Alfred Delia’s introduction video-“Hi, I’m Big Al, and I hit dingers”-landed him on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Last year a boy from Middletown, N.J., became a household name even though his Little League team didn’t make it out of the regionals. What players have to say can be just as compelling. In 2016, cameras captured Bend, Ore., coach Joel Jensen telling his son-and starting pitcher-Isaiah during a visit to the mound, “I just came out here to tell you how much I love you, as a dad and a player.” “It’s OK to cry, because we’re not going to play baseball together anymore, but we’re going to be friends forever,” ESPN cameras caught him saying. There was coach David Belisle’s inspirational postgame speech to his Rhode Island players after they were eliminated in 2014. Last year players and coaches from Venezuela endeared themselves to viewers by comforting Dominican pitcher Edward Uceta after he fell to the ground in tears, disappointed for giving up a walk-off triple in an elimination game. Little League moments that go viral are usually the most emotional ones. “I’m not saying it’s lost on college baseball or high school baseball or even Major League Baseball, but you balance the exceptional play and then the emotions of the kids-the smiles, the determination, the grit on both the baseball and softball field-that’s probably what the differentiator is for us.” “The roller-coaster that they go through, how they reach out and lift and embrace their teammates-I think that’s what people find most intriguing,” Wilson said. Wilson, who has been with Little League for 27 years, believes the transparency of the players’ emotions makes it special. “The kids are skilled and they’re funny and they’re emotional-and they’re kids. “It’s great entertainment,” said Pat Wilson, Little League’s senior vice president and chief program operations officer. They sleep, eat, swim, and play ping-pong together in an Olympic Village-style setup at “The Grove,” where teams stay just up the hill from the picturesque Lamade Stadium. The tournament’s intrigue is based on the drama teams face when starting down elimination, international rivalries, and friendships that develop among the players over the course of 10 days. The winners play in the championship game. and eight from around the world-square off in a double- elimination tournament to narrow the field to two American teams in one semifinal and two international teams in the other. It’s just a real refreshing two weeks of the year.” Yet it doesn’t seem to permeate the kids who are playing. “You can see some of that pressure from parents and the intensity and the television. “There’s no money involved, there’s no real terrific amount of pressure,” Ravech said. Ravech said Corbin made the point that this would be the last time those players would be motivated strictly by their team and their town. He recalls a conversation he had with Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin three years ago, when Corbin came to Williamsport, Pa., to watch a Little League team from Goodlettsville, Tenn. Ravech points out that kids love to watch other kids play, which often means their extended family members and friends are sitting there watching the games with them.Īs for older viewers, Ravech believes they appreciate the game’s innocence. There’s a part of seeing 11- and 12-year-old boys and girls do things that bring you back to a time in your life that maybe you remember more fondly.” “You’re getting fans who once played baseball and really enjoy watching kids smile. “With the Little League World Series you’re getting fans of baseball, fans of nostalgia, fans of memories. “A Major League Baseball game during the regular season, you’re getting fans of those teams,” Ravech said. He has spent more than 15 years covering the event for ESPN, including the past 11 in the booth, and those ratings make sense to him. Not necessarily, if you ask Karl Ravech, host of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and lead play-by-play broadcaster for the Little League World Series. Wait, what? A game between 11- and 12-year-old boys outdrew the superstars they idolize. That viewership total, and its Nielsen rating of 2.1, was higher than any regular-season major league game last year with the exception of the All-Star Game. It was the one of the most watched baseball games of 2018. Last August, 3.25 million people tuned in to ABC to watch Hawaii shut out South Korea in the Little League World Series championship game.
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