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Online now: 5 members: B-LO, Bones505, Nelson8, SupremeAthletics, edm; 15 anonymousDiscussion: Ring Touraments?
| Posted | Discussion |
| March 7 cbobski Men's 70 9 posts | Ever since I started in senior softball there have been many different opinions on how to have teams play against teams of equal talent. There should be a better way for all the National Tournaments to have the same format. Maybe we should try and do something similar to the Huntsman’s games. They have 300 teams and do not seem to have the problems that the rest of the so called National RING TOURNAMENTS HAVE. There are 10 associations holding national championship at this time. They need to get together and form something like little league has done. One thing that Huntsman’s games have going for them it is in the same place every year. Same format as Little League and college World Series. So the10 associations would not lose money they would have to work together and form up to hold regional tournaments with the first 3 teams in each bracket would go to the true national World Series or world championship. There are more than 2.5 million active senior softball players and that number is growing as baby boomers come into the market. It would seem that if all of the associations would work together there would be plenty of money to go around. It is a joke that you win one of the tournaments and have to pay for the basic white lustrium ring. When I won my first ring in 1996 it was with out any chargers to the players. . |
| March 7 Fred Scerra Men's 80 542 posts | The one thing wrong with your proposal is it makes sense. LOL LOL |
| March 7 the wood Men's 65 1123 posts | CBobski: You make a valid point but the likelihood is that the 9-10 assns will continue to do things as they see fit. Aside from different ownerships and forms of ownerships (for profit & non-profit), there are many egos involved... not all of them are in this boat though... but enough to make it unworkable. Ego isn't all bad, strong feelings aren't all bad... but there is too much of both to find any real common ground. We have an advisory board made up of men and women that give of their time, pay their own expenses, leave their families, etc... all for the privilege of being largely ignored. The AB does serve a vital purpose though in that it give us (teams and players) the false sense of security that the assns are listening to our views, goals and objectives. Am I being fair to each and every assn director/directors? No, because some of them really do listen. But they can only implement our suggestions in their own organization... there really isn't a central entity... i.e. no centralized rules. But, let's be objective, not all of our suggestions are valid. Your point about the rings is also true... how many different ways can they merchadise an event whereby we play only one other team in our division (or none) and get to buy our own rings? What is the true benefit to us? Yet, many teams still look forward to playing in a 'ring tourney'. As long as teams continue to buy into this, they will continue to sell them... a willing buyer and willing seller. We played in one in LV 2 years ago and there were only 3 teams but we bought rings. It took over 6 months to get them... for me, this was the ultimate insult and it was the impetus for me to re-examine my thinking. My unsolicited advice to you (and anyone else) is to find the organizations that you like the most and continue to play in their events. Like the most = format, location, economics, amount of competition, awards (if this is important to your team), etc. We have played in almost all of them... except for the Huntsman Games... everyone tells me that we're missing out and I believe them. Bob Woodroof |
| March 7 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Huntsman also uses an open roster. That is the major difference. The have the parks, about 5+ with another in the works, roughly 25-30 fields. They do mess up the bracketing, too. But they do have the vast majority of brackets full. At the meetings they also admit ( for form of them) they messed them up the previous years brackets, but it usually happens again. I still would not miss it if at all possible. Choice of tournament to go to: Huntsman or any other, Huntsman wins. Even with the week stay over the 3-4 day weekend event it would average out. One week there was same cost last year as a Fri-Sun Vegas or Reno tournament last year for me. Nothing like paying for your prize. I guess you can just say, you won the right to buy it. But there is a big difference in the types of players in all those numbers. |
