Greetings from Indianapolis, where I've spent quite an interesting 25 hours as of this writing.

Bowling Green East's 12-year-old Little League all-stars are guaranteed a berth in the Great Lakes regional semifinals after an 18-3 pasting of Appleton (WI) Einstein Little League today... but arriving at that conclusion's been anything but easy.

I left Bowling Green for Indiana's state capital yesterday believing East would hook up with Appleton at 4:30 yesterday.  Rain prevented that, pushing the game back to 8:00... but even that proved to be anything but a guarantee.  Because the first game of the day at the Ruben F. Glick Little League Center lasted upwards of three hours, the East-Wisconsin game wouldn't have begun until about 8:50.  As a result, Little League Central Region director Mike Legge elected to cancel the game.

What's that you ask?  A reason for the cancellation?  Legge said he didn't think the two teams could reach a sixth inning of play until after 11pm (Little League rules stipulate a new inning can't begin after 11pm local time).  So he canceled a game scheduled to begin more than two hours before that deadline on the grounds of not wanting to create any competitive disadvantage.  Never mind that neither manager was asked his opinion on the matter... just tell a bunch of 12-year-olds who have waited all day to play to wait another night.  For East, that meant a third straight day here in Indy without a game.  Makes little to no sense to anyone outside of Legge, but ultimately it's his decision and his decision alone.

Perhaps, then, it's poetic justice that East needed just four innings to put Appleton on the brink of elimination.  Five home runs buoyed the effort, including two from Seaton Sheldon.  East now plays Jeffersonville, IN tomorrow with a chance to claim the number one seed in Friday's semifinals... and a chance to create quite a bit of buzz about a possible regional title.

BTW, I read something interesting yesterday that I think would shock most Americans... but is an inevitability on some level.  Reports had Cleveland Cavaliers star (and U.S. Men's Senior National Team forward) LeBron James "strongly considering" a move to Europe after the 2009-10 NBA season if a team there could offer him $50 million dollars a year.  On the surface, it seems ludicrous given that James has likely grown up dreaming of playing only in the NBA.  But no team in the league could offer him more than about $20M a season... and in nearly anyone's mind, a 250% raise is something to mull over (at the very least).  Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy paid David Beckham $250 million to play stateside after a very successful career in England's premiership and a similar offer's likely to come soon for soccer star Thierry Henry... so don't underestimate the power of money in influencing stars to move halfway across the world to practice their craft.

Do I think LeBron will actually suit up for Olympiacos or for CSKA Moscow in a couple years?  No, I see him joining pal Jay-Z in Brooklyn with the Nets.  But consider this: Europe's had NBA-level players in its professional leagues for some time, the Euro is strong compared to the dollar right now, European leagues don't have a salary cap and several NBA players have bolted for Europe this offseason (Josh Childress, Carlos Arroyo, Earl Boykins etc.).  Given that, I don't think the day's too far off when a legitimate NBA star assesses his situation as a free agent and chooses to elevate himself from "star" in America to "mega-star" in Greece or Italy (not to mention see his pocketbook swell beyond imaginable size).  And I also predict the majority of Americans will be floored by this, forgetting that America's professional leagues have poached the world's best in every sport for decades.  If we can do it, why can't they?

I'll try to update again tomorrow from here in Indianapolis... we could be talking about regional favorites by then!

James