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Originally Posted by Ksyrup
I saw a bunch of people on twitter last week saying the same thing and then it got into a discussion about ESPN exploiting kids to make money, etc.
My take on it, as a dad with a daughter the same age as these kids who plays softball, is all the coverage is great. I can understand why someone not in my position would only be interested in watching the final game on Sunday on ABC like they've always done, but I think there's value for kids in being able to watch their peers perform on this kind of stage. My daughter has DVR'd about 20 games so far.
That said, what passes for little league softball (they showed several of the games last week) was pathetic. My guess is there are maybe a dozen states with legit little league softball leagues in this country, because the quality of play was poor. My daughter's team could have competed with any of the teams in the final 4. I think the reason little league isn't popular, at least in softball, is because of the mandatory participation rules. It's too much like rec ball, which drives people to travel teams where those rules don't exist.
The other issue, the exploitation...I mean, if they want to unionize and feel like they ought to be paid, then fine. But I get the feeling that for 98.9% of the kids and their parents, they don't mind and are happy to have memories they can record on their home TV. I don't really think it's exploitation if the people being exploited know the deal and don't object. But it's undoubtedly good, cheap programming for ESPN.
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I don't think it's bad for the kids or exploitive in any way. I remember being ecstatic when a little league game we played would get on local access. I imagine there is some money going to Little League and it's being used properly.
It just seemed like they were overdoing it a bit. They broke into a Monday Night Preseason NFL game to give an update on a score on ESPN2. Just seemed weird to me. I'm all for using it as filler on their networks, but not sure it deserves billing over major sports on SportsCenter.
I'd be curious to see the ratings on it.