Strollerderby : ESPN

Revenge of the Baseball Gods-Little League Scandal Revisited

Brett Singer — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Remember Danny Almonte? How about Matt Cerda?

You'd be forgiven if you didn't remember either one of these names, especially Cerda's. Almonte was a pitcher on the winning team in the 2001 Little League World Series. In a scandal somewhat like what may soon envelop Olympic gymnastics, it turned out that Almonte was 14, 2 years over the allowed age for Little Leaguers. Cerda was barely 11 when he struck out to end the game, leaving the field in tears.

Then 9/11 happened, which of course took the focus away from this story. Still, it is interesting, which is why ESPN's "Outside The Lines" aired a piece on where these two young ballplayers are now. Turns out Almonte, despite his early promise, hasn't managed to make it to the big leagues. But Cerda has – he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs at age 17. Amazingly, Denny Henderson, a scout for the Cubs, remembered Cerda from that game in 2001, when he played catcher. Despite not having played the position since then, the Cubs decided to take him on, moving him from shortstop to behind home plate.

A video report is below; if you like, you can read the (somewhat long) article on ESPN.com.

ESPN - Revenge of the Baseball Gods - E-ticket
"Outside the Lines" revisits the battle between Danny Almonte and Matt Cerda in the 2001 Little League World Series.

image/source: ESPN

IOC orders investigation of Chinese Gymnast's age

Other Old Olympians

33 year old mom wins silver medal, saves son from leukemia

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Shawn Johnson more mature than her coach

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Whole lotta fakin' goin' on at the opening ceremony

Spelling Dork Nearly Loses With 'Numbnut'

Madeline Holler — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Sameer Mishra, who went on to win the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, thought the judges were calling him names during one of the late rounds in the contest.

Mishra approached the microphone, the judge called out the word, the audience laughed, and, as is protocol, the 13-year-old repeated what he heard with a slight panic in his voice: "numbnut."

Turns out, the judge had said, "numnah," a Hindi word for a kind of blanket. He spelled it correctly. In an interview before the final round, he said of the misheard word, "there are just so many ways to spell it!"

That kid ain't no numbnut (or knumnutt, or nummnut, or ...)

Vidoe: YouTube/ESPN

Save Our Children from ESPN Highlights!

Gwynne Watkins — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:38:00 GMT

Today, the Babble editors received a story pitch that began like this:

Unapologetic topics of today’s mass media and pop culture has caused disrespectfulness, defiance and rejection of common courtesy to become the mainstream. Kids are growing up in a world of ESPN highlights and American Idol where it is acceptable to be rude and self-promoting. What kids are seeing on TV, the Internet and in magazines is leaving no room for strong character development and sense of self.

We’re amused by the idea of ESPN highlights and American Idol ruining our children. (Flash forward twenty years: “Before we incarcerate you for life, son, tell us; where did it all go wrong?” “Well, back in 2007, I watched Garret Anderson hit a grand slam for the Angels. And there was that time that Jordin sang “Livin’ on a Prayer.” That’s when I started disrespecting my parents…”) Then again, Elvis songs and talking pictures were once primed to ruin our children. It seems that blaming pop culture for kids’ problems never goes out of style.

Super Bowl Alternatives for Families

Karen Murphy — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 20:48:00 GMT

If you're like me, you're one of the approximately 136 million people who aren't going to watch the game. So what are you going to do?

1. Shopping. With all that testosterone busy cramming Buffalo wings into its collective mouth, there's plenty of room to spread out in the aisles of your favorite home improvement store, whose employees will likely be very happy to help you buy a lawn tractor or snow blower. Or anything.

2. Animal Planet's "Puppy Bowl III". Be sure not to miss the kitten half-time show.

3. See a movie. Again, short lines make this an attractive option.

But what if you want to fake it, and seem like "one of the guys" come Monday morning, without having to be subjected to watching big guys in lots of padding jumping all over each other and running around in seeming random directions?

1. Since it's all about the commercials, you can watch them here on Sunday. Or go here now for a preview.

2. If you're serious about faking it, watch just the first half quarter, then have a look at ESPN.com before you go in to work Monday, and you'll likely have enough to go on. Trust me, hardly anyone will notice (they'll be too hung over).