We're going to Williamsport!

Well, OK, no we're not. Not because of a lack of talent, but because the Mudcats don't meet the age criteria--and a few other details.

If you're like us, your house has been besieged by the Little League World Series this week. It's easy to understand how the games can consume entire towns. We DVR most every game (have to include those extra 30 minutes on the end in case of extra innings) and watch at least a couple of games every day. Yes, school starting is going to put a major crimp in our routine. The favorite parts of the games at our house:

1. Any home runs, usually followed by the assessment, "Man, he smoked that ball!"
2. The part in the pregame when they show the players dancing with the mascot.
3. Any double plays or attempted double plays. If a triple play ever happens, odds are that we will need a new TV due to the excitement.
4. The Phineas and Ferb lead-ins that they play once per game.

Watching the game may not sound like an interactive experience, but it is. We recently were perplexed when the color in our relatively new TV in the den suddenly turned a strange shade of green. After jostling a few cables, er, I mean, "doing some highly dangerous electrical work," I determined the source of the problem. Our son likes to throw his nerf baseball at the wall and catch ground balls while he is watching games. Some of his throws aren't as accurate as you might like, which created some loose connections. The wires are now properly plugged back in, the color is back to normal, and our appliances will be forever grateful to Coach Andrew if he can improve our son's throwing accuracy.

Because we spend even more time watching the LLWS than we do trying to sell West Raleigh raffle tickets (remember, money is due before the first game on Sept. 9 or unspeakable consequences will occur), family members and friends have started to ask if West Raleigh feeds into the LLWS. Keep in mind we have been in the league for all of three practices so far. Apparently our family really likes planning ahead. Got to get that summer 2017 calendar ready.

West Raleigh has a league for 11-12 year-old kids. The LLWS is for 11-12 year-old kids. If you're not oddly obsessed with youth baseball (read: a West Raleigh parent) it probably looks and sounds like it's the same thing. But it's not. West Raleigh is affiliated with the Cal Ripken Division, which is part of the Babe Ruth League, a different organization than Little League.

You can see many of the differences as you're watching the LLWS. The size of the diamonds are different, there are some substitution and pitching differences, and there are some baserunning differences. The easiest way to see all the variations: check out the Cal Ripken World Series championship game between Mexico and Ocala, Fl., this afternoon at 3 p.m. on the MLB Network. What else would you be doing with a day off from practice other than watching a game?

So, no, we're not going to Williamsport (or, as Bill Geist relates in his very funny book, Little League Confidential, Williamsburg). Aberdeen, Maryland? That's a possibility...someday.