Monday, August 18, 2014

The Little League and politics

Here we are in another election year, and of course the silly season has begun. Smears, accusations, denials, goofy commercials, shameless fund-raising, politicians taking summer vacations rather than addressing pressing issues, and polls on top of polls from hell. You know, the usual. So if you can't beat them, we might as well jump into the madness and thrash about with the rest of them. Which brings me to.....

The Little League World Series going on. And how they relate to politics. A team from Chicago, Obama's home town, staved off elimination by defeating a team from Rhode Island. Earlier in the double-elimination tournament, the Chitowners had been "mercied" by senator Harry Reid's Nevada team. Unlike their political counterparts, the Las Vegas boys were willing to step up to the plate, take their cuts, and actually produce some useful results.

A Texas team remained alive by eliminating a squad from Washington state. The Bushes are likely happy about that. Yee-hah, a thousand points of light, and "mission accomplished", so far. Ahem. But the northwesterners need not hang their heads. After all, they'll still Super Bowl champions and hail from one of the two states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Maybe their little leaguers will change gears and take up football, which could result in Frito-Lay, Hostess, Nabisco, and Hershey stocks getting a huge boost. Know what I mean, dude?

Some team from Pennsylvania remains undefeated as well. They have a pitcher with long hair that has to be the most sissified looking dude I've ever seen this side of Richard Simmons. What's that? It's a girl? The hell you say. How did she get in there? Yeah, she's really good, but still. Aren't women supposed to know their places anymore? This Title IX thing is out of control. Good grief, next thing ya know, one will be running for President. Arrgh.

On the international side of the bracket, one thing jumps out as interesting. Sure, there's a lot of good teams from around the world participating. But there is a notable exception. No team from Taiwan. Not that long ago, the Taiwanese were a dominant force in the Little League World Series. They would field a formidable squad every year. Well OK, they got caught cheating on the age thing here and there, but so did other teams, including Americans. But these days they don't even bother to enter the LLWS? What's going on?

Who will survive the international bracket to advance to the final game is a good question. Lots of good Latino teams, and the Japanese are no slouches. Consider how many major league stars have come out of their systems in recent years.

On the American side, yours truly must admit he has a preference. Nothing against the Obamas, Bushes, or anybody else around the country.

But c'mon. For excitement, there's nothing like Vegas. I'll try not to think about Harry Reid.....



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