Let kids be kids? Why not?

So I’m sitting there Monday afternoon trying to get a little work done and my eyes wander the big screen and there’s Canada at the Little League World Series and it got me thinking.

There are definitely too many channels and if they cancelled the one that shows 12- and 13-year-olds playing baseball I’d be all for it because it’s simply too much.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the kids playing at such a high level because it’s good to stretch their competitive level as far as it goes but do we really need them on television?

Doesn’t that just add a level of unnecessary pressure? Doesn’t it potentially hold them up to worldwide ridicule if they fail? Can’t we just let them play without the glare of the television spotlight and not be so invasive?

I know, I know. It’s the world we live in, everyone wants to be on TV and I’m sure the kids would tell you that in New York minute if you asked them.

But 12 year olds? Or 13 year olds?

Let ‘em be kids, let ‘em play in front of family and friends and have their fun. Let ‘em compete at the highest level without having to worry about a camera in the dugout or a microphone on a coach or be worried about crying when they fail and letting everyone in the country see if they want.

I played – or sat on the bench, more accurately – for a team of teenaged baseball players who competed at the highest possible level. We did just fine without being over-exposed through television, we let our parents and friends know how we did and we didn’t have to worry about our mugs being slashed all over the tube.

I can see it for, perhaps, 16- or 17-year olds, who might not be a fazed by the omnipresent cameras 12- or 13-year-old might be.

I know it’s not going to ever change – they were showing the Little League World Series when I was kid – but I wish it would.

We don’t let kids be kids nearly enough, and this is one area where it can happen.

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We lost Jack Layton yesterday as everyone knows and if there wasn’t a wee bit of campaigning in his final letter to Canadians, I’d say they should put it up on the wall of every primary school classroom in the country.

Maybe what they should do is take the last paragraph drill it into the minds of every person in the country, make them memorize it and live by it.

Read it here.

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Worthy Cause Time.

You folks know Skeets and Tas over at The (Formerly Known As Basketball) Jones?

They do outstanding work all the time, no doubt about it, but they’re on to something now that you all need to know about.

Along with the one and only Matt Bonner, they’re raising money for Athletes For Africa and a Toronto Boy’s Club and if you can see your way fit to sponsor them, I wish you would. Check this out.

Besides, if they can get a lot of cash maybe they can get Matt to a proper barber and get that hair fixed.

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Aw.

Nick Ashford passed away and who among us doesn’t at least vaguely remember Ashford and Simpson?

And who among us doesn’t remember maybe the greatest song he ever wrote, recorded first by the incomparable Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

Great song.

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Ballyard tonight, right?

Wonder if Saberhagen’s pitching?

Oh, wait. That’s 1985; not 2011.

Anyway, IGBT if you want. See you around 7.

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Okay, so I kind of suck at math and now I need some remedial geography.

I had the Quebec Kebs of the NBL in Laval. Oh, dopey me.

They are actually at Laval University in Quebec City, as more than a few of you have pointed out.

Glad you did before I pitched a road trip to the Tall Foreheads.

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So the FISU Games basketball guys lost to Serbia yesterday and come home with the silver medal and there’s certainly no shame in that.

My Man Triano made an interesting point when talking about the outcome and it’s one that should probably be hammered home.

You know the country is pretty good at age-group world championships, we’re always in them and always competitive and often in a legitimate hunt for a medal.

Someone has to be doing something right, right?

Well, it has to have a lot to do with coaching and getting these kids prepared and developing systems and team work relatively quickly and if you go down the list of coaches there’s one thing that stands out:

They almost all coach in the CIS.

Kevin Hanson is the latest, with that University Games team and anyone who suggests Canadian kids need to leave the country or go play for club teams to get better coaching is so dead wrong it’s ridiculous.

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Comments

[Peter]

I hear you about the 12 and 13 year olds on TV... the flip side being, wouldn't it be great if we could get our under 17's on TV for Basketball. :) Sure would help build the game. Sure would help the casual fan get to know the players. Might help build the fan base for a program that could use a fan base!

[Lorie]

Good Morning, Doug!
What a great performance by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. (Did it get you up dancing, too?) But, being of a certain age - and a fan of interesting architecture - I couldn't help but notice the building in the background and wonder if this was filmed in Montreal during a certain 1967 Exposition? And if so, as an added bonus, wasn't there a brief sighting of the Expo Express? Or was it the Minirail? Now you've got me thinking about Bobby Gimby. CA-NA-DA! Cheers!

[doug]

those kids are fine playing baseball or any sport at that age..as kids are kids it's not them that feel the pressure it's the parents, adults...remember back to when you were a kid, of 11,12 playing sports was a passion and we slept with our ball glove beside us, and were eager to run out the door and get going as soon as we awoke...plus these kids are all playing competitive hockey as well which is far more intensive then this..there is nothing wrong with pressure and to single out the LLWS is just wrong, as kids face pressure everyday in their life such as the first day of school which is coming up, peer pressure etc which can be many times worse then sports or the LLWS...their all blocks to build on, you don't build by coddling or not exposing them to whatever as in this day and age they are exposed to it all anyways.....so kudos to them and their to be congratulated...

