Look who's going to Williamsport!

After an exciting few weeks of Little League Baseball, only 16 teams get to make the trip to Williamsport. Listed below are the finalists. Congratulations to all the teams! Who will go all the way?

United States

Mid-Atlantic: Mid-Island Little League (New York)
Great Lakes: Lemont Little League (Illinois)
West: Ahwatukee American LL (Arizona)
Southeast: Columbuse Nothern LL (Georgia)
New England: Portsmouth LL (New Hampshire)
Northwest: Murrayhill LL (Oregon)
Midwest: Daniel Boone LL (Missouri)
Southwest:  South Lake Charles LL (Louisiana)

International

Pacific: Saipan Little League (CNMI)
Latin America: Cardenales Little League (Venezuela)
Canada: Whalley Little League (British Columbia)
Transatlantic: Arabian American LL (Saudi Arabia)
Mexico: Matamoros LL (Tamaulipas)
Asia: Kawaguchi Little League (Japan)
EMEA: Brateevo LL (Russia)
Caribbean: Pabao Little League (Curacao)

Comments

[Angelo]

Go Saipan!

[t j moore]

Folks, let me start out by stating that I have been coaching youth sports for six years, three sports. For my six year effort I have [2] first place trophies, [1] second place trophy, and a couple of seasons with only a hand full of wins. In my eyes it has always been about the kids. I believe that if you make a positive impact on one kids life during the season it was winning season. A positive/positive, not a negative/positive. I believe that doing whatever is right to make kids put forth 100% effort forward for the good of the acheivement is the task of coaching [Coach Gooden]. That has absolutely nothing to do with winning, but acheiving ones best potential.

I live in Illinois. The Lemont Little League is going to participate in the International Little League World Series. Here is the problem that I have with this. I thought that the little league world series was played by what were the all-star teams from each little league organization. In the case of Lemont's little league team, the whole team is made up of the Homer Heat travel team. The Homer Heat is a full-time travel team. These kids have, for the most part played full-time travel ball together for the last four years. To see Mike Hall in the news talking about how he went to the parents of Lemont and asked them to shun the concept of travel teams and bring the talent back into the little league program because Lemont had the talent to compete is not really what happened here. Mike convinced the Lemont Little League to allow him to bring in his full-time travel team so that he could "put them on the map" by winning the Worls Series. What does this accomplish? For all practical intents and purposes little league is a "B" level structure taking a make-up of A, B, C, and D players to help ALL those kids develop. Two-thirds of the way through the season those players then try out for the all-star team which should then be made up of the "A" players from each team. Now you have a group of "A" players who go on to compete on a stronger level against players of the same caliper. A full-time travel team is more of a "AAA" team. I could take any "AAA" rated team into any "B" level house league and dominate for the purpose of making a small group of kids feel good in a negative/positive way. In the long run they are hurt more by the negative, than they are help by the positive in the short run. It gives a sense of greatness that never exist, let alone last. Every day we see the world move toward "Whatever it takes to win" and it slowly erodes a society. And for the most part, this generation is starting by instilling in our children that we can mask the truism for sake of false accomplishments. Sad!

I am not sure what this organization is about. Maybe all of the teams that will participate have done the same thing. If they have, and it is exceptable then disregard the letter. If it is wrong it ought to be looked into. Attached you will find the link to Homer Athletic Club's Homer Heat web page. It contains all of the rosters for the Homer Heat teams for next year [2007]. You will notice that the 13 year olds will be coached by Mike Hall, but it is the only team that is not rostered yet ... and that is because they are busy playing little league baseball as 12 year olds over in Lemont.

http://www.homersports.com/HomerHeatPage.htm

[Ken Fryer]

The Lemont Little League board should be ashamed of themselves. They let Mike Hall hijack their all-star team. If Homer Glenn is part of the Lemont boundaries I hope all the kids live on the same street in Homer Glenn. The two combined would have a population of at least 50,000. Your only suppose to take from 20,000. Plus your not suppose to coach a travel team and all-star team in the same division. Not to mention the all-star teams shouldn't play before June 15. I feel sorry for the Lemont kids who were on last year's all-star team, who were given no chance to make this year's team.
They're all dirty and should forced out of the tournament.

