Boys of Summer

A lot of people around here have been talking about the Little League World Series, going on right now.  This is because there is a team from Montana who has made it very far into the tournament.  The "Boys from Billings" have won all three of their games so far.  Here's a link with a brief re-cap of their most recent win over California: http://billingsgazette.com/sports/other/kids-and-teens/article_48f7d924-ceac-11e0-bc01-001cc4c03286.html?=update

The tournament is double-elimination, so after they lost, California had to go on to play another team who had lost a game.  California then won that game, so now they will play Montana again in the National Championship.  Because it is double elimination and Montana has not lost yet, California would have to beat Montana twice to take the top spot, and then Montana would be second place.  Call me an optimist, but I think Montana can win at least one of two more games with California, if it came to that.  Then, they would go on to the World Series and play against the top team from the "World" bracket, which I think will either be Mexico or Japan.

I love baseball, but I have never, ever gotten into the Little League World Series before.  It is neat to get behind the 'local' team, however.  It seems like in Montana, people are always excited to cheer for the home team, and with such a small state (Montana is the second-lowest population density state, after Wyoming), chances are we have a connection to this team in one way or another.

I have also heard commentators on sports radio discuss that ratings for the LLWS might be up because Major League baseball does not have as many compelling stories this year as it has in past years.   Again, I have always loved Major League Baseball, but there is something so compelling about watching these kids play.  If you get a chance, turn on ESPN on Saturday afternoon and watch Montana take on California in the re-match for all the marbles and see for yourself. It's exciting, and it's infectious!