The kids are pretty damn good!

Do not forget for one moment that the Little League World Series is brought to you by Kellogs Frosted Flakes. They are, by the way, grrrrrrrreat! Little League, like it or not, is a business and it appears that business is good. You can buy all sorts of LL stuff from pennants to uniforms. Most if not all games are available on ESPN/ABC. Not bad for something that, when I was a young Ferrerman playing ball, was shown on tape-delay on ABC's Wide World Of Sports. Did you know that the LLWS was how Howard Cosell began his obnoxious television sports career? Yep, back in the day he was legal counsel to Little League and when they went to TV, they needed someone to call the games. I guess he was all they had.

Nowadays, Karl Ravetch from ESPN does the main games with ex-big leaguers like Nomar Garciaparra and Barry Larkin. In the past Jim Palmer and Harold Reynolds have honed their broadcasting skills calling LLWS games. They all do well.

It's pretty damn good coverage too. Maybe too good?

These are 12 and 13 year old kids. Let's not forget that they are kids.

Kids come in all sizes and are now available in both sexes in the LLWS. I haven't seen her pitch yet but the sensation of this season is Mo Ne Davis, a 13 year old Black girl from Philadelphia's Taney Dragons. She's not the first girl to play in the series (18th) but she's the best so far. She throws 70 mph which is the equivalent of nearly 100mph in major league terms. The pitching rubber is 45 feet from home plate in LL, 60 feet six inches in MLB. She's normal sized. I guess but, I hear there's a couple of kids who are six foot two. That is current Ferrerman territory. Yikes.

My favorite kid so far played his last game, last night. His name is Trey Thibeault (pronounced Tebow) and he's a chunky kid with glasses. He looks like kids in Little League everywhere should look. He can pitch and hit too, with two homers to his credit. His Rhode Island team lost to the all black Chicago team which has been another great story of this season.

As always at this level, your going to see some great baseball and you're going to see some really poor play. These are kids. If you have any or were ever one yourself, you know they can be emotional. They can also throw to the wrong base.  They are playing on TV! They should be like other 12 year old's and frantically waving at the camera when it's on them but, they have a ball game to play. That's got to be a lot of pressure on a kid. It's the World Series! Whether they do great or screw up, there are replays for the viewers to watch. Plays are even reviewed to see if the umpire made the right call, just like in MLB.

One more thing I like: the coaches who get this far seem to be the mature adult ones who understand that they are guiding children here, in a child's game. How many crazy coaches have we seen or heard about who scream at their own players as well as the opposing ones and take every play  so personally? Too many. They don't generally make it this far. That should tell you something. I think that is grrrrrrreat. The kids are alright. Go Great Lakes but, may the best team win!