At Little League Tourney, Last-Place Team Finds Joy Despite Losses

Cooperstown, New York is the epicenter of baseball history. Professional players dream of getting into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; little league players aspire to take the field at one of the invitation-only tournaments at Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Last summer, Ted Flanagan took a group of little leaguers to Cooperstown. The Lions played in a week-long tournament alongside 103 ultra-competitive teams.

Even though they played hard and did their best, the Lions failed to win a single game and finished in 104th place:

"In between games, I would pull them into the outfield, and we would talk about what went right and what went wrong. But, I would always end my little talks to them by saying that, 'Listen, there's lots of winning in your future. Right now, we're just going to do this the correct way. We're going to play this game with dignity and respect. But, even if we lose every game by 100 runs, your parents love you. I'm proud of you. We belong here. You belong here. We're playing the greatest game on Earth in an amazingly beautiful facility, and we're just going to enjoy this time we have together.'"

In this edition of "In Their Own Words," Flanagan talks about the joy he and his players found in loss.