Idle chatter while wondering why anyone but the hardest of the hardcore hockey fan cares about whether Tampa Bay or Colorado wins the Stanley Cup …
— I always marveled over how the MIAA could trust teenage tennis players with what has to be the most difficult of honor codes to follow: calling the ball in or out and costing yourself a point.
There is no referee sitting on a chair for players to berate. There’s no chance of a John McEnroe clone screaming “you can’t be serious” at some beleaguered official. McEnroe would be yelling at himself.
Saturday I watched Lynnfield play Weston for a state title, and all I can say is that I’d hate to be put in the position of calling my opponent’s balls in or out. Some of those balls looked too close for comfort.
But it is a marvelous display of everything that’s right about sports that kids can be trusted to do this honestly, isn’t it?
— When I was 12 years old, the city of Lynn had seven Little Leagues: West Lynn American, West Lynn National, Wyoma, East Lynn (the first-ever in the city), Lynn Shore, Pine Hill, and Lynn Central. Of course, this was in the 1960s when the baby boom was in full bloom and there were kids everywhere.
Today, we’re down to four. Central was the first to go, a victim of its eagerness to play in a postseason tournament that Little League did not sanction — and with the official organization patch on the sleeves of the uniforms. Next to fall by the wayside was National, which brought it down to five. This season, Shore merged with East Lynn.
Why has this happened? There are a couple of reasons. First, and most obvious, we’re not in a baby boom anymore. There aren’t kids everywhere.
Second, major population shifts and the beginnings of gentrification have moved Lynners around. For example, West Lynn National got all the Brickyard kids. Now, the Brickyard is but a memory of what it once was.
When these leagues were formed, most of what is now prime Wyoma territory was undeveloped. Now it’s very developed, and all the children who live in those developments play at Reinfuss Field.
Shore and Pine Hill were always the two smallest (the maximum population within a district is 20,000), with the two West Lynn teams next.
And it’s not just Lynn we’re talking about. Peabody once had three leagues and it’s down to two. Saugus has gone from two to one.
The other reason, of course, is that Little League baseball — and baseball in general — is seen as archaic and obsolete. Fifty years ago, you could sell kids on the idea of standing out in right field watching the dandelions grow. Now, they won’t stand for it and neither will their parents. Not enough action. Kids would rather run around.
And that’s one of the biggest problems.
— Again, when I was a kid and dinosaurs roamed the earth, there were titans on just about every NBA team. Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Bellamy, Bob Lanier, Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld … it was a league of big men.
The dinosaurs are extinct, and it’s harder and harder to find bigs who can get out of their own way. It has become a league of guards — specifically point guards. You need someone on your team who can handle the ball if you’re going to win anything.
It’s not as if you don’t need bigs. You do. The Celtics were much better with Rob Williams than without him. But do you want to know why the Celtics committed so many turnovers — which spelled defeat for them as much, if not more, than anything else they did? It’s because they didn’t have a true point guard.
They need one if they’re going to get back to the finals next year.
— Last year, my favorite Red Sox player was Kike Hernandez. I loved his approach to the game, and thought guys like him were the reason the Red Sox overachieved. Hernandez didn’t give away anything, not one at-bat, and that attitude was contagious.
This year I don’t have to dig as deeply. Rafael Devers is the man. He’s just so unaffected. He’s the same guy no matter what the situation is. I seriously think he needs to be mentioned as an MVP candidate.
— Over and out.
