Little League World Series Thread - Page 3

housenuts · #21 08-21-2007, 05:47 AM

where can i wager on this?

manbearpig · #22 08-21-2007, 11:28 AM

My little brother was on the 2001 Florida team that lost to Japan in the finals. Pretty damn cool experience. Catching the first pitch by Dubya, 3 HR's in a row, ESPN interviews, having your face all over SI, USA Today, and other publications (he was catching when they lost, late throw to they plate, the picture is of him falling to his knees). The kids were treated like hero's when they got home.

Having said that, the quality of the baseball is way down now due to the proliferation of AAU, USSSA, and other traveling teams.

http://www.grobat.com/images/willandbush.jpg

Homer · #23 08-21-2007, 01:34 PM

I haven't watched much of this until now (mainly because the kids tend not to cry until the final rounds), but anyway, is it just me or does this Japanese kid have amazing control compared to the American pitchers?

12ressiMorP · #24 08-21-2007, 02:49 PM

[ QUOTE ]
12ressiMorP,

Really? I would love to hear what it is like from a player's perspective. If it was recently, what was all the media like? Playing in AAU Nationals were some of my favorite experiences from my childhood... I can't even imagine if the games were being televised on national TV.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea it was back in '96 when Chinese Taipei still cheated and everything. We won the US championship but got whooped in the World Championship game. I actually pitched and took the loss. I did hit a homerun in that game though which was cool. After that year, they kicked Taipei out of the LLWS until they stopped taking kids from all over the country and kids that may have been too old. All in all it was pretty crazy playing in front of 30k fans and being on TV. Kirby Puckett was the guest announcer that year so we met him, which I thought would be awesome. But, he gave us a speech before the World Championship game telling us something like "You're gonna have to play a perfect game to even come close to those guys cuz they are real good. It might still not be enough". So everyone from our team hated him after that. Weird/sick/funny story about one of the kids on the Latin American team: He got caught wacking off in front of a group of girls behind the stadium one day and got in trouble.

We were from a small town so we got treated like celebs for a while. I got mail from girls all over the world for a few years but I was too young to really capitalize on any of that. Myself and the other 2 good players on my team were supposed to go on Jay Leno but our coach didn't let it happen because they didn't invite the whole team. It was also around the time that Playstation first came out and we were supposed to do some promotional stuff at various malls in New England for it and get free [censored] but our coach nixed that also. We got a ton of free bats, gloves, etc from all the companies but our coach kept most of that stuff and just traded it in for new equipment for his teams. So yea, he was a real douche. We met Bill Clinton, and threw out the first pitch at fenway, and got to go on the field at halftime at a Patriot's game. Meeting Clinton was probably the coolest thing we did.

I also got hit with more fastballs to the back than I can count from that day on. All the way up through high school and American Legion, kids that didn't know me pretty much assumed I was an [censored] or was jealous or something and I got hit a lot. A lot of guys I met and played ball with after little league would tell me that they hated me before they met me, which I thought was pretty [censored] up.

That summer also [censored] up my elbow from that point on and I eventually blew it out completely my first year of college ball. It was a trade off that I don't mind because I wasn't going to the majors (unless I seriously juiced up) and we got a national championship and some great memories out of it.

cliff notes: played in the llws. it was pretty awesome eventhough we got crushed by taipei.

Homer · #25 08-21-2007, 02:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
12ressiMorP,

Really? I would love to hear what it is like from a player's perspective. If it was recently, what was all the media like? Playing in AAU Nationals were some of my favorite experiences from my childhood... I can't even imagine if the games were being televised on national TV.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea it was back in '96 when Chinese Taipei still cheated and everything. We won the US championship but got whooped in the World Championship game. I actually pitched and took the loss. I did hit a homerun in that game though which was cool. After that year, they kicked Taipei out of the LLWS until they stopped taking kids from all over the country and kids that may have been too old. All in all it was pretty crazy playing in front of 30k fans and being on TV. Kirby Puckett was the guest announcer that year so we met him, which I thought would be awesome. But, he gave us a speech before the World Championship game telling us something like "You're gonna have to play a perfect game to even come close to those guys cuz they are real good. It might still not be enough". So everyone from our team hated him after that. Weird/sick/funny story about one of the kids on the Latin American team: He got caught wacking off in front of a group of girls behind the stadium one day and got in trouble.

We were from a small town so we got treated like celebs for a while. I got mail from girls all over the world for a few years but I was too young to really capitalize on any of that. Myself and the other 2 good players on my team were supposed to go on Jay Leno but our coach didn't let it happen because they didn't invite the whole team. It was also around the time that Playstation first came out and we were supposed to do some promotional stuff at various malls in New England for it and get free [censored] but our coach nixed that also. We got a ton of free bats, gloves, etc from all the companies but our coach kept most of that stuff and just traded it in for new equipment for his teams. So yea, he was a real douche. We met Bill Clinton, and threw out the first pitch at fenway, and got to go on the field at halftime at a Patriot's game. Meeting Clinton was probably the coolest thing we did.

I also got hit with more fastballs to the back than I can count from that day on. All the way up through high school and American Legion, kids that didn't know me pretty much assumed I was an [censored] or was jealous or something and I got hit a lot. A lot of guys I met and played ball with after little league would tell me that they hated me before they met me, which I thought was pretty [censored] up.

That summer also [censored] up my elbow from that point on and I eventually blew it out completely my first year of college ball. It was a trade off that I don't mind because I wasn't going to the majors (unless I seriously juiced up) and we got a national championship and some great memories out of it.

cliff notes: played in the llws. it was pretty awesome eventhough we got crushed by taipei.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very cool.

Homer · #26 08-21-2007, 04:27 PM

This Ohio coach is garbage, scolds a kid for throwing to first on what was a bang-bang play, after initially bobbling a ground ball. Retard little league coaches piss me off.

TalkingDonkey · #27 08-21-2007, 04:43 PM

Can't take LLWS seriously at all. Every time I turn it on it seems more and more like the key to winning is just having one monster gas-throwing 12 year old and then sitting back and watching him strike out the whole other team.

Ponies · #28 08-21-2007, 06:43 PM

Has a kid ever charged the mound or started a brawl or something? That would be too funny.

tuq · #29 08-21-2007, 08:07 PM

12,

Awesome post. Kirby Puckett's "pep talk" was LOL.

Your Mom · #30 08-21-2007, 09:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Can't take LLWS seriously at all. Every time I turn it on it seems more and more like the key to winning is just having one monster gas-throwing 12 year old and then sitting back and watching him strike out the whole other team.

[/ QUOTE ]

85 pitch limit helps limit this a little bit.