Gridiron Alumni Takes on Little League World Series

Mountain Range Little LeagueNow, we mostly talk about football around these parts, but something happened yesterday in baseball that just totally irks me, so I’m going to say it. 

Little League World Series needs to seriously review their program and make a change to their format. Just like “tuck” rule is a dirty word in Oakland, some good should come out of this mess.

We can call it the “Nevada rule.”  

How can Nevada not be in the championship?  The Little League World Series is supposed to be about the best team in the nation. First off, allow me a disclaimer. I never have a “team” in these things. Sure, I was rooting for Northern California to knock off Nevada in the Regionals, but after watching them play, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Since I have a 9 year old daugther, we were all watching and rooting for Emma March to knock one out of the park. I also wanted to see a very athletic, intelligent and very mature Mo’Ne Davis to pitch well, but I knew she was going to run into a buzz saw called Nevada.   

There is no argument! Anybody who watched the LLWS could see that there was only one DOMINANT team in the series. Sure! There were lots of good teams playing. Some amazing kids doing extraodinary things. There were lots of good stories and good angles for the media to cover, but I’m not talking about stories or angles. I’m talking about Champions! Those kids from Nevada torched every team in this nation, including the Chicago team representing the USA today. Chicago got smoked by Nevada last week, 13-2, pushing Chicago into the consolation bracket.  

So, current rules have it so that everybody is allowed to have a bad game EXCEPT in the Championship?  The bracket leading up to the Championship game is labeled “DOUBLE ELIMINATION!” Apparently, that means double elminition for everyrone except Nevada this year. How does that happen? They never lost all tournament. They beat most teams by 10 runs or more. Then, they lose one game, which happens to be the final game just barely (7-5).  So, everybody gets double elimination except them? Good for Chicago to be able to stick around. I’m not trying to take anything away from them. They are truly playing a high caliber of baseball right now, but they are no Nevada.  They won most of their games by 1 or 2 runs and good for them that they won when they needed to.  But, how does Nevada not get a “do-over” when everyone else does?

I’ll be rooting for Chicago today. I hope they continue their Cinderella story to be an amazing South Korea team.  I will chant “USA! USA! USA!” and celebrate their victory and console their loss. With all that being said, the best little league team in America will be sitting in the stands. If you agree, tweet this article and use #NEVADARULE.