[Anonymous]

Not as bad as the Southwest Regional President changing a league boundry MID-TOURNAMENT so that the Oklahoma 16 year old team (from Tulsa, but with players on it who live in OK City!) could be allowed to advance over teams who are made up of players who actually live in the same town!

[Paul]

I managed against this same Homer Heat team when the kids were playing at the 10U age group. We ended up losing by 1 run to them in the bottom of the 6th inning in a semi final game of a tournament in which we were missing our top pitcher due to injury.

Mike Hall was their manager and he condoned and taught sliding spikes high into second base and other bases. Then later in the game our third baseman who was filling in at that position due to injury made incidental contact with one of Homers runners attempting to round third base. Mike argued agressively with the High School aged umpire and when he didn't get his way he announced to everyone, specifically the kids sitting on his bench that "next time just run his a$$ over". Needless to say, that caused quite a stir among all the families and fans watching...later that game, we had one of his runners tied up between home and third in a rundown and the Homer runner (as taught im sure) decided to "go for it" at home and faced with the must slide rule took off and jump slid at my catchers knees (my son) in a blatant attempt to knock the ball free while still following "the letter of the rule". The catcher held onto the ball but was knocked out of the game, injured. Rightfully so, the runner was called out and ejected from the game for malicious contact...of course not without an argument from Mike Hall. In their last at bats the Homer Heat beat us by one run to advance to the championship game. You would think the fact they did that, they would be happy, but up by slotter rule in the third inning of the championship game, Hall again began arguing with the umpires and the tournament director had to be brought into the situation. Hall was heard yelling "don't you know who we are? We're the AAU national champions" or something to that effect.

It doesn't surprise me to hear that Mike Hall and this organization hijacked the Lemont program for selfish benefits for him and his select group of kids.

We have vowed not to play the Homer Heat if we have any say in it again and we have gone on to compete quite well against other full time AAA and Major travel teams from around the area and the country.

In my opinion, Mike Hall and the Homer Heat do not compete with in the spirit of Little League Baseball or any youth sports. Hopefully while miked up on ESPN, Hall wont make the mistake of telling his kids to run their a$$es over durring this upcoming world series. This issue of whether Lemont is a legitimate Little League team should be investigated as hard as the Danny Ammonte situation was investigated. It's high time that youth sports is returned to its innocent days and not turned into an avenue for personal gain and glory through a win at all cost attitude.

[45th Parallel :-)]

Sad to read the comments, yet glad to hear I'm not alone in believing Little League Tournaments (both BB & SB) should be TRULY LITTLE LEAGUE ballplayers - or at least no more than 40% kids on a team that also participate in secondary programs. When some report'it's a Travel Team Tournament with Little League patches' it irks me no end ...
Visit with your District Administrator, write LL HQ with your comments ... just be sure you don't make it sound like your irked at the
process because your child didn't get selected.. no worry here - no kids ...

PS: "Anonymous" - there is no "must slide" rule in Little League - that is a partial and common misinterpretation of Rule708(a)(3)

I grew up and played baseball in Homer Township. I then went on to Nebraska and had the opportunity to coach both select baseball and Little League Baseball. If you seriously think the Homer Heat are the only select team to make it to Williamsport, then you need to open your eyes. The teams from Texas, California, Arizona, etc. are very well funded year after year and play in the upwards of 60 game seasons. There are select teams in Omaha, Neb. that make it to Indianapolis for the Regional Championships every single year. This is not the first time it has happened, nor will it be the last.

