The real boys of summer

It's finally going to happen. After months of speculation, analysis and events, it will all be over.\nNo, I'm not talking about the election for Bush, Gore or any other misguided person who has delusions of being president. \nI'm talking about the end of baseball season. \n Don't worry. It's all going to be over soon. \nIt's not like I have some grudge against America's pastime. I love baseball, and I probably always will.\n But something is missing from the game I grew up watching. I couldn't figure out what that something was until a few weeks ago, but then it happened.\nThe Little League World Series.\nIt was running rampant on ESPN2 for about two weeks before it concluded Saturday. Venezuela out-dueled a Texas team 3-2, but every game leading up to the championship game was fantastic.\nThe Little League World Series made me realize why baseball is such a great sports spectacle. And it reminded me why I have a strange habit of paying attention to the reaction of the losing team. \nThe bad thing about winners is they're predictable; they jump, they cheer, they celebrate. \nThe team that couldn't locate any more outs is more compelling. And 12-year-olds aren't any different. They're actually more interesting.\nThe young team of sluggers from Texas looked despondent after its loss, and some of the members cried. \nThey wept the tears that not overflowed their eyes, but the ones that caused them to wrap their watery hands around their windpipes. And watching those kids cry the tears of champions made me realize something about myself.\nI'm not 12 anymore. \nSomewhere along my demented timeline I grew up. And my baseball soul died in the process.\nBaseball is only meant for kids 12 and younger. \nThat is what the game is all about.\nIt's not about arbitration, free agency or ballparks named after companies. And it's not about "players to be named later" or trading your best player to help another team in its playoff run. \nBaseball is about sliding just to get your uniform dirty. It's about learning to eat sunflower seeds without your hands. It's about cheering for the kid who hits the cut-off man for the first time.\nIt's about having a favorite player and emulating everything he does. It's about trying to get number five because it might make you hit like Nomar Garciaparra. It's about wearing your socks in the old style because they could give you the grace of Joe DiMaggio.\nBaseball is about being allowed to play pepper on the field. It's about always loving the smell of the leather in your glove. It's about jumping over the foul line because you think it will keep the errors away from the shortstop.\nBut most of all, baseball is about the look on a little boy's face when he picks up a bat for the first time. It's about a father feeling goosebumps when his child hits that first home run. And it's about sisters desperately wanting to throw with their brothers.\nBaseball to an adult is none of these things. It is a business where players have more worries than organizing a carpool for the season. Players have families and mortgages and contracts to sign. \nThey can't just focus on baseball because ... well, they're not Little Leaguers anymore.\nIn a few weeks, I will watch the playoffs and the World Series as I always do. But I don't think I'm going to enjoy it as much as I have in the past.\nAfter all, the true baseball season doesn't really conclude at the end of October.\nThe real boys of summer finished playing Saturday.