Sports
While Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony led fans in a chant of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” after Sunday’s gold medal game in Beijing, a far more unlikely group of heroes were treated to the same cheer half a world away. After flirting with elimination a day earlier in the semifinals of this year’s Little League World Series, the team of seventh-graders from Waipahu, Hawaii emerged triumphant in the title game, beating the opposing squad from Matamoros, Mexico, 12-3. Hours after China sent off the world’s athletes with an ambitious closing ceremony, the fans in Williamsport, Pennyslvania—most of them face-painted parents or sunburned little sisters—departed as well. There were no fireworks or lip-synching nine-year-olds, only tired dads loading poster-boards bearing messages of good luck and empty coolers into their RVs.
By
Walker Loetscher
August 28, 2008