Fantastic piece in last week's SI by Tom Lake on five-year-old baseball sensation Ariel Antigua. Somehow I hadn't heard about this kid before. But the story goes that at age 5, he was able to hit an 85 mph fastball at a New Jersey batting cage. A family friend took video of the incredible exploit and posted it on YouTube, where young Ariel Antigua and his family were crucified by the American public. Many criticized the validity of the video, and most belittled Antigua's feat in any way they could. Others ripped Antigua's father for "stealing" his child's youth.
Beside his incredible atletic ability, Ariel is a pretty normal 5-year-old. He doesn't seem to understand all the attention he's getting, and certainly not the critics. He cries and whines during baseball games with his family like any other kindergardener. But take one look at this video, and you'll see that he's very different from other children his age:
The SI piece is one of the best I've read in quite a while, and I gurantee you'll browse through Ariel YouTube videos for a half hour after reading it.
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