It is a shame kids were left off the Lemont All Star Team. Based on population, there should have been two teams if you say Homer Glen is part of Lemont. However, until Little League Baseball does something about it, leagues like Lemont will never have a shot unless teams like the Heat get in. I regret never getting this type of opportunity when I was 12. I think Mike Hall should have the opportunity to take his team, and there should have been a second "Lemont" team entered into tournament play.

[Brennan Bateman]

Hi, My Dream was to play in the little league world series we almost came close!!! GO WHALLY (CANADA)!!

[Ken Fryer]

They screwed all of last year's 11-year-old Lemont team. That's unforgiveable.

I read your article regarding leagues exceeding the population requirement.
The Portsmouth NH Little League Majors team is also in violation of Little League rules and regulations regarding league boundaries. I personally find it despicable that the manager, Mark McCauley, protests and wins a tournament game when he is knowingly already playing with an illegal team.

Some in Portsmouth weren't satisfied with drawing from a population of over 20k and sought to get a waiver for "a good player" from a nearby town in another district. Their Board of directors did vote down the request.

http://www.portsmouthbaseball.com/MeetingMinutes/Dec2005.doc

Portsmouth has been drawing for an area greater than that figure for some 40 years and continues to go unchecked by the NH Little League State Commissioners.

Portsmouth, like several other NH towns, use bogus population reports to justify drawing from a population greater than what they are allowed. Below are some sample links illustrating Portsmouth's true population :

http://www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/htmlprofiles/pdfs/portsmouth.pdf

http://portsmouth.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

http://www.nhliving.com/towns/portsmouth/index.shtml

http://www.relocate-america.com/states/nh/cities/portsmou.htm

In addition to Portsmouth, state commissioners also turn a blind eye to populations of other towns that exceed the maximum threshold. The reason they let these towns slide is because if forced to split they're afraid these towns will jump to the Cal Ripken league will allows towns with a population of greater than 20,000 to stay as one league. Londonderry NH and Hudson NH are examples of towns that have already done this. In addition to Portsmouth, Bedford NH is one of the most blatant examples of a town who's population exceeds 20,000.

http://www.bedfordnh.org/dept/townmanager/townreport2005.pdf

(Town of Bedford Annual Report - see page 16)

The problem with Little League originates at the top. League officials pick and choose which rules they'll enforce and which ones they'll disregard. This mentality of selective enforcement of rules filters down to local leagues.

[Paul]

The "must slide" rule i talked about was a rule in the travel tournament where we played the Homer Heat. They knew the rule and intentionally slid spikes high and hard with intent to injure...then argued when their player was ejected for malicious content. They did it twice in this particular game but were only ejected after the second such "slide".

Also, this is not sour grapes since we have no affiliation with little league and chose to play "real baseball" so our kids could learn lead offs, squeeze plays, pitching from the stretch etc. For those who say that because "X" breaks the rules, therefore "Y" needs to break the rules to compete, Is that the right message to send our kids? Is that the spirit of Little League and other Youth sports? Whats next? Steroids for 12 year olds?

[joe]

The whole situation with the Homer Heat hijacking the Lemont program to get to Williamsport is indicative of the saddest trend in youth baseball. Adults living out their dream while kids get shafted. Mike Hall got his dream, he was miked on espn. The 11 year olds from Lemont's all-star team last year got to sit at home and feel crushed. Lemont little league execs should be ashamed of themselves.

