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Real name:
Dave Dowell
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Sacramento, CA
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Men's 65
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| , July 17, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Western Nationals mitch1414 ... You've probably already noticed that the TENTATIVE Field Assignments were posted this morning ... But to answer your question, here are some of the factors that go into the decisions ... • Balancing the games demand (3.2 times the number of teams is always incredibly close! • 119 teams x 3.2 = 381 • Actual is 384 this year) against the available game slot inventory by facility, accounting for local league restrictions, opening ceremonies and staffing considerations for the municipal entity field crews; • Balancing the number of teams in each division to fit the facility-by-facility reasonable capacities; • Spreading the number of teams by division across the facilities so there is no wide range in end-of-day game times; • Matching similar skill sets, ratings based, to play together if possible; • Honoring special requests as to timing and location involving teams in different age groups sharing players and/or coaches; and • Dealing with multiple "later start requests" so that they don't all end up at the same facilities and cause no early games and an unreasonably late finish ... To some extent, every one of those variables was present in the Master Plan for the 2017 Western Nationals, and it's a pretty complex jig-saw puzzle ... And there is also a reluctance to "guess" too early on fields for this event, based on an ugly incident from 2015 ... Despite a very clear notice, including the definition of the word TENTATIVE, we had to make changes in field assignments late due to a fields availability issue that was completely outside of our control with one municipality ... The degree and amount of animosity we were subjected to on this Message Board was enough to result in now publishing only when we're reasonably sure ... Good luck! ... |
| , July 17, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Nor Cal State Championship They are there ... Try refreshing (re-downloading) the data file ... You may also try clearing your old temporary internet files ... First time that happened to me, my 8-year-old grand daughter showed me how to do it! ... [grins] |
| , July 16, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Equalizers DCPete ... First thought: mad dog has the best idea ... But if that doesn't work to even things out, or can't be invoked, here are a few of "out there" options we've either been asked about or have seen employed over the years ... A lot depends, obviously, on the seriousness of the league's competitive nature and/or the disparity of individual teams involved as to skill level and age ... They're fairly unconventional, but someone, somewhere, sometime thought they might work! ... • Four outs per at-bat for team receiving the equalizer; • "Int'l Tie Breaker" runner on 2nd base starting every inning for team receiving the equalizer; and • Here's one WAY out there: For team receiving the BIG equalizer, they are BOTH the Home AND Visitor, getting one more offensive ½-inning at bat ... |
| , July 15, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Time for SSUSA to listen. No problem local ... And that's why we 'respond', as opposed to 'defend', here most of the time ... A lot of the negative commentary simply lacks an accurate factual background as the basis for the complaints! ... Back on topic, though, field maintenance is one of the two variables we have the most difficulty controlling anywhere, the other being "local" umpires who aren't part of our experienced regional or national crews ... And those two are the most "visible" impressions left with players at the end of the day ... We address field issues as far as a year in advance with the municipal folks every time, with varying results ... Thanks for commenting ... |
| , July 15, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Time for SSUSA to listen. local ... This isn't a choice issue ... We have offered for years to pay for our field prep contractor(s) in Las Vegas to go into Shadow Rock (and other facilities on occasion) to help out a bit ... County contracting and Union rules have prohibited that from happening ... This is not unique to either Clark Co. or Las Vegas ... We have made similar offers to the City of Reno, to no avail ... Municipal entities everywhere control all aspects of facility maintenance no matter where we are ... The Clark Co. account executive is highly supportive of LVSSA/SSUSA and tries to get everything we have asked for completed, some of which is simply outside of his individual control ... |
| , July 14, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Tournament Results Yes they are, visible on my phone, laptop and iPad, which are the only devices I have. |
