Vinny Sidoli
Article 1:
The new York Times August 22, 2012
A teenager in New Jersey was left brain damaged after a baseball struck him in a Police Athletic league baseball game. The baseball was hit off a metal bat and managed to strike Steven Domalewski in his chest plate in between heart contractions. After a moment, Steven went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Steven did not get any oxygen to his brain for at least 15-20 minutes leaving him unable to do any daily functions he once performed.
The Little League organization caught scrutiny for allowing baseball players to use metal bats in there game. The belief is that the metal bats allow for young kids to hit baseballs with more power than the kids in the field can handle. Although the children were not playing in a baseball game at the time, the Little League Baseball organization deemed metal bats as safe to use for children. After this incident and many more, Little league was forced to ban many bats for the 2012 season.
Conflict - Little League Metal Bats cause injuries and are unsafe for youth
Contradiction - Little League claims bats are safe for children use yet players still manage to get serious injuries
Controversy - Little Leaguer Struck by ball is left brain damaged after going into cardiac arrest
Colorful Language - Steven Domalewski left brain damaged after cardiac arrest
Cast of Characters - Little League Baseball, Little Leaguers, Steven Domalewski
Article 2:
Should Curve balls be banned in Little League Baseball?
CNN (New York City) Paul Caron August 25, 2012
At a young age it is not a good idea for young players to throw curve balls. many agree that the torque a curve ball puts on your elbow can not be handled by players younger than thirteen years old. Pitching, especially curve balls, puts a lot of strain on the ulnar ligaments which connect the lower and upper part of the arm.
Some believe that it is not the strain that the curveballs that cause the most damage to the arm, but rather the amount of pitching that young players are being required to perform. A doctor by the name of James Andrew did a study on curveballs in the lab. His results suggested that curve balls do not put any more strain on the arm than throwing a fastball does; however, Andrews believes that throwing curveballs at a young age can lead to problems down the road explaining , “Don’t throw curveballs until you can shave.”
The Little League has enacted rules only allowing children to pitch a certain amount of pitches a week which is a good start. The real problems lies in baseball organizations for young kids that are not connected to Little League baseball. These teams, mostly travel teams, do not have any such regulations on the amount of pitching that a player can do.
According to both Andrews and Dr. Timothy Kremchek, the mount of elbow ligaments surgeries has been steadily on the rise for years. "Seventy percent of those surgeries are pitchers who haven't hit college yet," Kremchek said. "I ask each one the same question: When did you start throwing curveballs? And they say: 'I was 10. I was 11.' Sometimes, it's 9”, said Kremchek. Obviously if the amount of surgeries being done is primarily on younger kids, something needs to be done about the amount of pitching young kids are allowed to do.
Conflict - Pitching at young age can cause many problems as children grow
Contradiction - Parents and coaches allow their kids to throw more advanced pitches and train them to long
Controversy - Curveballs and prolonged pitching out to much strain on the arms of young pitchers resulting in surgeries
Colorful Language - “Don’t throw curveballs until you can shave”
Cast of Characters - Little League, Private Little League Organizations, Little League Pitchers, Doctors of Little Leaguers
Article 3:
Little League World Series:
Publication: February 11th
Summary: Jackie Robinson West Little League was stripped of their world title after the investigation determined they had in-eligible players on their team. A team whose players were largely African American has been found guilty of purposely building a super team. The article goes on to say how important fair play is to Little League, even more so than winning and losing.
5C’s
- Conflict: Unfair team boundaries leads to wrong champions
- Contradiction; The team wasn’t found guilty until months after
- Controversy: The title was striped and given to another team is that really the same.
- Colorful Language: African Americans
- Cast of Characters: Moyne Davis, Kristi Davis, Chris James
Article 4:
http://www.littleleague.org/media/llnewsarchive/2015/January-April/little-league-jrw-ruling.htm
Headline: LITTLE LEAGUE® INTERNATIONAL FINDS JACKIE ROBINSON WEST LITTLE LEAGUE VIOLATED RULES AND REGULATIONS
Byline: S
Publication: February 11, 2015?
Summary: Extensive review of the World Champion Jackie Robinson West has found the team has knowingly broke the rules of the Little League world series and created a super team. They are now being stripped of their title and their coaches. Investigators have found that Jackie Robinson West has used a falsified boundaries map for the team.
5C’s
- Conflict: Team has played unfairly and giving themselves a predetermined advantage over every other team.
- Contradiction: How could it take so long for the Little League to figure this out?
- Controversy: did they know what they were doing when they were doing it.
- Colorful Language; None
- Cast of Characters: Mr. Stephen D. Keener
Article 5:
Byline: Mo’ne asks for him to be reinstated
Publication: March 23, 2015
Summary: Bloomsburg baseball player Joe Casselberry was dismissed from the team after making a derogatory comment towards little league superstar Mo’ne Davis. Before deactivating his account Joe released a statement apologizing for his actions saying one stupid tweet can ruin a player's life, he asked for forgiveness and apologized to Mo’ne. Later in the week Mo’ne and her head coach Alex Rice released a statement and contacted the Bloomsburg University President David Soltz asking the school to please reconsider the dismissal and reinstate the player. For now the University is sticking with their decision with the dismissal.
5 C’s
Conflict: The Bloomsburg player has made a sexist statement against a young little league player
Contradiction: Player has not only given himself a bad name but his University as well
Controversy: The message was obviously a vulgar statement to degrade not only a child but a black female child
Colorful language: “Slut”
Cast of Characters: Mo’ne, Alex Rice, Joe Casselberry, David Soltz
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