ESPN coverage of the Little League World Series now is in full swing. The event has become more than a cult.

The small kids pull in big ratings.

“There are Little League World Series games that do higher than college basketball,” said Mark Gross, ESPN’s senior vice-president and executive producer for production. “We have games rate higher than MLB games. The kids are doing a 1.2 rating, while MLB is doing a .6.

“The thing about Little League is that the game is quick. It moves along. The game can be over in an hour, 90 minutes.”

That’s barely the top of the fourth for a Yankees-Red Sox game.

Invariably, though, during every Little League World Series, ESPN gets knocked for showing the little kids crying after a tough loss.

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote last year:

I’ve written this column before, and I’ll write it again, and nobody will listen because more than 1 million people are usually watching, but the truth is as clear as those rivulets running down a strikeout victim’s cheeks.

Allowing the public viewing of pubescent angst under the guise of a baseball game is opportunistic, offensive and just plain wrong.

The 69 Little League World Series and qualifying games that are currently being shown on ESPN and ABC are the worst sort of reality television, turning 11-to-13-year-olds into adults, turning adults into kids, turning my stomach.

Gross has heard it all before. Here is his response:

“If the kid is crying his eyes out, we don’t dwell on it. We’re respectful of the kids and how they play. It’s not about dwelling on the negative. We’re not looking to embarrass anybody. We’re just looking to document the event. Do you see a kid crying? It is part of the game. Ten minutes later, you might see him running to an arcade game.

“That’s an easy thing that people like to pick on. In my opinion, they don’t watch closely enough to see how different things are being covered. It’s easy say, ‘Oh, there’s ESPN they’re showing a kid crying.’ The kid is upset. He just lost. He wanted to win. We document the event. That’s what people expect.”

Terry Francona is looking forward to working his first Little League World Series. From Michael Hiestand of USA Today:

When he first talked to ESPN executives, he specifically asked if his assignments could include LLWS. Their response, he says: “They laughed, of course, and said yes.”

So why the interest in kids? “It’s just such a cool event,” Francona said. “Every MLB clubhouse, I’d be willing to bet, is going to have the games on. It’s the way baseball is supposed to be.”

But what about the old criticism, that TV coverage puts extra pressure on the players? “I see that point. But (LLWS organizers) go out of their way to see the game stays the way it’s supposed to be. I have a feeling once the game starts, they’re not worried who’s watching.”