| , July 14, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Time for SSUSA to listen. Bodyguard and softball4b ... Here are some quick hitters for you to ponder ... • Shadow Rock is one of only four facilities (of a total of about 13 or 14 complexes we use) that does not have Local League restrictions requiring early end-of-day scheduling during the World's ... That makes Shadow a better fit for the monster brackets, like the 50-AAA, which in 2015 required 223 games over three days for the 68-team division ... We use Shadow Rock a lot for the "biggies" simply due to games demand matching up with field availability ... With 564 teams scheduled for 1,937 games last year, that's important ... Shadow is paired with Hollywood (Clark Co.) and Lorenzi (City of Las Vegas) to get that done ... We tend to finish those split groups at Shadow Rock because the CLV average cost per game last year was 279% of what Clark Co. (Shadow Rock, Hollywood & Sunset) was, 260% of the City of Henderson (Arroyo Grande & Russell Rd.) and even 174% of BLD ... Many may not care about those numbers, but we have to ... • Smaller groups can generally be slotted in at any number of facilities, and we tend to rotate them subject to other limiting factors ... For example, we don't play younger higher rated divisions at Russell Rd. (traffic hazard from HR mortar shots onto the street) and the CLV has asked us to limit 40-Major and 40-Major+ at Lorenzi because of a spike in windshield claims in the commercial parking lot outside of RF on Field #3 ... • Shadow Rock is also not a good fit for HR ball retrieval access on either of the newer fields or Field #2 facing the high school ... We are OK with the "..you hit 'em, you git 'em.." theory on retrieving HR balls, but it's an unreasonable economic burden on the teams when the balls just can't be gotten and they have to buy more ... By the way, that ball retrieval issue is an often cited component of the growing reluctance of the younger Major+ and Major teams preferring to play at Arroyo Grande, Lorenzi, Desert Breeze or Sunset over playing at BLD ... • Over the past few years, Shadow Rock has been home to 55-Major and 40-Major (in 2015) and 50-Major and 40-AAA (in 2016) at the World Masters and hosted the 60-Major+ and 60-Major in 2014 at the Southwest Championships ... We didn't get any significant backlash from them, nor did we expect any ... • In any multi-facility tournament structure, whether it's Las Vegas, Reno or Phoenix to name just three, not everyone is going to be happy all of the time because there are varying perceptions of the desirability of some complexes over others ... We'll continue to do the best we can to put these events together in a manner that makes sense, even when a significant majority of players are not aware of the myriad of other significant issues present ... |
| , July 14, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Time for SSUSA to listen. softball4b ... The team is (or was) ARO Glass, a very good ball club full of great guys ... But they are like every other team that plays the Rock 'n Reno event and wants all of their games to be at Golden Eagle, a facility that rates out at about a 12 on the 1:10 scale! ... We do our best to rotate every team other than 75+ and 80+ Men and Senior Women 55+ and older through Golden Eagle to fill every available game slot ... But it's a mathematical impossibility to play the entire tournament there ... If playing at other venues like Rancho San Rafael, Shadow Mountain or Carson City (once every four years) for a day or sometimes two, isn't something they can accept, then maybe that tournament isn't for them ... |
| , July 14, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Tournament Results They have been posted ... See the links on the event Tournament Page for every age group and division in the center column under the heading Game Scores & Bracket Results (PDF's) ... |
| , July 13, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: You make the call! titanhd ... Although the untimely decision made will probably appear "fair" to the defense (after they awakened) and not so much so to the offense, the fact that it was made after the defensive team's appeal/protest rights had expired is troublesome and incorrect ... I guess, by extension of that logic, MLB messed up by not awarding a perfect game to the Tigers Armando Galarraga following the blown call at 1st base in favor of Jose Tabata by umpire Jim Joyce back in 2010 ... |
| , July 12, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: You make the call! But should have been! ... Oh, and that's the Home Plate umpire's call, just like a normal ball/strike call ... |
| , July 12, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: You make the call! SSUSA Rulebook §6.15 (at page 37) • SHORT PITCH • A pitched ball hitting the ground in front of home plate is a dead ball. A ball shall be called on the batter. |
| , July 12, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: You make the call! RULING • Run scores ... Base runner on 2B following his double ... Still two outs ... RATIONALE • Obviously an umpire error (and a "brain-dead" situation by all members of the defensive team), but defense has only until the next pitch to question/appeal/protest ... They failed to do so before the pitch that was hit, and appeal/protest rights expire at that moment ... Play on ... U.I.C. may also want to consider remedial umpire training on the use of an "indicator" and counting to "three" ... |
| , July 10, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: NORTHEAST CHAMPIONSHIPS SESSION 1 RESULTS No problem Brian ... I looked to see the composition of the teams and the states they came from and I simply blew it this time on the seeding game sequencing ... I didn't do a very good job on this, but hopefully won't repeat that mistake! ... |
