I remember back in every little league baseball game, some kid was crying about either striking out, getting hit by a pitch, a call by the umpire, the coach yelling at him, his dad yelling at him, or the fact the love of their life just broke up with them in the sixth grade.
I mean, we were kids, but every game felt more like a funeral instead of a baseball game… but for me, it probably had more to do with their hyper competitive parents making them hate the game.
But a new viral video from the Little League World Series has fans arguing about where you draw the line between good sportsmanship and competitiveness. Can they coexist? Can you show compassion and respect to your opponent while maintaining that junkyard dog mentality, beating them living hell out of them on the field?
Texas East was taking on Oklahoma in the Southwest Region Championship to see who advances to the Little League World Series, with Texas East up 3 to 2 in the bottom of the first inning.
Then, a scary moment occurred when the Texas East pitcher sent a pitch right into the Oklahoma player’s left temple, and he hit the deck.
Of course, this is absolutely terrifying, considering the fact that if the ball would’ve directly hit the player in the temple, it could’ve been pretty bad, but it caught the helmet and he was fine.
The batter eventually got back up and trotted to first base… no harm, no foul.
Then, he proceeds to trot towards the mound.
When I first saw the video, apart of me thought that the Oklahoma player was walking over to send a right cross to the pitcher’s face for plunking him in the head.
But nah, he was just walking over to give the pitcher a nice little hug, while the pitcher was absolutely bawling his eyes out like there’s no tomorrow.
Soft or sportsmanship?
Some call it’s a great show of sportsmanship:
And then there were those who called it soft:
Okay, okay, I know the pitcher probably felt awful for nearly accidentally committing a murder on the baseball diamond, and obviously we’re talking about young kids here, but c’mon. So while I won’t go on some rant about how kids are too soft these days, I don’t think 12 year old me is hugging the opposing pitcher on the mound in a situation like that. I probably would’ve just yelled over to him, “hey, dude… I’m fine.”
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with showing some respect on the field, as well as some emotion… don’t let the world turn you into an asshole, kids.
