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Details for Duke

Real name:

Andy

Location:

Simi Valley, CA

Division:

Men's 60

Messages posted by Duke »Message board home »Start a new discussion

Oct. 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: One pitch Smokey20, I played a few tournaments like that, and it was definitely hustle ball. In the tournaments that I played in, you had to hit 1 of 2 pitches in play, 30 minute time limits, and I think we had up to 20-30 seconds to get your team back on the field, before the offensive team could pitch the ball, ready or not. All of this hustling on and off the field, felt like you played a full 1 1/2 hour game. We never reached the 30 minute time limits in any game. Had a lot of fun and good softball. Although a lot of fun and complete games, I would not want to play too many of those kind of tournaments, as I like the old fashioned way of playing games, and maybe a 1-1 count would be good. We play with a 1-1 count in one of my leagues. We only do this for one of our 2 games that day as an experiment. It has cut down the time of the game by 10-15 minutes. Everyone is so happy with that, we are talking about playing with the 1-1 count for both games and in my other leagues. Maybe SSUSA could implement a few of these 1 pitch tournaments in a few of their recreational tournaments listed?? Andy Smith, 60 Major
Sept. 16, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: SO WHAT DO WE GET OTHER THEN PLAYING FOR $675.00 PER TEAM IN VEGAS $695 per team!!
Sept. 15, 2012 Duke	Topic: Women's softball Discussion: LOOKING TO PLAY IN VEGAS I am not quite sure if the women play by the same rules that the men play by. Assuming that they play by the same rules, then a player could get picked up by another team, even though, they did not qualify with that team. In general, only if a team was short players for whatever reason per SSUSA rules. I believe that number is down to less than 12 players. For example, if there was a 50 AAA team short of players, they could pick up am older player from the 55 or older group to add to their team, as long as they were not more than one level higher in ability. In other words, they could pick up a 55 AA, AAA, or Major player. All of this with the approval from SSUSA. Hope that helps. Unfortunately, the lady above, has not given anyone enough information to make that call. All I can tell from her information, is that she is from California. Now that I mention that, the player should also come from a bordering State. Andy Smith
Sept. 11, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Las Vegas fields I know there is a park close by. I believe it is off of Russell Road, where you would turn left. Go about a 1/2 turn left, and there will be plenty of places on the right for BP and safe. It could be a street or 2 before Russell Road that you turn left. I cannot remember exactly, but if you check that area out, you should find the fields. You will probably see signs as you approach Russell Road going down Boulder HWY for the park or some high school/college, which is close by?? Good luck, Andy Smith 55/60 Major
Sept. 11, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Is it too much to expect ice water in the dugout? Hey Tony, Bet you did not think you would get slammed on this issue?! LOL! Anyway, you are all correct. In hot and cold weather, especially hot weather, we should all bring our own water. All I think Tony was trying to get across, is that traditionally, ALL SSUSA tournaments keep the dugouts supplied with plenty of water. Thank you for that SSUSA!! I have seen a little slack on that tradition in 1-2 of the smaller tournaments over the past 2 years. Not a big deal, but everyone has been spoiled by this tradition. Tony, see you up in Vegas. One tradition you can count on for that weekend, sandwiches will be made and served in my room, and prepared by Chef Gary. BTW, bring some beer and water. LOL! Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
Aug. 28, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Vegas Budget Rental Car Discount FYI, I do not know what the deal is for Budget rent a car, but when I checked online, all rental cars were cheap in Vegas. At the time, Advantage was the cheapest. I got a car for 4 days for $85. Yes it was their economy car. $85 included all taxes and fees, but no insurance, as my personal insurance would cover any damages on a rental car. Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
Aug. 27, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Tanel 360 Top Gun IV - San Clemente I played in San Clemente too, but the only things that were great about it was the competitve teams they drew and the food at the concession stands. In addition to that, I enjoyed talking with the guys from other teams, that I have known for over 10 years. It was great to see so many of you out there. This was not your typical class run tournament that Dave, Fran, and Terry run for SSUSA. I do not know where to start here, so I will just jump around on topics. It was very difficult to get 6 or 7 innings in per game. I am not sure that we got a 7 inning game the entire weekend. I believe we only got in two 6 inning games or maybe 3. With the team I am filling in for this season from Las Vegas, it is quite a trip to play 55 minute games. On top of that, being shorted the 55 minutes. In our first seeding game, we were cut to 52 minutes, In our second seeding game, we were given 49 minutes. Are you kidding me!! I believe the 49 minute game was shorted, because the umpire was so late getting to the fields. That is not our problem. Maybe one of the gentlemen running the tournament should have stepped in till he showed up. We were allowed 2 balls per game. After one inning, we had to go use batting practice balls. As a pitcher, that was good for me. As a batter, it was not good. The fields were rarely dragged, if at all. Nor were they chalked after each game. A couple of the umpires were clueless about senior softball, as well as their judgement poor about calls and the rules. In fact, there was one umpire asked to not umpire a particular team's game, and had to trade with another, because he was so bad. Guess what, we got stuck with him for the second time, and he was so bad again with a chip on his shoulder now, that a couple of our guys comfronted him, and he eventually kicked one of our players out of the game. The same umpire from our seeding game, was trying to short us again on the time limit. There were about 4-5 umpires that called a good game, so thanks to them. These are just some of the reasons, that I typically do not have my teams play in a Top Gun runned tournament. With all of the teams that you have in SSUSA, you should know who your good umpires are by now, spend a little more time on the fields, and use some of your profit to buy a few more softballs. BTW, maybe you can splurge for 2 people to take care of the fields. You may not like what I had to say, but it is the truth. Just My Opinions, Andy Smith, 55/60 Majors
