ESPN2 last night from 7:00-9:30pm ET drew a 1.5 overnight rating for a Little League World Series game featuring Pennsylvania's walkoff against Texas, beating out ESPN's broadcast of A's-Braves "Sunday Night Baseballl" which drew a 1.0 overnight. The team from Philadelphia has drawn strong ratings with added interest around female P Mo'ne Davis. She did not pitch in last night's game, but pitched on Friday afternoon, with ESPN drawing a 1.0 overnight for her two-hitter from 3:30-5:00pm. ABC also had two LLWS games over the weekend, with both seeing gains over comparable games from '13. Washington's 7-5 win over South Dakota on Saturday afternoon drew a 1.2 overnight on ABC, up from a 1.0 for Tennessee-Texas last year, while Nevada's 13-2 win over Illinois on Sunday drew a 1.4 overnight, up from a 1.0 for Connecticut-Washington last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
LITTLE LEAGUE, BIG PROBLEM? In Chicago, Rick Telander writes, "Some of what I have seen so far in this tournament seems to rub up next to exploitation, almost like low-level child abuse." ESPN has "more cameras than we see at many major-league games," and they "linger there, pandering, quivering, praying for even a single tear drop" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 8/18).
THROW LIKE A GIRL: HBO's John Oliver last night discussed Davis, saying: "In the world of sport, a new star emerged this week. I love this girl, but the best part of Mo'ne Davis is not that she happens to be female. It's that she also happens to be awesome. Waving her fingers after strikeouts ... and displaying remarkable self-confidence." Davis said her curveball was like that of Dodgers P Clayton Kershaw and her fastball was like Mo'Ne Davis, with Oliver asking, "How is she that self-confident at 13 years old? I'm not that self-confident now and I have a TV show! But of all the wonderful things Mo'ne Davis did this week, this is my favorite." Davis noted the media attention she has received since the start of the tournament, but said she could always say "no" to a media request, calling it her "special weapon for the media." Oliver said, "This girl is incredible. Saying no to dumb questions from the media is a special weapon that everyone should use" ("Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," HBO, 8/17).