[John]

I have no interest in watching 13 year olds playing baseball.
The fact that the broadcast actually gets some viewership suggests that people need to get a life.
I agree, should not be televised. I don't recall seeing 13 year old hockey on TV, so I'm not sure what @doug is talking about.

[Jon]

Not speaking to the pressure the kids might feel, but my 10 year old son, who plays baseball at a fairly high level, loves it...I can see him dreaming of one day playing on that stage, so I think it inspires our young baseball players.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

I remember being 12, and when our school (Go Cubs!) was churning out the wins, going undefeated in football, then basketball, then baseball, I sure as heck was looking around for the cameras, because we sure as heck thought we were TV worthy. Then again, maybe our heads were already big enough for us at that point. We sure got them handed to us that first year in high school, though, and then we weren't looking around for the cameras so much any more. That's sports, baby. Ya's takes yer licks, and ya's takes your glory when and where you can find (and earn) it. Cheers.

[doug]

@John what I am talking about is this...go to any small town in January, check out the local rink and motels ..their is a hockey tourney going on, with 10 year olds etc playing in it and that pressure is far more greater to a bunch of canadian kids then playing baseball where their are minimum expectations......whether something is televised or not is irrelevant to kids they are playing a sport they love playing and all that goes on around them doesn't matter..their playing sports it's the adults that aren't playing the sports that feel or create the pressure...kids aren't seeing or playing in the same perspective as we are..they are just being kids no matter what, kids are far more resilient then people give them credit for..and their fine with it all in fact you tell a kid he isn't playing and you risk damaging him more psychologically then just letting him go out and do his thing with his buddies...

[john]

Hmmm, its seems we have another John and he makes perfect sense! It must be a name thing...

[Patrick]

Hi Doug,

this is nothing compared to the adult induced child abuse seen in the book Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann a very telling look at AAU Grassroots Basketball for 10 yearolds! There is a certian element of this creeping into Ontario and canada too!

[Bill]

Doug, while I enjoyed Jack Layton's final letter, there was some subtle campaigning....and there was this line ("In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you.") which was a tad more than subtle in my eyes. I'm not slamming Jack or the NDP, just pointing out your inaccurate statement.

[doug]

@also in regards to this whole aged based thing and television...I never watch the World Junior Hockey championships that TSN pushes on us and makes many feel is must-see tv and a national fervor overtakes the country...these kids are 16,17,18 and according to Doug are able to handle this...I say hogwash, those kids if they fail to win a medal wait not a medal but a Gold are maligned in the press, scrutinized and thought of as a disappointment...what is more damaging I ask, these kids playing in a innocuous LLWS game or these other kids playing with a "whole nation" watching them ...those junior hockey players are in a no win situation and it's sad to see, but they serve a purpose and are used by the media......also @John yesterday commented on that article from Grantland and tried to refute it by stating in the article the author says this "for every disciplined and rational operator like the Patriots' Robert Kraft or Mark Cuban"...and John asks how I can say it is a wonderful piece because of that Cuban reference...yes Cuban may have his run-ins with Stern and the league office and be vocal...but don't in anyway confuse that with him not being a sound businessman, who runs one of the Top 3 franchises in the league when you think of success, profits, players wanting to be there, amenities etc...he runs a class organization and a huge money-maker, and that was the authors point as compared to say a Snyder in football or Al Davis etc...cheers

[Matt G]

Hi Doug,
Just wondering, have you covered a Jays game where there isn't a big story yet? Trading of Johnny Mac is a big deal - he will be missed. I just hope he's back in the spring again in a Jays uniform - with a ring on his finger.

[doug]

noooooooooooooooo!!.....not Johnny Mac...this is just a sad day, I am a fan of Kirk Gibson as a manager, I may have to switch allegiances...

[Boko]

First of all, with 6 year old children regularly on international television for beauty pageants, and talent contests like America's Got Talent, we're rowing against the current here.

Secondly, they're the ones that have to be given the choice. That's the society we profess to have built for them. If they don't like what they've been through, they'll join the chess club instead ... and all of life will go on ...

[Lorie]

But won't it be gratifying to watch McDonald play in the post season with Arizona? I know I'll continue to cheer for him...and maybe, just maybe, this isn't "au revoir" between Johnny Mac and the Blue Jays, but rather "a bientot"...?

[Gerald]

Hey, Doug,

You tease us from time to time with your own athletic background. Just to slake the curiosity of your readers, can you tell us what "I played – or sat on the bench, more accurately – for a team of teenaged baseball players who competed at the highest possible level" means? Did you play for the Canadian natioanl team? Ontario? Inquirng minds are ... well ... inquiring.

And hey, you did bring it up. ;-)

Blogger's note: I was the fourth outfielder on a Niagara Falls midget baseball team that won a Canadian championship in 1974