Lemont Little League to the LL World Series

The first Illinois team since South Holland in 1983.

SOUTH SIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats to the Lemont Little League team and the Homer Heat, too.

Nice that communities can work together...for the kids.

Hats off to them and good luck in PA!

What a great experience for those kids. Congrats to all involved!

Heads up job by the Lemont team last night...
Feel bad for the New York team...shame on the
coaches!!!

Also, shame on the coaches for not verbally reprimanding the boy that yelled out "we're only down one f...... run!" It's really bad
when you have to have a delayed broadcast on
a 12 year old baseball game!

2ndbasemom,

How 'ya doing? Bret must be back in Carbondale getting ready for his sophomore year. Best of luck to him always.

I've got a little different opinion about what happened last night. I heard on ESPN today that they received thousands of e-mails critical of the coach for his little slap to the face of the young man that dropped the F bomb. Are you serious? This kid should have had his 12 year old mouth washed out with soap right in the dugout. Is this language by pre-teens now part of our culture? Where must be the parental discipline if that is how a kid talks as if it was nothing? I thought the coach used great restraint considering the fact that he was wearing a microphone and knew that the whole world just heard one of his players embarrass himself, his coach and his team.

People, get real out there. You'd think that the coach beat this boy with a stick or something. IMO, he got just what he deserved and probably a lot less.

Hey coach, better watch out for the ACLU!

Does anyone besides me really miss Harold Reynolds both on Baseball Tonight and these LL games? What exactly did he do to get fired on the spot?

rosy,

Great post Rosy. Acceptance of many
"lesser" profane words is far too prevelant these days.

I, too miss Reynolds.......heard he was a bit too flirty with a young woman working at ESPN and she complained about harrassment and employers are more likely to allow the use of the "F word" on live TV than to hear the words sexual harrassment from a woman employee without a quick reaction. I heard he may resurface on another network doing game commentary.

Have you spent any time in the hallways or lunch room of a junior high lately? A 12 or 13 year old dropping the F bomb is a relatively common occurance I am afraid.

I have to disagree with my good friends Rosy and Fastball on this one. Of course the use of profanity exists and should not be encouraged. However, a coach should not ever, never, strike a 12-13 year old child...never. There is no excuse for it. The coach could have removed the player from the game, or suspended him from the team for using that language. That would teach the player not to use the language...and that he has let his team down by his behavior/language. I coached youth baseball for over 12 years and although provoked by a lot of inappropriate behavior, I never struck a player. If I had, I would never have been allowed to coach again.

One more incident occurred last night in the Oregon/Missouri game. The Oregon coach came out to talk with his pitcher and exclaimed "the ump is squeezing the s#@t out of you". Again, I can't condone this behavior. These are 12 year old kids. I don't care if they use that kind of language...I don't think an adult, especially someone in a position of authority and role model, should use that language around children.

I don't want my concerns to be viewed as "naive". Yes, I know that younger kids use inappropriate language. However, to just brush it aside saying "well, that's just the way it is" is a copout. These adults should provide a more positive example...not to use profanity nor to strike other individuals. I think both managers/coaches should be held accountable.

Boris, great post and I agree! Two wrongs do not make a right. None of these acts should be condoned.

Let's all Chill!!! And let the boys play...

The best thing to do would be to take the mics off of the coaches and out of the dugouts. If they want to talk to the coaches then turn the mic on. Just like the big leagues.

Rosy, the ACLU supports free speech, why would the coach have to worry about them? Maybe the local police for hitting a kid. Are you seriously saying the coach not only should have slapped the kid, but gone farther? You say he had a mic on, so that made what the kid said worse. If the coach had gone farther with audio and video, he might have been arrested.

By the way, wasn't Top Tier the program that had issues with a coach that drops the f-bomb frequently? It is in an earlier thread. Rosy, at what age is it OK to swear at a baseball game? Or is it only OK when your kid is in the program?

This post isnt about top tier bballdad so leave them out of this..this post is about little league baseball dealing with 12 and 13 year olds... no coaches of premiere travel teams that deal with 18 year old legal adults

Not coaches** excuse me

Profanity is the attempt of an immature mind to
express itself!

Are we sure the Coach was not DAD too? I for one would probably have done the same thing if it were my kid that did it....in fact, while moving in to his apt. the other day, he used the word, my reaction was the same as the coaches, but he was at the other end of the room....told him to watch his mouth! He's 19!
He did apologize!

Yes, the little darlings use the words, but they should also be taught that they MAY NOT use
the words in certain circumstances...(like on National TV). It's a matter of respect, for himself and the others on his team and the coaches.

Rosy, yep, brought Bret back last weekend...he's all set up in his apt....
I wasn't as emotional as I was last year...It should be an interesting year. The team had a get together with all the new guys, and he said alot of them look to be out of shape....Not for long with all the pre season workouts! Bret spent 3 days a week at the toboggan shutes in Palos...running up and down, then to Stagg's track to run a few more laps, and speed training
once a week. But he says he still isn't in shape for what's to come! lol

How's Jordan doing? Big year for him...any plans for school yet? Good luck to him!

But when IS it ok to use profanity? It's not ok when the kids are 17, but it's ok at 18? Or how about 16? Ok, 15...no wait, 14...It's not appropriate at any time. If they are allowed to say it in Little League, they will grow up thinking it is ok to use it. Umpires have ejected players from high school games for using that word, and they are suspended from the next game, no matter how important it is.

What is the saying--"character is what you do when no one is looking"? So however a baseball game is played is ok, just as long as it's not on national tv? Every one should have respect enough for the game to play without needing or wanting to swear--and that goes for all ages.

Sure, my kids swear. I don't like it. In fact, I hate it. But sadly, this is where society is leading.

