for 29 AUG 06 : THE SHINING NORTHERN STAR

"I am a pitcher. I am an ace." That's what ESPN coaxed Kyle Carter into saying. As of Monday night, I suppose he can be as cocky as his ball cap....

Congratulations to the Columbus Northern All-Stars, who won the Little League World Series 2-1 Monday evening. It'll be interesting to listen to WRCG's "TalkLine" today, and hear callers complain about the government spending money for special commemorative signs at the city limits.

Northern had a tough challenge in the final game, but defeated Kawaguchi City, Japan pitcher Go Matsumoto. Can't you hear the players on the plane heading home -- chanting, "We stopped Go! We stopped Go!"

Kyle Carter revealed in a post-game interview ESPN put him together with Japan's Go Matsumoto - and then "they made us look like we were boxing." If that part was staged, my view of ESPN's poker matches may be on the verge of a serious change....

Kyle Carter's mother Cindy says she tried to tell him during the Little League World Series to "stay grounded." He seemed to do that as a pitcher - because there were hardly any fly-ball outs.

Dad/Assistant Coach Richard Carter said the entire team was praised during the Little League World Series for being "well-mannered." Just wait until some of those players discover there are rap stations down the FM dial from what their parents turn on....

While Richard Carter was thrilled with Northern's world title, he admitted he was saddened to see the losing side from Japan crying. He should have shown them the front-page headline from last week's Atlanta newspaper - which quoted Tom Hanks's movie line, "There's no crying in baseball."

Some confusion remained Monday night about what Northern Manager Randy Morris will do from here. ESPN's Brent Musberger claimed Morris was retiring from managing, but Morris's wife said after the game he's "not done." Of course not - not until he gets a teaching certificate, and joins the staff of Hardaway or Shaw or Northside.

I didn't realize until Monday's post-game show that the father of Northern second baseman Josh Lester is a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jimmy Lester said of the Little League final game: "This is real baseball." Then I shudder to think of what the Columbus Catfish are playing....

After the celebration was over and the world title flag was presented, the Northern All-Stars stopped to collect infield dirt from the Little League field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. You know the proper way to handle this in 2006 - one bucket to keep for posterity, the other to sell on eBay.

So is everyone in Columbus pleased by how the Little League playoffs played out? Not quite. One man told me Monday night it's wrong to say the Northern All-Stars "represent the United States" and "One Columbus" - apparently because all the players are European-American. Come to think of it, I guess it's wrong to say Sanford Bishop "represents his district" if someone votes against him on Election Day.

I asked the caller named Michael if he thought Columbus Little League should have assembled an all-star team from ALL leagues in all parts of town, for ethnic balance. He stopped short of calling for that. Apparently he simply wants TV channels to declare this a win for the Northern area - and maybe the Civic Center should charge double for its celebration party.

But other people across Columbus seemed pleased to have the Northern All-Stars represent them. I found signs of support outside Chester's Barbecue downtown and Gus's Drive-In on Victory Drive - and I suspect championship apparel will be on sale all over town in a few days.

LOOK OUT BELOW FOR MORE....

Premiere Weekend is over, but Power Frisbee's Season 1 goes on! The next stop is Athens next Sunday, with matches scheduled in Columbus and LaGrange later this fall. Check the schedule and learn more at the official Power Frisbee web site; then offer your comments at the P.F.G. blog.

SPECIAL COVERAGE: We blogged the Little League World Series finals in real-time. Here's the summary, from start to finish:

PRE-GAME: Little League suddenly moved up the starting time of this game at midday, from 8:00 p.m. ET to 5:00 p.m. That meant no "Monday Night Baseball" on ESPN. Maybe Tony Kornheiser couldn't come up with some clever lines that wouldn't offend anybody....

The Little League web site's weather report for Williamsport, Pennsylvania early in the day said it was "party sunny." Hmmmm - is Sunny-D juice sponsoring this tournament?

We found an online newcomer's guide in English for Northern's opponent, the Tokyo suburb of Kawaguchi City. The city is known for making cast-iron metals - so at least one team won't be embarrassed to have its bats labeled "Made in Japan."

FIRST INNING: Japan bats first, and Columbus pitcher Kyle Carter gets a strikeout to escape a two-out runner-at-third jam. Please, Columbus fans -- don't hang K signs for strikeouts. If Carter winds up with three, it will only reinforce those old Southern stereotypes.