[ANONYMOUS]

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO

[ANONYMOUS]

ANYWAY...A COUPLE SUMMERS AGO AT THE ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TOURNAMENT I HAD THE DISPLEASURE OF MEETING MIKE HALL FOR THE FIRST TIME. I WAS THERE WITH MY FAMILY TO SUPPORT LOCKPORT HIGH SCHOOL WHO WAS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND WAS BEING COACHED BY MIKE HALLS OLDER BROTHER JIM HALL. AT ONE POINT DURING THE GAME MIKE HALL GOT UP AND SLAMMED THE METAL BLEACHERS SO HARD THAT IT STARTLED MY THEN 3 YEAR OLD SON. I LET IT GO THE FIRST TIME . THE SECOND TIME HE DID IT EVEN HARDER, STARTLING MY BOY TO THE POINT THAT HE STARTED CRYING. I HAD SOME CHOICE WORDS FOR HALL AND DECIDED TO REMOVE MY FAMILY FROM THAT AREA TO AVOID A POSSIBLE CONFRONTATION WITH THIS JERK. AFTERWARDS, I CANT TELL YOU HOW MANY PEOPLE APPROACHED ME, WHO ACTUALLY KNEW HALL, TELLING ME THAT THEY ADMIRED HOW I HANDLED THE SITUATION. POINT IS, THIS IS A GUY WHO ON NATIONAL TELEVISION IS TALKING ABOUT RESPECTING THE GAME OF BASEBALL? WHAT A JOKE, TRUTH IS, IN FRONT OF THOSE CAMERAS IN WILLIAMSPORT, MIKE HALL PLAYED THE ULTIMATE TRICK ON THE REST OF THE UNITED STATES OUTSIDE OF HOMER GLEN WHO ACTUALLY KNOW HIM. HE TRICKED EVERYONE INTO THINKING HE WAS SOME KIND OF PILLAR OF INTEGRITY....I ONLY WISH THE CAMERAS AND MICROPHONES HAD BEEN ON HIM ON THE NIGHT OF THAT IHSA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

[CARROLL 3]

ANONYMOUS....COULDNT AGREE WITH YOU MORE. I LIVE IN HOMER GLEN AND AM ACTUALLY HAPPY THAT LEMONT LOST BECAUSE I FEEL IT WAS A FARCE THE WAY THE LEMONT TEAM WAS CONSTRUCTED. NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT IF LEMONT HAD WON,ILLINOIS ISNT A BIG ENOUGH STATE TO CONTAIN MIKE AND JIM HALLS' HEADS. BOTH UNBELIEVABLE JERKS.

[Steve Monnin]

I believe Dan Wetzel a sports writer said it best, Little League is about making money thus the reason they will not correct wrongs it hurts there sponsoship appeal and image.
Dan recently wrote this

Little League is a Big League business and gets bigger each and every year, thanks to the increased national television coverage from ESPN and ABC, which has driven up not just rights fees but corporate sponsorships, stadium advertising and ancillary income.

Little League Baseball, Inc., a non-profit based in Williamsport, Pa., took in revenues of $19.2 million in 2005 according to the IRS, an increase of 26.4 percent from just four years prior.

LLB, Inc. spent $17.4 million last year and has over $62.6 million in cash reserves. CEO Stephen Keener drew over $225,000 last year in salary and retirement contributions according to tax records.

ESPN and ABC can’t get enough of the Little League, televising all 32 games of the baseball World Series, more than a dozen regional qualifying tournament games and three softball World Series games. What began in 1953 as a single televised championship game now dominates the networks’ August schedule.

The Little League World Series is so big business that its championship game will go by the name “Little League World Series: World Championship presented by Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.”

Kellogg’s outbid all the other major corporate sponsors such as Bank of America, ReMax Real Estate, Ace Hardware and Snickers, to name a few, for the title game naming rights.

Business aside, some people think turning a child’s game into an international pressure cooker is dangerous – with kids getting hurt, adults cheating and priorities being put out of whack. Others think the critics should chill out and realize this provides the thrill of a lifetime for a bunch of kids from around the globe.

“Better than any other youth sport activity, baseball and softball have become the thread that has sewn together a patchwork of nations and cultures around the world,” the Little League declares.

There is truth in both arguments. But the Little League, which was founded in 1939 and staged its first “World Series” in 1947, was easier to believe when it wasn’t selling everything out to the highest bidder.

