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| Sept. 20, 2006 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Doctored Bat in Seattle? Sorry about the triple post of such a long message. I don't know what happened I only replied once. Keith Bressman |
| Sept. 20, 2006 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Doctored Bat in Seattle? Thanks Einstein for the good words, I to have enjoyed you as a teammate and also an opponent. As it should be in America it doesn't look like we are always going to agree on all points of an issue. As I tend to be long winded I wrote the following before I read your last post, I do agree with the seriousness of the crime and stand by my words that follow. Dbax I guess I should clarify myself. I agree that any player using an altered bat should be penalized to the utmost extent of the associations rule. Unfortunately for those that believe the ban should be for life on the first offense, the SSUSA rule 8.4(7) “Penalty for using an illegal or altered bat” states “If a bat is suspected of being altered to enhance performance, the tournament director or umpire will determine if the bat will continue in play or be held for inspection. If the player refuses to turn over the bat, the player will be banned for two years and the team will forfeit all games. If the player voluntarily releases the bat and the bat is found to be altered, the player will be suspended for one year. The second offense may result in a lifetime ban of the player.” In the past I served 9 years as an ASA Player Rep and on several different softball associations’ advisory committees. So if you want to change the rules you have to step up into the softball political realm as a group and be heard. I don’t believe much will get changed by posting on a message board that a minority of the players actually read. Unless of course you get together and get on the advisory boards or go to the summit meetings to be heard. My reference to lynching came from several of the posts above that want to penalize the whole team. I disagree as I do not believe, at least on my team it is not the truth, that most of the players know everything or anything about each other. Most of the players on my team live more than 50 miles apart and some hundreds of miles, and do not practice together, play league together, or do any personal events together. Their main connection is through me. We only get together to play softball at the tournaments. So in clarifying my above reference, this is what I meant, if the majority of you feel that more than the player with the bat should be penalized and the SSUSA agrees then I will take that penalty, but do not feel that any of the other players should be penalized. I do not believe that any of my other players knew anything about the bat. But I will leave those decisions to those that have the power to make them. I hope I have clarified myself. Keith Bressman |
| Sept. 20, 2006 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Doctored Bat in Seattle? Thanks Einstein for the good words, I to have enjoyed you as a teammate and also an opponent. As it should be in America it doesn't look like we are always going to agree on all points of an issue. As I tend to be long winded I wrote the following before I read your last post, I do agree with the seriousness of the crime and stand by my words that follow. Dbax I guess I should clarify myself. I agree that any player using an altered bat should be penalized to the utmost extent of the associations rule. Unfortunately for those that believe the ban should be for life on the first offense, the SSUSA rule 8.4(7) “Penalty for using an illegal or altered bat” states “If a bat is suspected of being altered to enhance performance, the tournament director or umpire will determine if the bat will continue in play or be held for inspection. If the player refuses to turn over the bat, the player will be banned for two years and the team will forfeit all games. If the player voluntarily releases the bat and the bat is found to be altered, the player will be suspended for one year. The second offense may result in a lifetime ban of the player.” In the past I served 9 years as an ASA Player Rep and on several different softball associations’ advisory committees. So if you want to change the rules you have to step up into the softball political realm as a group and be heard. I don’t believe much will get changed by posting on a message board that a minority of the players actually read. Unless of course you get together and get on the advisory boards or go to the summit meetings to be heard. My reference to lynching came from several of the posts above that want to penalize the whole team. I disagree as I do not believe, at least on my team it is not the truth, that most of the players know everything or anything about each other. Most of the players on my team live more than 50 miles apart and some hundreds of miles, and do not practice together, play league together, or do any personal events together. Their main connection is through me. We only get together to play softball at the tournaments. So in clarifying my above reference, this is what I meant, if the majority of you feel that more than the player with the bat should be penalized and the SSUSA agrees then I will take that penalty, but do not feel that any of the other players should be penalized. I do not believe that any of my other players knew anything about the bat. But I will leave those decisions to those that have the power to make them. I hope I have clarified myself. Keith Bressman |
