Still reeling from the Little League W.S. F-bomb, the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick bemoans the boorish behavior amongst today’s desensitized kiddies.
Beyond always overdoing it, ESPN’s LL telecasts have included ads for “male enhancement” products. Sunday’s live, kid cursing episode occurred later on a Sunday night than when ESPN presented its ESPY awards last month, which near the top included an off-color sex gag. And the ESPYs were shown on tape.
ESPN’s Bobby Knight movie was loaded with profanities. It debuted on a Sunday at 8 p.m. It was repeated in the afternoon, for the after-school crowd.
ESPN opened a Sunday night NFL telecast with a group urinal scene. That, too, appeared earlier in the night than this past Sunday’s LL episode. And that, too, was shown on tape.
The cumulative effects of the number that the sports and entertainment worlds have done on our kids should no longer make for surprising results.
Last month, Steve Trachsel was pulled after 42/3 innings. Although he’d won seven straight decisions, as he headed for the dugout in Shea, he was booed. “Trachsel, you bleep!” two boys, about 14, screamed in Trachsel’s face from their seats near that dugout. I was seated nearby.
This month in Shea, when Chase Utley’s hit streak ended at 35 games, most of those shown on TV mindlessly jeering him were kids and teens.
Assuming the boys in question were not members of Steve Trachsel’s family, why didn’t Phil offer to adopt them?