Aug. 7, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Prayers needed for the Dowell family Dave and Fran, Praying for your family and that the Lord will give you the strength you need for your situation. Take care my friends, Andy
Aug. 5, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: My Daughter Capt, I wish you, your family, and Jacki all the best with these issues. I am sure that I speak for everyone in the softball community, that we will have Jacki in our daily prayers. Thank you for sharing and God Bless!! Please keep us all updated on her progress. Andy
July 27, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: What do you pay in your local leagues In our Spring/Summer league, we pay $30 each for about 15 games and one umpire. In all of our morning leagues, which are all double-headers, we pay a flat $20 for the year and play about 80 games each year. If you decide to play 2 days, then you get 160 games for $20. This includes a new softball for every game. Our area promotes activity for all seniors, and gives seniors every discount possible. To save on a lot of costs, we umpire our own games. No prizes to win, and most do not care who wins, but everyone tries to do their best. There are about 10% of the guys that take these games as the 7th game of the World Series, but I only take it as practice for tournaments and could care less who wins, but I do try my best, which gets me ready for tournaments, which 90% of the players agree. We also have pick up games most Saturdays and there is no cost. Andy Smith 55/60 Major
July 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: PLAYER RELEASE Commitment is important and honorable, but when a coach is constantly critcizing and yelling at players in the dugout and on the field of play in front of everyone, it is time to move on. When things over a period of time(4 years) cannot be worked out, it might be time to leave or a divorce. No sense staying together and making everyone miserable, especially children. That is my last comment on this subject. Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
July 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Tournament Prizes I have skimmed over the responses here, and can only give you my opinion. I will not comment on others, because we are all entitled to speak our opinions. At the ripe old age that I am at now, prizes are not overly important to me anymore, and maybe not at all. If I want a teeshirt, jacket, ball bag, a ring, a bat, a glove, a cooler, a hat, a trophy, or even a machine to shave the inside of an Ultra II, I can just buy it myself. Just kidding about the machine. LOL! Although, SSUSA makes money on some of these items and hotels and car rentals, that is good business for them. My take on this is keep your prizes, especially the "ring option" prizes, even though, I can afford to buy them and have done so. Many of my players in the past have not. Give me a patch or certificate and that would be good enough for me. Maybe with the prizes eliminated, we can do as they do up North. Take the first 5 teams on their ratings list of teams and put them in a round robin and so on. Expand that to a larger tournament, and put the first 16 teams in one bracket and so on. By eliminating the prizes, SSUSA could pass on the savings to the teams/players and LOWER the entrance fees. Honestly, when I have to decide on whether to go to a tournament locally and pay $300-$350 and no hotels, or go to another tournament and pay $500-$700 and pay for hotels and travel, what would you think might happen most of the time?? On the other side of the coin, we as teams/players need to support SSUSA by going to the suggested hotels, so they will get somewhat compensated for LOWERING the entrance fees. It goes both ways, so a little give AND take goes a long way. Dave, Fran, and Terry still run the best tournaments overall, and we all know this, and not the only tournaments in town nowadays. Just my 2 cents, Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
July 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: PLAYER RELEASE I was on a team about 7 years ago, where myself and many others wanted to leave. I asked for a release, but the coach would not do so. He even went to a team and asked the coach to not pick me up for their team. The coach from that team called me and another player that day, and asked if we wanted to join them for the remainder of the season. LOL! This could have been a battle between me, the former coach, and SSUSA, except for one fact. A team email was sent to the team regarding best wishes to Andy and 5 others and good luck on your new teams. SSUSA took that email as sufficient for a release from the coach, once I sent it to SSUSA. Being on the former team was so unbearable and finally hit the limit with many of us. Before leaving, I gave the remaining players(who all thought we were not going to leave), an option to keep the team going, but eliminate the coach, and they did not pick up on it, and have all said that they regret their decisions to stay. BTW, the coach was not a player on the field. I am usually the coach/manager on most teams that I play on. My take on releases in most cases is if you want to leave, then you can leave. The only reason that I could think of not releasing a player, would be if he owes money to the team. Once that was paid, he can go play for whoever he likes. I cannot remember a player leaving my team in the middle of a season, except if he has moved out of the area and/or had no money to travel any longer. Just my 2 cents worth, Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
