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Online now: 5 members: Gmoney 3, Rob64, Salt&Pepper, TABLE SETTER 11, TonyA; 127 anonymousDiscussion: WESTERN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN UTAH
| Posted | Discussion |
| Aug. 10, 2009 ROCKO55 Men's 55 10 posts | WESTERN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN UTAH I JUST PLAYED IN THE WESTERN NATIONALS IN SALT LAKE CITY , UTAH..I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT IN ALL THE MAJOR TOURNAMENTS THAT I HAVE PLAYED IN THE LAST 7 YEARS, THIS TOURNEY WAS A TOTAL BUST AND DISAPPOINTMENT..THE 55 AAA TEAMS HAD TO PLAY ON FIELDS THAT WERE AT THE MAX 275 FEET..YOU WERE ALLOWED ONLY 3 HR'S AND THEN AN OUT...WHAT A JOKE!!! THIS TOURNAMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLAYED ON FIELDS OF AT LEAST 300' FENCES...I KNOW WE WILL NEVER MAKE THE TRIP BACK TO UTAH TO PLAY ON SUCH PLAYING FIELDS..THIS IS PROBABLY THE REASON YOU HAD A TOTAL OF 4 TEAMS IN THE DIVISION AND THAT INCLUDED A 55 AA TEAM...IF WE KNEW THIS BEFOREHAND , WE WOULD NEVER HAVE SIGNED UP FOR YOUR TOURNAMENT..YOU NEED TO TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THIS BEFORE YOUR TOURNEY GOES UNDER. |
| Aug. 11, 2009 Stretch14 Men's 50 202 posts | It's all about MONEY. |
| Aug. 11, 2009 Husky71 Men's 50 25 posts | Well, I have a different take on the Western Natls. in SLC but just as negative. We (MTC 50's)played at the Valley Park Softball Complex in Taylorsville & the fields were good with excellent prep work done between games. Fences were plenty deep (320?)so that was no problem. Umps worked hard, didn't get every call right, but they were honest anyway! Games were on time for the most part, weather turned out great this year! 70s & 80s Saturday & Sunday, no heat stress like last year. So what's the problem? Unfair competition! I played against guys that were 10-16 years older than me & some of my mates! My problem was my team playing against a great 40+ team (OGR) and no equalizer was given to us. Nobody could even give me an explanation as to why either! This 40+ team finished 2nd in the Worlds in 2008 and won the 2009 Spring Worlds!! But we were supposed to compete on an even playing field?! Why? We were arbitrarily moved to Major Plus this year despite having no big tournament wins in 2008. We had to give the Ruth 55's the equalizer in Portland, no questions asked! But do we get the same consideration from SSUSA when it's our turn? No way... We did beat the kids the first game & took them to extra innings in the first Championship game before losing by one & then lost the 2nd Champ game by 4... Those 5 runs from an equalizer would have been nice... Total BS that we were put in this situation! Those 40+ guys can run like, well, 40 yr olds! Wore our outfield out trying to keep them from the extra base... Anyway, that's my beef. Sorry it's such a long post, but this was a total screw-up from the chiefs at SSUSA. And the 2nd place awards... A SSUSA hat? Poor taste... Peace out... PS: OGR you guys are an excellent team but quit bitching at the umps from start to finish, especially when you're playing even up against your elders...! |
| Aug. 11, 2009 rudy12 1 posts | wow thats very interesting as well as one sided.. first of all i would have to assume that mtc had prior knowledge that they were going to play the 40+ team..becouse i am positive they knew...also i find it very humerios that u fail to mention that the reason that there were problems with the (1) umpire in all 3 gamesmade several bad and blantant calls all in favor of mtc.. at one point even over ruleing the first base umpire without even talking to him about it... and i really cant beleve ur crying over hats, at least u got something,,,,, these tournements r supposed to b fun not about what u win |
| Aug. 11, 2009 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | If by chance the hat is white\red trim, don't wear it, you'll get a sweat band and it will definitely get dirty. But I know they are quality hats, and nothing to wrong with being 2nd. imo |
| Aug. 11, 2009 Jawood Men's 50 943 posts | Husky71, It's a joke, that's why we didn't go. The same thing happened last year to Evolution and Ruth 55+, they had to play against a 40+ team. When are they going to realize that there are not enough teams for this division? Combine Major and Major-plus and put this tournament somewhere in California and they will get more teams. Who wants to go to Salt Lake anyway? To give awards to the second place team in a two team tournament is ridiculous! |
| Aug. 12, 2009 Par Men's 50 10 posts | Don't know what is worse-playing on 275' fences with 3 HR's and then outs or playing on 330'-350' fences in Nashville with 5 HR's and then outs. Result is still the same, we (KC BArons) hit a lot of HR's that were outs only they were caught at the 315'-325' range. Why can't these tournaments be played on 300' fences? Surely some 300' diamonds are out there. And SSUSA please revisit the policy/procedure of having a 3-4 team age divisons play over a 3 day period. For teams like us that sponsor ourselves it makes no sense to play on Friday and spend at least a minimum of and extra $200, not to mention time off work for most if not all of us for 1-2 games at the most. These small divisons could easily be played beginning Sat morning and ending by early afternoon on Sunday. Three team divisions playing over 3 days in Salt Lake just doesn't make any sense. |
