Has anybody been watching the Little League World Series?

[bluestateguy]

I remember in the 80's, at the height of the dominance of the Taipei teams, how the television broadcasters used to really annoy me.

They would drone on and on about how much more focused, and how much more disciplined the Taipei kids were than the American kids. How the Taipei kids work so much harder and train so much harder than the American kids. How the Taipei kids keep their hotel rooms so much neater than the messy American kids. How the Taipei kids study hard and read books, while the American kids just horse around and play video games (Nintendo and Atari, back then).

It used to really get on my nerves; I just wanted to scream at the television set.

In fact, wasn't the Taipei program busted for using overage kids? Although so was the Bronx team that the media goo gooed and gah gahed over so much in 2001

[Lint Head]

1. Yes. Goodlettsville TN did a great job. There are some future players on that team.

[HangOnKids]

3. They Play My Hometown Petaluma Nationals Sunday!

Go Go Go Petaluma!

[BeeBee]

4. Yay! Go Petaluma! n/t

[HangOnKids]

9. Howdy Neighbor!

Lovely in the North Bay, but the traffic and roads suck.

[Lint Head]

6. It's fun to watch those kids have so much fun.

Makes me want to be a kid again.

[HangOnKids]

8. Ah Yes Indeed

Youth is wasted on the young! Those kids are having the time of their lives.

[reflection]

2. Yes, saw the first two innings of the Canada/Mexico game on my lunch hour.

Talk about a tale of two innings. 7-1, then 1-7.

Then I got back to the office and saw the incredible catch the little Canadian outfielder made. Amazing!

http://www.sportsgrid.com/video/little-league-web-gem/

[cpwm17]

5. Taipei dominated the Little League World Series from 1969 to 1996

Reaching 19 championship games and winning 17. Many of the games were blowouts. I always knew it wasn't a fair process. Taipei assembled their teams from a larger pool of players. Then Little League Baseball became strict with the rules, and Taipei hasn't won since. Since then the US frequently wins the series.

I remember the announcers defending the fact that the Koreans were so much bigger and older looking than the Americans (1984 I think). The Koreans easily beat the Americans in the final. Clearly the Koreans were much older.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_League_World_Series

[sadbear]

7. All I remember is how much bigger their big guys were than our big guys

of course their little guys were much smaller than our little guys, too.