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<\/td>\nWhy is it every time I find a really feel good story,
\n something that restores my faith in the existence of pure American values,
\n somewhere among the aisles of this vast supermarket of a nation, my find
\n turns to dust in my mouth (to badly mangle a metaphor) in a flurry of
\n contrarian media reports.<\/p>\n
As the winners and losers of that storied ritual of late summer evenings
\n culminating millions of afternoon practices and games on dusty diamonds
\n around the world head home to accolades and school supply shopping, <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
attacks are appearing on the airwaves and internet, alleging
\n that the purity of the rite has been irrevocably compromised and that the
\n whole World Series idea should be dropped.The criticisms are falling
\n into three general categories.<\/p>\n
1) Kids Can’t (Shouldn’t) Throw Curves : As reported here, Mike Scuzzerella,
\n Saugus’s 95 lb ace hurler throws a wicked curve, and has been honing it
\n since he was seven. Shame on him, his coach for allowing it, his
\n parents for permitting it and me for reporting it. It has been widely reported
\n as scientific fact (since I am not a scientist I can’t vouch for this myself)
\n that kids who throw curve balls before they are 14 or 15 will be drinking
\n their beer through long straws by the time they are 40. Rips up their
\n elbows, appearantly. <\/p>\n
2) The kids are often poorly served or even unhinged by the intense media
\n spotlght. Don’t we love to bitch about the culture of privilege and
\n pampering which produces such an amazingly high percentage of criminals,
\n assholes and psychopaths among major professional athletes. Well, this
\n is how it starts. We are all guilty of glorifying and worshiping a
\n bunch of spoiled 12-year-old kids, some of whom will continue to be lionized
\n until they either one of the aforementioned unpleasant pros or burn out.<\/p>\n
3) The interest and face time afforded the Little League World Series So anyway, I am disillusioned and disconverted by this revolting development. On Why is it every time I find a really feel good story, something that restores my faith in the existence of pure American values, somewhere among the aisles of this vast supermarket of a nation, my find turns to dust … Continue reading
\n has spawned widespread
\n gambing<\/a> on this most innocent manifestation of the
\n national pastime. Especially on on-line betting sites, there were
\n constantly moving lines on the winners, the over\/under, the number of runs
\n scored. A disaster waiting to happen! Only a matter of time until
\n shady gambling interests try to entice a kid to pad the score, or even
\n throw a game.<\/p>\n
\n the other hand, it’s hard to think of a more American triumverate than
\n Media Stars, gambling and physical abuse.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"