ESPN just showed a little clip of the Little League World Series, specifically the kid from Southern California who struck out eighteen batters (remember, that's in a 6-inning game, so that's all the outs possible).

First, I don't buy that kid's age, whatever he's claiming it is. How old is he allowed to be? 12? 13? He looks like he's 15 or 16. Really, he looks like the kids I was teaching last year, and those are freshmen and sophomores in high school (and not normal ones, either: I had plenty of kids who'd been held back a year or three).

Second, can we please officially declare the straight-brim-of-the-baseball-cap thing over? I've said it before and I'll say it until it goes away: I guess it looks fine when you're just walking around. When it's what you're wearing on the baseball field, it looks awful. Especially on these little white boys in the LLWS. You know those commercials where major league players teach little kids the various skills of the game, and it always ends in hilarity? They should have one where someone, preferably one of those "filthy hat" players like Steve Kline, teaches kids how to prepare their hats for a game.