I'm getting ready to jump in the car and head down to Indianapolis, IN home of   the Little League Central Region headquarters complex and thought I'd write one more post before leaving. The twelve teams representing the Central Region are scheduled to arrive throughout the day today and Pool Play begins tomorrow. The Central Region tournament is comprised of six teams in two pools; Great Lakes and Midwest.

The <A href="http://www.littleleague.org/series/2008divisions/llbb/qualify/greatlakes.htm">Great   Lakes</A> pool representatives are: Bay City Southwest LL from Bay City,   Michigan, Jackie Robinson LL from Chicago, Illinois, Mt. Vernon LL from Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Appleton Einstein LL from Appleton, Wisconsin, Jeff/GRC American LL from Jeffersonville, Indiana and Kentucky Bowling Green Eastern LL from Bowling Green, Kentucky



The http://www.littleleague.org/series/2008divisions/llbb/qualify/midwest.htmMidwestpool representatives are: Canyon Lake LL, from Rapid City, South Dakota, Daniel Boone National LL from Columbia, Missouri, Urbandale LL from Urbandale, Iowa, Cherokee Community LL from Cherokee, Kansas, Coon Rapids National LL from Coon Rapids, Minnesota and Kearney National LL from Kearney, Nebraska.

!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-18851/MI-Champions.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9340|height=94|style=padding:8px;|align=left|width=143|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-18851/MI-Champions.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9340!The nice thing for me with having two separate pools is that I can root   for a team in each of them. Of course, living in Michigan and having umpired in   our state tournament here, I have to root for Bay City SW Little League and the   "Blue Crew". They have a great ride thus far but this is a whole new ball game.   Their bracket contains some tough teams from what I've read in different Google   news search articles. Win or lose though, Manager Roger Phelps told me

"They just have fun, and that's the way I want it."

!http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-18852/ULL-Logo.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9340|height=129|style=padding:8px;|align=left|width=129|src=http://community.active.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-18852/ULL-Logo.jpg?blogID=8913&blogPostID=9340!The other team I will be rooting for is Urbandale Little League in the   Midwest pool. While I don't know the players or coaches as yet, I had the   pleasure of umpiring in the Senior baseball Regional in Peru, IL in 2005 when a   team from Urbandale went on to win the Senior Baseball World Series. The parents   and coaches were fantastic and great fun to be around. If the Little League team   is anything like the 2005 Senior team, they could do very well. I was given an   Urbandale Little League tee shirt back then and I plan on wearing it when they play.

Guess that's it for now. It's time to leave and hit the road for my 4 hour drive to Indy.