equal time Phil Mushnick The Little League World Series problem exposed by a 12-year-old girl’s stardom By Phil Mushnick Published Aug. 27, 2026, 8:13 p.m. ET Kinley Rasmus of Phenix, AL (Southeast Region) delivers a pitch to a batter for Tacoma, WA. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect Too often our sports media ask us to be surprised by occurrences that aren’t particularly surprising.
Another Marshawn Lynch arrest. LeBron James’s abject selfishness followed by his lectures as to what’s wrong with the rest of us. Aaron Boone’s and Brian Cashman’s “Oh, well” acceptance of players who regard minimal effort as good enough in exchange for tens of millions of dollars.
This week we were asked to be astonished by the batting and pitching successes of 12-year-old Kinley Rasmus, a girl, for the Little League World Series entrant from Alabama.
And yet, the national attention she has commanded as a novelty only makes two-plus-two sense.