| Sept. 20, 2006 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Doctored Bat in Seattle? Thanks Einstein for the good words, I to have enjoyed you as a teammate and also an opponent. As it should be in America it doesn't look like we are always going to agree on all points of an issue. As I tend to be long winded I wrote the following before I read your last post, I do agree with the seriousness of the crime and stand by my words that follow. Dbax I guess I should clarify myself. I agree that any player using an altered bat should be penalized to the utmost extent of the associations rule. Unfortunately for those that believe the ban should be for life on the first offense, the SSUSA rule 8.4(7) “Penalty for using an illegal or altered bat” states “If a bat is suspected of being altered to enhance performance, the tournament director or umpire will determine if the bat will continue in play or be held for inspection. If the player refuses to turn over the bat, the player will be banned for two years and the team will forfeit all games. If the player voluntarily releases the bat and the bat is found to be altered, the player will be suspended for one year. The second offense may result in a lifetime ban of the player.” In the past I served 9 years as an ASA Player Rep and on several different softball associations’ advisory committees. So if you want to change the rules you have to step up into the softball political realm as a group and be heard. I don’t believe much will get changed by posting on a message board that a minority of the players actually read. Unless of course you get together and get on the advisory boards or go to the summit meetings to be heard. My reference to lynching came from several of the posts above that want to penalize the whole team. I disagree as I do not believe, at least on my team it is not the truth, that most of the players know everything or anything about each other. Most of the players on my team live more than 50 miles apart and some hundreds of miles, and do not practice together, play league together, or do any personal events together. Their main connection is through me. We only get together to play softball at the tournaments. So in clarifying my above reference, this is what I meant, if the majority of you feel that more than the player with the bat should be penalized and the SSUSA agrees then I will take that penalty, but do not feel that any of the other players should be penalized. I do not believe that any of my other players knew anything about the bat. But I will leave those decisions to those that have the power to make them. I hope I have clarified myself. Keith Bressman |
| Sept. 20, 2006 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Doctored Bat in Seattle? This is Keith Bressman player/coach of the NW Masters. I usually do not come on this message board but felt a need to tell some history of the player and what I know of the incident in Seattle. First off the team this year was made up of six guys from Washington, seven from Oregon and one from Idaho. We are spread out through the states and other than four of us from Oregon we only get together at the tournaments. The player involved in the incident is from Seattle. I have played two years with the player involved. Last year we played 40+ & 45+ Worlds together. The team was partially sponsored by DeMarini, so the player last year swung a DeMarini EVO. At the ASA 40+ (38 teams) using the EVO the player was 3rd in the tournament in Home Runs and runner up to the batting champion in average. At the 45+ (same bat, 13 teams) the player was 2nd in Home Runs & the tournament Batting Champion. The EVO broke in BP during the off season. This season, his first at 50+, the player started the year swinging a green Easton Stealth comp + (USSSA bat) and swung that through the SSUSA Western Worlds in Reno. At the end of our last game in Reno, in which we won, we moved our equipment out of the dugout to the grass area beside the dugout; at that time we all went to the tournament directors table to receive our awards and to get a few beers to celebrate. When we returned to our equipment the green Easton was gone. We asked the team (Stixx) in the dugout if one of them had picked it up by mistake and they had not. I have played with the Stixx team and believe they did not pick it up. So the bat was gone (Stolen or missing whatever). We next played the USSSA tournament in Salem where the player hit one of my bats (Worth mayhem) and an old Easton Synergy of one of our other players until it cracked. The next tournament we played was in Seattle and he had the new Blue Synergy that was confiscated, he told me he had just got it from a friend. None of the rest of us had seen the bat before and no one but the player involved hit it in the tournament. To that point he had led the team in home runs 4 of our 6 tournaments using the three different bats and led the 40+ & 45+ team the previous year in home runs using the DeMarini. In the 8 years we have played against this player he always hit home runs, so no one including me thought anything of him hitting home runs with the blue Easton. The end cap did not come off of the bat as stated above. If the bat comes back from the lab altered then the player should serve the penalty set forth by the rules. If most of you don’t agree with the penalty rule then band together and get them changed to your satisfaction. The player was not allowed to play last weekend in the SSUSA 40+ Worlds. For my part I have coached softball for 16 years, normally 2 to 3 teams each season as I did this season (40+, 45+, & 50+). I have around 50 players on the 3 teams and I do not have the time to check every players bats or other equipment and am probably not going to in the future. So if as the coach, I am to be lynched by all of you in the innocent masses then so be it. Just get on with it and have the associations send me a letter banning me for 1 year, 2 year, or life, so that I can make plans on my time and all of the money that I spend each year supporting these associations. Keith Bressman |
| Nov. 12, 2005 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Exemption rule? I agree with MK & the others here that the Major + level should be able to pickup 1 player from anywhere in the country. It may help to get more teams to play the Major + level. |
| March 21, 2005 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: READY TO PLAY SOME SOFTBALL? Keith Bressman Coach & 3B, Oregon Masters 50+ Major. |
| Aug. 4, 2004 Masters12 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Western Nationals Oregon Masters won the AAA with the Old Dawgs finishing second. Not sure after that. |
