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| The best does come from Chicago. |
The Chicago area is proud to have the Jackie Robinson West as their Little League team. The team managed to take home the U.S. World Series Championship. But unfortunately, the team lost in the World Series of Little League against perennial winners South Korea.
The miracle team has motivated Chicago despite the constant violence plaguing its urban areas.
The racist right isn't talking about Chicago's miracle. They're obsessed with the negativity of Black on Black violence. They only care about trying to make the narrative that BLACKS are natural born criminals and OBAMA supports his own race over everyone else.
This is a frequent theme among the racist right. The team is getting major star power. Like a Hollywood movie, their image and namesake are flying off the shelves.
According to the Chicago Business Journal, The Jackie Robinson West All Stars over the past two weeks have treated Chicagoans to a storyline worthy of a Hollywood script.
In the midst of another summer filled with daily headlines of violence, the nation's newly crowned top Little League Baseball team puts Chicago in the best light it's seen in a long time.
And among other benefits, including a call from President Barack Obama and a parade in their honor, the deserving team of 11- and 12-year-olds is in line for a nice check for their program, thanks to sales of celebratory T-shirts.
More than 4,500 yellow Jackie Robinson West "Great Lakes Champions" T-shirts have been sold since Aug. 10 out of the Dick's Sporting Goods location in the South Loop, the only place they've been available for purchase.
All of the proceeds from those sales, after covering production costs, will go directly to the JRW program. At $20 a shirt, that likely will total tens of thousands of dollars.
"It's been a great story," said Brian Dibbert, community marketing manager for about half of the 20 Dick's locations in the Chicago area.
Mr. Dibbert would not estimate the amount that the baseball program will receive but said the sales forged new territory for Little League T-shirt sales, an effort the company started last year.
Dick's expanded from selling similar shirts in two markets that qualified for the Little League World Series to four markets this year, but Mr. Dibbert said momentum of the Chicago sales was unprecedented.
The South Loop store started with 300 shirts after the team qualified for the World Series tournament. Those sold out in a matter of days.
The next shipment — 500 shirts — were gone in a couple of hours, followed by another order of 250 shirts that flew off the shelves.
"It was just the perfect storm," Mr. Dibbert said of the timing of the team's run. "Chicago likes to rally around a winner."
And there's more to come. Dick's has a shipment of of 7,000 Jackie Robinson West All Stars "National Champions" shirts on its way, which will be available tomorrow at the same location and offer the same proceeds to the team.
Those sales will provide a nice send-off as the nation's eyes start to turn away from Jackie Robinson West and the pinnacle of Little League Baseball.
But the story — and the shirts — should live on as a symbol of pride and a reminder of a brief moment in time when a group of the South Side's best young baseball players gave their entire city a reason to cheer.
Well wishes to The Jackie Robinson West team on their future successes. Hope the best for them.