The pre-game coverage on ESPN includes a pretend boxing match between starting pitchers Kyle Carter and Go Matsumoto. Over on WXTX, Jerry Springer has two real skirmishes before the first pitch is thrown.

(Meanwhile, WRBL didn't seem to mention the Little League at the top of its 5:00 p.m. news. Apparently the women watching their news don't care about sports.)

Northern's Brady Hamilton tells ESPN he spent the lag time Sunday "sleeping and watching the game from the other day." There, you see -- the teachers could have given them some homework to do in Williamsport.

ESPN has a "former Japanese league star" on the sidelines -- named Orestes Destrade?! They couldn't bring over Sadaharu Oh, and have him meet Sandra Oh of "Grey's Anatomy?"

Instant Message to Brent Musberger: I have to be "lookin' live" -- because otherwise I couldn't look, and I might be dead.

SECOND INNING: Kyle Carter gets another strikeout to end the top of the inning. But he's also had a pitch or two which badly missed the strike zone. Who could have taped me in slow-pitch softball years ago, to show him this?

Go Matsumoto threw about 30 pitches in the bottom of the first inning. Beginning next year, Little League will protect young arms by keeping players on a "pitch count." If they'd only protect the rest of us and put fans like that mother from Phoenix on a.... naah, I'd better not write that....

Kawaguchi City takes its name from the Japanese word for "mouth of the river." So who is that city's version of Doug Kellett?

What is this -- the Northern team is wearing "teal" uniforms? If that color is teal, University of North Carolina fans need to stop their remarks about God making the sky Carolina blue.

To be fair: WRBL mentioned the Little League team in its 5:30 p.m. news. More men must have tuned in, because Jerry Springer went to studio audience questions.

THIRD INNING: Japan takes a 1-0 lead with a two-out single, scoring a player named -- uh -- Yada? Yada? Yada?

(Hmmmm -- the run was scored "quick and easy Japanese-y. I wonder which side they're rooting for at Sumo a-Go-Go.)

ESPN notes the bent bill of pitcher Go Matsumoto's cap, in a very defined arch. Why does this look to me like a subtle psyche job -- to make the Columbus batters think they're facing the AFLAC duck?

Let's take a moment to check our e-mail about the finals:

I hope Columbus has a parade for our returning kid heroes.maybe people lined along Airport Thru Way would be fun..yea Southeast..players and parents...

It appears there will be a parade -- only down Veterans Parkway Wednesday, ending with an event at the Civic Center. Of course, we could combine the two -- parade around the airport, and have plenty of open space for everything.

BOTTOM OF THIRD INNING: A two-run home run to right by Cody Walker gives Columbus a 2-1 lead. That'll teach the city to rename it University Avenue years ago....

Cody Walker's homer comes moments after a blunder by Kyle Carter. He ran through a coach's stop sign at third base on a single, and was thrown out at home. Carter's running reminded me of some drivers on the 280 Bypass.

FOURTH INNING: Three up, three down for Kyle Carter in the top of the fourth. Wow, Japan was up and down almost as fast as John Karr was in and out of a Colorado jail.

For reasons I don't quite understand, Kawaguchi City dressed 14 players for the final game. Columbus dressed only 11. Is it the Southern football mentality, or something?

FIFTH INNING: Three more strikeouts by Kyle Carter give him nine for the game. If he stops there, one particular TV station is liable to be very happy....

But there's a problem with the format here. They only play six innings in Little League games. How in the world are young fans supposed to learn the joy of a seventh-inning stretch -- and singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" off-key?

SIXTH INNING: A tag of a runner clinches the world title! Northern wins 2-1 -- giving Columbus its biggest championship since the Ledger-Enquirer won a Pulitzer Prize in 1955.

Kyle Carter was the winning pitcher, despite hitting a batter on the shoulder to put the winning run on base in the sixth. Carter threw so hard, that Japanese batter was Aiken' like Clay.

Kyle Carter winds up making history, by winning four games at the Little League World Series. That's probably one game for every million dollars in his pro baseball signing bonus someday.

And only after the final out is recorded do we see an AFLAC commercial on the screen. ESPN was more "fair and balanced" in its coverage than we thought.

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Because of our special coverage of the Little League World Series win, we'll push the e-mail catch-up session back one more day. It's coming Wednesday, for sure....)

People across metro Columbus and around the world read this blog every day. To advertise to them, offer a story tip or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 7919 (+ 33, 0.4%)

If you mention this blog in public, please be polite enough to let me know.

© 2003-06 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.