| , July 10, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: NORTHEAST CHAMPIONSHIPS SESSION 1 RESULTS Hi Brian ... Take a look at the Master Grid for Syracuse and notice that we had eight "finals" yesterday on only five fields ... That required "stacking" them and sliding the "If" game over one field and down one time slot to allow the 55-AAA to begin at 12:30 PM rather than 2:00 PM (with a resultant 5:00 PM "If" for them) ... This was automatically a "50/50 approval-rating" decision I would make every time ... If you had won the "If" game, I would have been a hero for giving you the break to rest and get ready and the unbeaten team would have been upset for not getting to go back-to-back ... But you didn't, so they're the approval 50% group and you're the loyal opposition! ... It's always that way with 20-20 hindsight ... And being in California 3,000 miles away is only an inconvenience for me, since it was 4:10 AM Saturday morning when my cell rang for the first time to develop the "recovery program" for the overnight rains ... Lastly, I'm solely responsible for who you played in seeding pool play (and second guessing me there is OK), but you are solely responsible for who you play in bracket play based on how you did in seeding as measured by the other teams' performance ... |
| , July 7, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: You make the call HAT MAN ... Not being there, it's difficult to say what's "right" or "wrong" about your call, but a couple of obvious things are relevant ... 1. Why would the ODB go anywhere near the play to retrieve a bat that is theoretically resting in a place (the batter's box) where the runner should not be anyway? ... He shouldn't ... 2. An interference call is a judgment call, not subject to protest or appeal ... Maybe the prudent course of action next time is to rule interference by the ODB and then your call automatically becomes the correct one! ... Your explanation might be, for the sake of discussion, that the ODB charging into the middle of the action is, on it's face, influencing the play to the detriment of the defense by distracting or making the play more difficult ... Good question! |
| , July 7, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: You make the call Quick observation is that it's not always wise as an umpire to presume that something may happen and make a call accordingly ... We would advise making the call, if any, on what actually did happen ... Especially, in this case, where you stated that interference was NOT present and the base runner did NOT step on the plate/strike mat OR run thru the no-fly zone of the right handed batter's box ... |
| , July 6, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Playing on two teams of different age and different ratings boston ... A player's age is not as important as his rating experience history for the team(s) he has played with ... You state he is a "55-AAA" player, which seems to infer that he is currently, or has within the prior two seasons, played with a 55-AAA team ... That team has a rating index of 6 ... As such, he would be ineligible to play for a 60-AA team (R/I=4) until that 55-AAA experience history lapses because he may only "play down" one rating level ... As mentioned previously above: If this inquiry is player-specific and not just purely a theoretical exercise, please call the Sacramento Office at (916) 326.5303 and get a direct ruling/explanation from one of the roster specialists ... |
| , June 30, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Playing on two teams of different age and different ratings LP ... And "cheating" as defined here anonymously may not be "cheating" at all ... This may have been a previously approved one-time exception to help the 50-AAA get enough players to field a team and play ... It may have been any number of things that the original poster [a] may not know about or [b] was misinformed about or [c] any number of other unknown factors ... If there's a formal complaint to be lodged, try submitting it to the SSUSA Office in an identifiable format with names (including your own), teams, etc. ... You know, those pesky little facts that distinguish an anonymous allegation from something of potential substance possibly deserving an additional look ... |
| , June 27, 2017 DaveDowell | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Is the rule implying "a runner cannot leave the base until after the ball is batted" fully enforced in SSUSA sanctioned/sponsored games? Turbobob ... This may not directly answer your question, but here goes ... In "sanctioned" SSUSA play, meaning any event sanctioned by SSUSA OR in a local league that has adopted SSUSA rules to govern its play, there should NOT be any discretion exercised by anyone involved, about whether or not, or to what degree, a rule should be enforced ... Simply stated, the game is to be either administered under the SSUSA rules or it's not ... All umpires under the supervision of the U.I.C., the plate umpire and/or the Tournament/League Director, are charged with exercising good "judgment" on whether or not the rule has been complied with ... But that does not include deciding to enforce it or not, or to what degree ... Leagues occasionally will adopt "local rules" to address specific situations peculiar to their league that are inconsistent with the SSUSA Rulebook, and that's fine ... But absent such modification, deviation from the rules should not occur ... Failing to do so will in most, if not all cases, lead to misinterpretation, followed very quickly by controversy ... The classic example of this theory is when game/tournament officials, individually or bowing to pressure from players or managers, decide to not fully enforce compliance with the batters' box rules at facilities than may have permanent boxes sewn or painted into an artificial surface ... Controversy every time, without exception ... Good question! |
