Land Mines (The REAL reason it's bigger than baseball for the brothers from Chicago)

"They don't see us bruh but we here and ballin'!"

Francis of Assissi, the ancient Italian Catholic friar and preacher, once said, “Start by doing the possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Robert Heinlein, the famous science fiction writer, broke it down like this, “Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” Then Audrey Hepburn spit some fire when she said, “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

Well playboy... the young Chi-town hustlas from the Jackie Robinson West Little League are doin’ what most people thought was virtually impossible. An all-black team from the south side of Chicago in the United States Championship game of the Little League World Series? You darn right! And that's the edited version.  How or why do I say that these young thunder cats are doin’ the impossible? Because this ain’t just about playin’ baseball playboy.

First of all, you’d be hard pressed to find black kids still playin’ the game that so many played from the Negro Leagues to Jackie Robinson bein’ called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers in April of 1947 to the duns like Hammerin’ Hank Aaron to Mr. October Reggie Jackson to Barry Bonds etc. Unfortunately, black kids aren’t playin’ the game anymore.

I know first-hand playa because I’ve got a senior in high that plays and he’s been normally the only one or two brothers on the team from the time he was 6. All the brothers are playin’ football and basketball bruh! Why? Because nobody’s watchin’ baseball. The girls don’t show up to the baseball games. They go to the football and basketball games. Let’s be honest. The brothers are playin’ the joints that they can get the most publicity playin’! We used to say back in the day, “No Pub No Play!”

So let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! Because these young cats from the Chi are ballin’ in the LLWS you’re gonna see more brothers in the battin’ cages this spring than we’ve seen in a long time. Therefore, you can say that ole Jackie has given the game of baseball a shot in the arm once again. Well…Jackie Robinson West Little League anyway. However, what the world sees is some young cats from Chicago just playin’ ball. What I see and those that grew up in the ghetto as well see are some soldiers.

Not only are these cats ballin’ out of control but they’ve been able to make it out of the war zone to be able to play. Boyz are dyin’ in the Chi like its Iraq every day and even more are bein’ shot. From January 1^st to August 21 more than 1258 people have been shot in the city limits. Durin’ this past July 4^th weekend alone 82 people were shot and 14 killed and these kids still went to practice and kept dreamin’ of playin’ in the LLWS. Wheredeydodatat?

See the duns playin’ in this joint that are growin’ up in the comforts of the suburbs have absolutely no excuses for not succeedin’! All they’ve had to do is get up, get three square meals and ride their bikes to practice.

While the young thunder cats from the Chi have to dodge the land mines that could at any moment end their lives. First boyz have to survive the night of gun fire in their neighborhoods by many times sleepin’ on the floor so that a stray bullet doesn’t come through the window or the wall.

Then they’ve got to try to get to school safely without gettin’ influenced by the GD Folks (Black Gangsta Disciples) to join the gang or better yet without gettin’ robbed of their lunch money, sneakers or both if they aren’t protected by the gang. Once at school they’ve got to deal with the foolishness of the day and then dodge the same land mines on the way back to the crib. And we haven’t even began to talk about makin’ it to practice in the evenin’ bruh. That’s a completely different and far more dangerous set of land mines to deal with!

So when I see duns like ESPN act so disrespectful towards these kids I’m outraged. On Tuesday night when they won their game against the all-white team from New England. ESPN decided to use the post-game footage to listen in on the head coach's losin’ pep talk to show them cryin’. I guess they wanted to pull at the heart strings of America by showin the all-white team in defeat instead of showin’ the all-black team in victory. I’m talkin’ but y’all ain’t listenin’.

Not only did ESPN ignore the Chicago winners that night but the next day every other major media outlet did the same. All everybody focused on was the pep talk of the losin’ team but the young soldiers from the Chi are still alive waitin’ for somebody to care that they’re still playin’.

Never once did they show the kids from the war zone celebratin’ their victory and they didn’t even have the decency to ask them a single question. But folks on the outside lookin’ in will say that I’m just makin’ things up. Pull the tape playboy I’ve got no reason to lie. I just understand what these cats had to go through just to show up in Williamsport. This ain’t about baseball playa, it’s about survival and in the process they’ve found success.

Now did ESPN diss them because of race? Not at all! It was just easier for the people in charge of the telecast that night to sympathize with the kids that looked like them. So they stayed with them instead of the kids that didn't look like them. Just like it was easier for black folks to sympathize with seein' an unarmed black kid layin' in the street uncovered for four hours after bein' shot in Ferguson and why so many white folks sympathized with the policeman that shot him without even knowin' the details. So I guess it is about race playa. What we've got to learn how to do is respect one other regardless of race whether we're watchin' the LLWS or real life. Then and only then will there be true value for your neighbor.

If all these kids had to do was worry about playin’ baseball they would be 10-run rulin’ everybody. Because when this LLWS is over they’ve got to go back to that same war zone that they came from and nobody outside of the hood will even care about them bruh. Stop me when I start lyin’! Chi-town baby!

Holla At Ya Boy!
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The caption under the photo isn’t real but its REAL talk!