| Aug. 12, 2009 Husky71 Men's 50 25 posts | Just for the record, MTC 50's did not find out we were bracketed with a 40's team until the week before the tourney. We assumed SSUSA would apply the Equalizer Rule at that time, because we had always done so all year. Since we had airline tix & the hotel already paid for we decided to go. When we asked SSUSA on the Friday before if the equalizer rule would be applied we were told the TD would decide at the tournament, after watching the seeding games. One of the OGR players told us on Friday that they were told by the TD they would be giving us the equalizer, so I asked again after the seeding games what the deal was. "go ask the umpire-in-chief" I was told. So I did, he didn't seem to know that it was his decision but he said we were to play straight up. That's the way it happened & I still think it was total BS... As for the umping, everybody has their own take, not surprising there. We think the OGR team is a great team, just wanted an even competition... And Terry H won't return my calls... Go figure... I'm done.. |
| Aug. 13, 2009 surf88 Men's 65 1000 posts | A bit off the topic but I wanted to thank MTC for letting me work out and field BP with them Sunday morning at Valley. It was nice to have met some of you Modesto area boys. ed Andrews Scrap Iron 60's Telluride, Colo |
| Aug. 13, 2009 Jawood Men's 50 943 posts | Husky 71, Just add it to the list of the reasons why Major and Major-plus must be combined! |
| Aug. 13, 2009 Stretch14 Men's 50 202 posts | SSUSA are not going to combine Major Plus and Major. Play on. |
| Aug. 13, 2009 Jawood Men's 50 943 posts | You expect 2 and 3 team tournaments to continue? Who is going to play in those? |
| Aug. 14, 2009 Stretch14 Men's 50 202 posts | You don't have the money to travel, you are stuck with the 2 or 3 teamers. |
| Aug. 15, 2009 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | rudy12,when you pay up to $500 or more for a tourney fee,you should get something better than a hat,hell you can get them for $5 each.when i play with the kids we hardly ever pay over $200 for a tourney and get a lot better payout(bats,bags and such) for the teams.ss-usa has been this way since the beginning.was given bags that were for sale at thier table for winning westerns one yr and the east west game.nothing on them said champs. |
| Aug. 15, 2009 curveball Men's 65 705 posts | Jarwood, small numbers of teams at this tourney are due mainly to the economy, and second the location of the tourney. Next year, you will be able to add teams not happy with fields also. Your thought of combining Major and Major+ would have done nothing for the small amount of teams in AA and AAA. It won't help in Major and Major+ either. I'm another guy who thinks SSUSA would have FEWER total teams at all tournaments if the M and M+ are combined. You just won't see Major teams waste their time and money (that comes out of their pockets not a sponsors) to get used up by teams at a skill level higher. |
| Aug. 15, 2009 Jawood Men's 50 943 posts | The travel tournaments ARE the ones with 2 and 3 teams. Example - you have 3 Major-plus teams, you have 5 Major teams, I may be wrong, but I think that equals 8 teams for a decent tournament. The Major teams get an equalizer to the + teams and you play ball! |
| Aug. 15, 2009 curveball Men's 65 705 posts | You may think that's a wonderful solution, but your group doesn't have to spend money to play against more higher skill level players, it's the guys you are trying to get into your division (Major) that are the guys that take it in the shorts. Ask some Major managers what their thoughts are. You'll have very few that agree with you. And, you'll have even less the older the age group you ask. There is no way to even the playing field so that the games would be competitive, the skill levels are too great. When I wrote my last post, I was referring to Salt Lake City, from where I live, I call that a travel tournament. You refferred to 3 M+ and 5 M, that equals 8. Your addition is correct, but you'll never get the M teams to waste recreation money to play against M+. What would the point be? So, you'll still have at least 3! |
| Aug. 15, 2009 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | curveball you are right about that(combining).when i first started playing 50 ball i was living in san diego.at all the local tourney's we had to play the mav's and other M+ teams(we were major at the time).it finally got tiresome and our coach told ss-usa that if they didn't start matching us with other M teams or letting us know what the comp was gonna be we weren't showing.took a while but they relented some on it,we ended up playing some in seeding but were given the ol equalizer,whatever. |
| Aug. 16, 2009 Jawood Men's 50 943 posts | Look at some of the previous posts, there are quite a few Major teams that believe it should be combined. You may be a little upset that I stated "who wants to go to Salt Lake" Sorry. |
| Aug. 16, 2009 curveball Men's 65 705 posts | If you are wondering if I'm upset about "who wants to go to SLC", I'm not. Went 2 years ago. I'd never go back. Not a good place geograghically to host a tournament. It's too damn far from everywhere! It will be a tough place to draw a large contingent of teams to. I will go back to what I wrote in another post on this subject, combine 50 and 55 Major+ into one division, let the older guys stay the way they are at present. 50 and 55 M+ are closer in skill levels than the skill levels involved in com bining M and M+ of the same age. |