It is now mostly about the business of selling entertainment. It can talk all it wants about its commitment to sportsmanship and service, but please, even the most naïve romantic can’t still believe those are anything but nice by-products

[Disrespect and Kyle Carter of Columbus]

Go to littleleague.org and listen to postgame comments after the Columbus, Ga. Lemont, Ill. game. Hall went on and on and on about himself for between 5-10 minutes and then started ripping 12 year old Kyle Carter for no reason. He had not even been asked a question in the press conference and just ranted, specifically about how Carter wore his hat and disrespected the game. Carters dad approached Hall the next day to explain he wore his hat that way because of medical reasons (a shunt was put in his head as an infant and it relieves arterial pressure). Hall had no response, not even an apology. Now that my friends, is class.

[jb avery]

kyle is very cute.

[jb avery]

kyle is an awesome ball player and very cute

[figs]

Little League baseball needs to seriously examine how the Lemont team was put together. Very few of those kids were actually even from Lemont. Knowing Mike Hall, the fact that this tactic was used doesnt surprise me in the least. Thank God they got ousted, what a sham it wouldve been had they won it all. Congratulations Columbus Georgia.

[anna]

kyle carter, jt philips are good players and really cute.

[ashley]

I think the portsmouth little league team did awsome. they may not have won but they did great so good job portsmouth you did awsome!!!

[bob]

Congratulations Columbus Georgia! i wish it was portsmouth new hampshire but at least it was U.S.A so great job Columbus Georgia. you deserve it!

[Paul]

The latest on Lemont and Mike Hall. As reported on NBC 5 last night, 8/31/06, one of Mike Halls assistant coaches who was responsible for these kids durring their stay at the LL World series is in trouble because he was on probation for a cocaine and/or other drug offense(s) and part of his probation was he was not allowed to leave the state unless he obtained permission first. He just left without getting the permission and now could be in a lot of hot water...I don't know about most programs but i know our travel program requires a backround check by the state police before we are entrusted with other peoples kids...I wonder how many parents knew this about this coach and I wonder how many people will give Mike Hall a pass because their child is in the inner circle and was allowed to have this experience..regardless of who was supervising their kid. If the parents and the other coaches knew (hard to hide something like a drug conviction) and people remained silent in order to "live the dream"...then it is just another example of how youth sports is spiraling downward towards win at all costs. Allowing their kids to be put at risk so they can be on ESPN. I'm shocked Little League didn't require their own backround check on the coaches. I know Cooperstown Dreams Park wont allow you near their athletes village without one.

[Anonymous]

I managed an 11U team this past year against the Homer Heat 11's. I don't know Mike Hall and wouldn't know if he was at either game but his 11U Homer Heat coaching counterparts must have attended the same coaching school as Mr. Hall.

Maybe Mr. Hall teaches the rest of the coaches how to coach for the Homer Heat since what I saw was a team with 6 or 7 'coaches' all outside the dugout the entire game questioning and whining about every call the 17 year old umpire made that didn't go their way. The kid did a great job umping for the first 3 or 4 innings but then he eventually got worn down and 'gave in' to the intimidation factor of 6 or 7 forty year old men questioning his every call. I told coach 'Frank' from the Heat during the game that he had a strong team as it is and he didn't need to work the umpire so hard...that he should let the kids just play and the ump...well just let him ump. That didn't sit well with Coach Frank as he took it personally and really got fired up like it was a football game. The bottom line is he made himself, his kids and the Homer Heat program look like a bunch of crybabies over a meaningless 11U game. Maybe it was the fact that we beat them during our first visit earlier in the summer and they wanted revenge. Finally, I find it very telling that Mike Hall's 'team' has broken up and splintered in different directions. Personally I know and like many people from Homer Glen and it's not the people of Homer Glen. But that being said they need to stand up to the Mike Hall's of the world and decide who it is they want 'leading' and 'mentoring' their boys. Coaches do that too!