People attribute baseball’s decline to a variety of things: the (supposed) slow pace of the game, the increasing need for costly specialization (having the best bat, glove, etc.), and better efforts behind other youth sports organizations to recruit young players. But if we look at what has always made baseball special, especially in Little League, it becomes clear that baseball’s decline actually mirrors a shift in more general American values.
Read moreMilitary Widow Reflects on Parenting Alone
“Eight months have passed since my husband was killed in the Red Sea. Landon was not killed by enemy fire, nor as a result of a mechanical failure. He was killed as he sat in his helicopter, rotors spinning and chained to the deck of a ship that was going too fast in high seas. A large wall of water hit the side of ship, shot up, and crashed onto the helicopter, causing it to break apart and eventually go over the side with both pilots still strapped in their seats.
Read moreA Score Worth Keeping
Little League Baseball Team. Photo: Sarah Smiley
Lindell and his team arrived at their usual field and didn’t see the coaches. Some of us parents wondered if we had gotten the date or time wrong. Then the kids peered over the Little League fence, curtained with a blue tarp and topped with a yellow bumper, and realized, in true Field of Dreams fashion, that they were going to play on the big field while the Little League team was away.
Read moreChild's Cavity Feels Like Blight On My Parenting Record
Mothers don’t like to talk about cavities because we view them as evidence of what we perceive to be bad parenting. How could we let those precious little baby teeth decay? Even the sound of the word — “decay” — makes us shudder. Decay? DECAY? My child’s mouth has decay?
Read moreOwen Wilson Stole My Baby's Name!
When asked about the name Ford, Owen Wilson told E! Online: “Jade [Duell] and I just liked the name. Thought it was a good name, a very American-sounding name, and I don’t know a lot of kids named Ford so it seemed kind of original.” He’s right. According to Baby Name Wizard’s Laura Wattenberg (whose Name Voyager is a must-see), “the popularity of the name Ford peaked back in 1915, when it was ranked at #483, and it has been a rare bird for most of the time since.”
“Ford” ranked #608 for baby names in 1910 and slipped to #757 in the 1920s. By the 1930s, it was gone from the chart completely. (The Name Voyager doesn’t track names that didn’t reach a rank of at least 1,000 for that year.)
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