the major leagues, but there are plenty of examples of those that did, and because of their experience in the Little League that they are giving back to the organization.

I remember my days in Little League baseball, very fondly. Never had the chance to do what these kids are doing on national TV, but was thrilled the year we got to play under the lights in a championship game. For that night, we were pros. For the kids in PA, they are experiencing something that will never be taken from them - even beyond the baseball.