When American pastimes collide

For ages baseball has been considered America’s pastime, embodying the idea of sportsmanship and camaraderie among players—men—of different social, economic, and eventually racial, backgrounds.

To many people, baseball transcended being a game and became more of a cultural touchstone. Baseball is as American as Ford cars and apple pies.

Another facet of this American way of life is our pursuit of economic freedom. Generation upon generation of families equated the American dream with chasing the almighty dollar and amassing financial prosperity if not obscene wealth.

We tend to admire and sometimes emulate those who make boatloads of money, legally or otherwise. For some, making money is more than a way to pass the time, it’s a way of life.

But what happens when those pastimes collide?

For some fans of baseball Little League embodies the purest form of the sport, captured alongside the innocence of youth. Kids’ baseball is not about millionaire players making billionaire owners and corporations richer while fans struggle to afford the cost of a ticket and a day at the ballpark, it’s about enjoying a game for the sake of happiness.

However, not everyone sees it that way.

While in the United States, betting on the Little League World Series is illegal, there are plenty of offshore venues that will place bets on which team from which country will advance and go home. There is, after all, money to be made and making money is an American way of life.

Last year Little League World Series officials issued a statement suggesting that no one should be exploiting the success and failure of children for their own personal gain.

Though the idea of betting gobs of money on a kids game is gross, the sentiment that exploiting kids’ for personal or financial gain seems inconsistent with reality.

The broadcast rights for televising the baseball tournament is worth millions. Sponsors pay good money to have their messages seen on TV and social media. They may not be exploiting kids in the traditional and nasty sense, but plenty of people are making money off the actions of pre-teens and their families who won’t see a dime.

There is something American and un-American about it all.