I ask my children and those I teach what word they use when they REALLY are angry. Because when they use the word so often, it loses its effect.

I'll generally agree with Rosy, but Boris is correct. Hitting the kid is unacceptable.

play baseball, I agree, it isn't appropriate at any age, but I have also heard kids use the word
during high school games, and NOTHING is done about it by the ump or the coach or the parent!
It's sad, and the lessons should start in the home. But I'm afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg...

Hoosier, thank you for telling me what the parameters of the discussion are, but I don't think I was off the subject. Please note that Rosy brought up the ACLU. I thought we were talking about swearing at baseball games and people's reactions to it. I was responding to someone who is part of that organization and was about the subject at hand and therefore was not out of bounds. Others have also spoken about whether there is a proper age to swear at baseball games in this thread. I also know Rosy can handle himself.

Boris,

Great post and one that I can agree with. I would just like to add a caveat. What this coach did was like swatting at a fly and should not be construed as capital punishment. I'll agree that the best thing would have been to immediately pull the player from the game which would have made a greater impact than the slap. However, if the coach is his Dad then .....

Baseballdad1954,

Your post isn't worth commenting on but you've baited me in. I don't need you to tell me what the ACLU supposedly stands for because they've made than perfectly clear. I hope you continue to send in your donations so that they can re-write the Constitution.

Your remarks about TT are petty, frivolous and not at all to the point. You've shown your ingnorance with perfect clarity.

Rosy, The ACLU defends the Constitiution. Sometimes defending the rights guaranteed by the Constitution puts the organization in difficult positions like the Nazi march in Skokie so many years ago. If the issues are too complicated for you, don't comment on them.

The TT comments were on point. Don't have a double standard. Swearing loudly and inappropriately at a baseball game shows poor sportsmanship at any age and should be condemed. Be consistent. Congratulations for backing down on supporting coaches slapping kids in the face. It shows there is hope for you after all.

But, it is all too obvious that there is none for you.

Just heard Brent Musburger discuss the incident in question and he stated that the entire parent population of the team supports the coach, a decorated policeman, and that in Musburger's opinion the coach was just acting like a good disciplinarian and for people not to overreact.

I'm over and out on this thread.

If the guy is such a great dad, why is his son swearing on national television so he has to slap his kid? Maybe slapping a kid in the face for punishment is the reason the kid swears in public, not the remedy. Do you think the kid will remember for the rest of his life that he got a humiliating slap on the face on TV from his dad? What a great family experience all around.
By the way, Rosy, I went back to the old thread and while you defended TT for their behavior in that tournament, even though you weren't there, you did say there was no excuse for the coach dropping the f-bombs.
I am out on this thread.

To smack or not to smack? That's like discussing religion or politics, best left to other forums

Lemont,IL......2
Columbus,GA....0

Congrats to Lemont for finishing first in thier pool and advancing to the elimination round.

Good Luck tonite!

soon as i saw that kid with the hat cooocked like that i made a snide remark about , playing the game and looking the part and then the coach had to say my thoughts out loud....shame on him, although he was right IMO, he should have saved that for another time. now, of course, they are going to put the old teams from Chicago AINT GOT NO CLASS....i say to that...we will beat anybody at anytime on any field. california this florida that watch out for the BOYS from CHA ca goooo...and they put they're bats in violin cases....ouch, but, i still hear that one ...what was that 1936 or 46??

quote:

we will beat anybody at anytime on any field. california this florida

but not Beaverton, Oregon

I think they beat Beaverton, but the first base ump took them out.

Absolutely, inexcusably wrong call leading off the bottom of the 6th.

Think about how that inning would've developed without that call. One more runner would've been on base and he would've come in before that last batter. Tie game at that point. And that last batter would've been only the second out, with the winning run scoring from third.

I keep hearing about how all those umps are volunteers and that's wonderful. But I also wonder if maybe you get what you pay for.

They may have also won if they hadn't given up 4 runs to the other team.

Great games to watch, but please boys, enough with the crying. These kids are 12 & 13 years old and are crying when something doesn't go their way. How does a pitcher expect to perform when he is on the mound crying because they are losing? I truly understand their disappointment, but this is crazy.

Congrats to the Lemont Little League team on their trip to the LLWS.

Hard to tell how good a team it was considering virtually no one hit the ball.

With the age change this year and some off the kids being 13, 48 feet is too short a distance. Now that they finally moved the fences back they should consider moving the mound back to put some more offense into the game.

About the crying:

In most cases I would quote Tom Hanks, "There is no crying in baseball." But when a kid has his hopes pinned on a national championship, when all sorts of adults in his life are pushing him to win, and he is the focus of national TV attention (esp. the pitcher) when things are going down the tubes, I'm prepared to cut him some slack. It's only natural for emotions to well up in that situation.

quote:

Originally posted by Gamer:
With the age change this year and some off the kids being 13, 48 feet is too short a distance. Now that they finally moved the fences back they should consider moving the mound back to put some more offense into the game.

Not to split hairs, but the mound is at 46'

Congrats to the team from Lemont for surpassing 98% of the LL competition.

Now they can go learn how to play real baseball.

These poor guy's are actually light years behind the learning curve due to the ridiculous limitations of LL.

These are 11,12,13year old kids that did a great job, If they would have won everyone would have said what a great job But lose look out here come all the experts’. When was the last time a team from Illinois made it that far? As far as being behind if I had a son that age I would love to have him play with them. Great job kids keep your head high. Bottom line they are kids with big pressure from all us parents these days. Their is not a thing wrong with a child showing his emotions’.LL is not the greatest but it is a good start for all the kids. They have to start somewhere. Their is a lot of major league baseball players that started out in LL.My son did both and I don’t think it hurt him. He looked at LL is a place to play with all his friends from school.