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Online now: 2 members: Emmitt, TABLE SETTER 11; 58 anonymousDiscussion: RULES MADE TO BE BROKEN?
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| Feb. 22, 2018 DD Men's 75 92 posts | RULES MADE TO BE BROKEN? Elsewhere on this Forum you will find extensive discussion about ratings. As we hear every year from disgruntled managers and players about the injustice of an arbitrary move-up, it might be time to state the obvious. The SSUSA rating system is a farce...an absurd game. Sacramento can't even follow their own guidelines much of the time. The process lacks integrity, transparency, consistency, and accuracy. SSUSA makes the rules. Then breaks the rules. Hiding behind the disclaimer "...SSUSA reserves the right to change a team at any time..." they might as well have written "We'll do anything we want whenever we want---deal with it." The policy says rating appeals are reviewed ONLY twice per year, December and June. Less than 15% of the effective dates of changes are estimated to occur in those months. "We don't rate players, we rate teams" goes the mantra. Ridiculous. Players change teams all the time and then are considered a higher-rated player and thus often ineligible to play where they wish. The idea that players don't carry ratings is pure rubbish. We're told as part of a team's appeal process SSUSA looks at recommendations from umpires on game cards. I've signed about 300 game cards over the last 14 years and have not seen one umpire comment. Just sayin. They might, but I doubt the comments are terribly relevant. Same goes for the reports from Tournament Directors. And, finally, the sending of Sacramento's recommendations to the 12 SSUSA Directors for review and comment? Nonsense. Rarely if ever has any of that information been shared with managers. And what provisions are made for the obvious conflicts of interest such as when a SSUSA Director is also a team manager? None. What we get is His Georgeness perched in his lofty Winery Tower issuing edicts about players he hasn't seen in 5 years. Maybe has never seen. He doesn't attend tournaments. Doesn't see the players. Doesn't account for the devastating effects of aging on some. Doesn't care. Surrounded by gatekeepers, he is inaccessible. Incommunicado. And unaccountably off base much of the time. All of us support the idea of parity in the game. Nobody has any fun when the score is so lopsided as to not even be a contest. But, we're a far, far cry from fair with this arbitrary, capricious, and disingenuous system. Time to reboot. |
| Feb. 22, 2018 Dbax Men's 65 2101 posts | 👍👍👍 |
| Feb. 23, 2018 stever Men's 70 99 posts | I'm tired of hearing all the complaining about ratings. Does SSUSA get it right 100% of the time. Obviously, no. But the "conspiracy" theories out there are asinine. I have been playing SSUSA and SPA for over 20 years. In those 20+ years I have sponsored teams and have managed teams. In those 20+ years I have occasionally received calls from SSUSA asking my opinion about teams SSUSA was considering moving up or down. Is SSUSA perfect? Absolutely not, but to imply they have an agenda other than trying to provide the most level playing field possible is nothing but self-serving, ego-based whining. Each of us is basing our views on a small sub-set of data compared to what SSUSA has. None of us have the data base they have. Yes, we all have opinions (and you know what opinions are) and we should ask questions when we don't understand a decision. But stop the vitriol when you don't get the answer you think you should. By the way, I hear the same complaints in SPA. Does that mean it is an industry-wide conspiracy to screw people? |
| Feb. 23, 2018 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Nothing is ever changed through the message board. Change will only result through utilizing the process in place to affect change. I do not encourage nor support individuals calling out specific SSUSA officials for ridicule. I am extremely confident while one individual might be the spokesperson, there is probably a committee consensus on decisions that have profound affects. The message board is a venue to share information. Regarding the 65 Ratings move. Obviously, we the unwashed masses are not "in the know" nor do we ever "have the complete" story. This board is only good for information or questions at best and at worst unfounded rumors to an audience usually not aware of things outside their own division or region. It is an absolutely legitimate question as to why only a single team was moved up in a 20 team bracket. The reason, I say 1 out of 20 was moved because the Ancients were moved after the Winter Worlds. I have no ax to grind in this situation nor do I care who I play, but I do believe that when rules and or standards are created they should be applied fairly throughout. I have played on M+ teams that were not truly M+ teams, but our success dictated participation in that division. So be it. I have never viewed moving up in a competition level as anything other than a challenge. My personal opinion is based on the current rules Enviro-vac and AZ Ancients are both M+. I do not mean the rule differential, but rather wins and losses, their overall success against their peer group. Quite frankly the run differential is an interesting statistic, but there are a number of teams that bat everybody in RR and 11-12 in tourney and thus games are always closer. Mike Adair or as my wife would say, at least you are a good feet Warmer. |
