Sunday, August 20, 2006
Little League Shame - F Word Airs During ESPN Broadcast
Link
Updated: Fox News Also reported on this incident.
During the broadcast of the Little League World Series this evening between New York and Illinois, ESPN had live mikes in the dugouts of the two teams. What a mistake. In the 6th inning changeover, they listened in on the New York dugout. One of the coaches was prepping his team for the bottom of the inning, and one of his players chimed in and added a comment and dropped the f-bomb. A 12 year old!! On national TV!! The coach yelled at him to shut up. ESPN, caught by surprise, quickly wrapped and went to commercial.
They should have known better than to have miked the New York dugout. These are the same players that the day before, after losing to the Georgia team, were poor sports. ESPN cameras were rolling and caught the catcher crying and yelling at his coach and dropping the f-bomb before the traditional game ending handshakes. Luckily, that time you had to be able to lip read to catch the comment.
If that had been a disciplined team with competent coaches, no player would ever dare to utter that word in the dugout. Not once. And to yell at a coach? Unthinkable. They would be benched permanently. Maybe cuss words shouted from the mouths of 12 year olds is acceptable behavior to these adults, but I doubt it. I know kids use them occasionally, between friends, but most don't have the courage to spout them regularly with any adults around - 16 year olds, maybe, but 11 and 12 year olds?
Why is there always at least one team at the annual event that acts like poor sports? Maybe they are spoiled little brats that have finally been beaten and are throwing a temper tantrum for mommy to make it all better. I'm sure the rest of the competition has noticed - what a reputation to carry around the dorms. I only hope that Little League has noticed and will take action to stop this show of poor sportsmanship. It isn't allowed in High School Baseball and shouldn't be tolerated by younger players, either.
In sports there are written rules and unwritten rules, and if there is one thing I know for sure...
There is no crying in baseball, and there should be no cussing in Little League.
During the broadcast of the Little League World Series this evening between New York and Illinois, ESPN had live mikes in the dugouts of the two teams. What a mistake. In the 6th inning changeover, they listened in on the New York dugout. One of the coaches was prepping his team for the bottom of the inning, and one of his players chimed in and added a comment and dropped the f-bomb. A 12 year old!! On national TV!! The coach yelled at him to shut up. ESPN, caught by surprise, quickly wrapped and went to commercial.
They should have known better than to have miked the New York dugout. These are the same players that the day before, after losing to the Georgia team, were poor sports. ESPN cameras were rolling and caught the catcher crying and yelling at his coach and dropping the f-bomb before the traditional game ending handshakes. Luckily, that time you had to be able to lip read to catch the comment.
If that had been a disciplined team with competent coaches, no player would ever dare to utter that word in the dugout. Not once. And to yell at a coach? Unthinkable. They would be benched permanently. Maybe cuss words shouted from the mouths of 12 year olds is acceptable behavior to these adults, but I doubt it. I know kids use them occasionally, between friends, but most don't have the courage to spout them regularly with any adults around - 16 year olds, maybe, but 11 and 12 year olds?
Why is there always at least one team at the annual event that acts like poor sports? Maybe they are spoiled little brats that have finally been beaten and are throwing a temper tantrum for mommy to make it all better. I'm sure the rest of the competition has noticed - what a reputation to carry around the dorms. I only hope that Little League has noticed and will take action to stop this show of poor sportsmanship. It isn't allowed in High School Baseball and shouldn't be tolerated by younger players, either.
In sports there are written rules and unwritten rules, and if there is one thing I know for sure...
There is no crying in baseball, and there should be no cussing in Little League.