June 27, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: TEAM Classiications I agree with both of you. It would be nice to have a current list of active teams for the current season. Just like there is a list of tournaments for each year. I have checked in the past, and 5%-7% of the teams listed either do not exist, moved to the next age level, or are listed twice. That is not counting the Eastern teams, that I am not all aware of their status. Heck, my last 2 teams do not exist. Double Edge has not played since October 2010. My team before that, Double Nickels, has not played for almost 3 years. My personal reason for knowing the current staus of teams is to decide whether or not to move up to the next age group or division or both. If there are not a lot of teams to play, then why bother. Nothing worse than playing the same teams over and over, or the best 2 out of 3 after playing 3 meaningless seeding games and paying a lot money to do so. My time is worth a lot to me too. Just my opinions, Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
June 18, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: A bit of humor Below are some Yogi-isms: 1. "It's like deja vu all over again." 2. "We made too many wrong mistakes." 3. "You can observe a lot just by watching." 5. "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious." 6. "If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be." 7. "If you don't know where you're going, you might end up some place else." 8. Responding to a question about remarks attributed to him that he did not think were his: "I really didn't say everything I said." 10. "I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house." 11. On why he no longer went to Ruggeri's, a St. Louis restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded." 12. "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken." 14. "All pitchers are liars or crybabies." 15. When giving directions to Joe Garagiola to his New Jersey home, which is accessible by two routes: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." 16. "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours." 18. On being the guest of honor at an awards banquet: "Thank you for making this day necessary." 19. "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase." 20. "Half the lies they tell about me aren't true." 21. As a general comment on baseball: "90% of the game is half mental." 22. "I don't know (if they were men or women running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads." 23. "It gets late early out there." 24. Carmen Berra, Yogi's wife asked: "Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New Yo rk. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?" Yogi's answer: "Surprise me." 25. "It ain't over till it's over." Hope this made someone smile today! Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
May 26, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Equality??? Curveball, Marv can run his tournaments as he likes. I already had it out with him on how illogical his big tournament brackets were last year. He could have done it differently, but the bottom line for doing it his way was $$$$. No need to get into this again here, as this is the SSUSA website. Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
May 26, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Equality??? In the ring/ring option tournaments, I agree with you both. Besides the seeding games, the one higher rated team should be allowed to go through the bracket play as an exhibition team and an automatic loss, and get their 5 games, and their ring/ring option. I assume this is the way SSUSA does it now, but have not been in that position recently. I know in the distant past, LVSSA let a higher rated team play against the lower rated teams in a ring tournament. The higher rated team won the tournament and received rings, and the team they defeated in the championship game also received rings. The only problem with it done the LVSSA way, is what teams did the higher rated team defeat, and not allow a chance to compete for the championship?? I do not care for the LVSSA method, but would be good with the SSUSA method, assuming SSUSA still does it that way. Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
May 26, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Stop the 3 day tournaments There are many times that 3 days is definitely not necessary, but I like getting away for the 3 days, so not so many games in a day, and time to relax and enjoy the stay. With these larger type tournaments, SSUSA cannot predict which brackets will have how many teams, so they do the best thing possible, and assume 3 days for all divisions. Jawood, you're correct about the 4 day tournaments in the past. I remember that we played 4 seeding games, then double elimination. Therefore, a 6 game guarantee, which I liked as well. SSUSA commits to cities in advance, and have to honor those commitments. In addition, SSUSA gets $$$$ kickbacks, which is supposed to keep our entry fees lower, besides putting monies in their pockets. I am all for them making the extra monies, but keep the entry fees down. The only tournaments that really require 3 days in my opinion are: The Worlds in Sept/Oct, Reno, and the T.O.C. Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
May 24, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Quick Cure This may sound strange, but it has worked for me on several occasions. After pulling my hamstring, I got on an excercise bike with low tension for about 20-30 minutes. Riding the bike is natural movement for the muscle and I am ready to play again in about an hour. This does not seem to work for any other muscle pulls. Andy Smith, 55/60 Major
March 26, 2012 Duke	Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: New 60 Major Plus team looking for players!! Thanks for all the interest guys. We never got this off the ground, and everyone is playing on other teams. We will have served our death sentence when November 1 2012 comes around. We will then start a new 60 Major team, where there are more players to choose from and more teams to play. Because of this sudden interest, I have received and called several players who emailed me, that are very interested in playing on my team next season. I will contact those players and others some time in August/September, when I and 2 others start putting together our roster. If anyone is interested, you can email me at dukela4@aol.com. We plan on playing 2 informal tournaments in the summer to look at some of the new players, so we can make a good decision and those players can meet us and see if they might be happy with us as well. Hey Sal, Hope all is going well. Thanks for the plug. In the future when I need an agent, I know who to call. LOL! Take care and see you on the fields. Don't hurt me, I am old. SD, thank you for your concerns. Hope all is going well for you. What team are you playing on now? Back to my tax returns for now. Andy Smith, 55 Major/60 Major

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