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http://www.columbussports.com/content/daily_sports_take/of_wiffle_ball_and_apple_pie.shtmlOf wiffle ball and apple pie
What does King George III, apple pie and Greenwich Connecticut have to do with wiffle ball?
Loyal readers of mine (thanks Dave) already know that I'm a strong proponent of youth, freedom and wiffle ball, not necessarily in that order. I spent many a youthful hour myself playing wiffle ball in the backyards and streets of my hometown, often with a transistor radio held close to my ear so I could listen to Herb Score describe the latest Indians' loss.
Although we always played to win, we never took our wiffle ball games too seriously (well, maybe I did sometimes), and the neighbors certainly had no problem just leaving us alone as long as we didn't carry on our games past dark.
Now, however, there's a wiffle ball controversy brewing in Connecticut, and quite possibly coming to your town next if the youths involved decide to start twittering and texting their friends in other states. It just so happens that Connecticut is where wiffle ball was invented, and of course we all know the part that state played in securing our freedom from the oppressive and wiffle ball hating regime of King George III.
This is surely a controversy that goes to the heart of what it means to be a kid, an American, an apple pie lover, a Sean Hannity fan club member, and everything else that is good and right (no pun intended) about this country. If Obama and McCain were holding debates now, it would surely be one of the first issues they would be asked to address.
I won't restate the whole story here, it's already been widely reported by the N.Y. Times and others, I simply wanted to make more people aware of this budding controversy that should raise the hackles of every freedom loving American that's ever whipped a wiffle ball towards a skinny yellow bat or felt the sting of the ball's hard plastic smacking against bare skin.
We should all support these fine young youths who simply want to play a kid's game in the relative peace and quiet of their own little pseudo Fenway Park in Greenwich, Connecticut. I know I do. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say right here and now that I'll help any group of kids in my freedom loving city create their own wiffle ball field out of any unused portion of city owned land. It just can't be anywhere near my own back yard. Sorry kids, but I prefer my peace and quite these days.