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Online now: 3 members: Dbax, Salt&Pepper, TABLE SETTER 11; 106 anonymousDiscussion: New Major and Major-Plus Regional Restrictions for 2005
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| Jan. 4, 2005 SSUSA Staff 3490 posts | New Major and Major-Plus Regional Restrictions for 2005 Beginning on Jan. 1, 2005, Senior Softball-USA will adopt the "Bordering States Rule" for Men’s 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 age divisions and ALL skill levels. This is the same regional restriction recognized by most other National Senior Softball Organizations. "We are adopting the Bordering States restrictions to ensure that team rosters are the same when teams play in almost all National Senior Softball Organizations," said Terry Hennessy, chief executive officer of Senior Softball-USA. "This move helps us to ensure that the teams we rate in the National Team Rating System have consistent rosters wherever they play." Senior Softball-USA was the first organization to establish regions. Other associations began following suit about 6 years ago, with most eventually adopting the Bordering States Rule, which allows teams to use players from bordering states (except California and Florida). Major-Plus teams, (except California and Florida) may draw one player from outside their regions . Both Senior Softball-USA and SPA have agreed to the new Major-Plus roster exception and will share and commonly approve Major-Plus Rosters. THE CALIFORNIA AND FLORIDA EXCEPTIONS WERE INSTITUTED BECAUSE OF THE NUMBERS OF SENIOR SOFTBALL PLAYERS IN THOSE STATES COMPARED TO OTHER STATES. California has twice as many players as Florida, and Florida had almost twice as many players as the next largest senior softball state – Arizona. States in the Northeast (New York, ennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey) TOGETHER account for only about HALF of the senior softball players in Florida. The California-Florida exception was based on the desire of National Organizations to create a fair playing field for ALL teams. This is a good-faith move by Senior Softball-USA to institute a rule that is both fair to teams and consistent with the established boundary rules for most associations. Senior Softball-USA will evaluate this rule at the end of 2005 to determine whether it needs to be modified and is open to suggestions for changes in 2006 after teams have had a chance to compete under the new guidelines. The Bordering States restrictions do not apply to Women’s Divisions and Men’s 75 and 80 Divisions. Women’s Divisions and Men’s 75 Divisions may draw players from East or West of the Mississippi River. The 80 Division has no restrictions. Senior Softball-USA also allows snowbirds, players living in more than one area of the country, to play in multiple regions. Snowbirds must, however, declare at the beginning of the season which team they will play with in the championships. "We believe this move is good for the sport and will simplify things for managers and teams," said Hennessy, who is a founding member of the National Team Rating Committee along with Ridge Hooks (executive director of SPA) and RB Thomas (president of ISSA). |
| Jan. 4, 2005 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | Thanks for the prompt reply. Legal things have their own nature and dynamics, I concede, but my response has to do with unfairness that restricting California and Florida represents. It‚s a very simple argument. The level of play, especially at the major plus or open level can and should have nothing to do with geography or demographics. If that were the case, their could be no Olympics. And if the Olympics are right, than restrictions and those who support them are wrong. There can be no true major plus champion unless all essential rules of team composition are uniform. I do not want to participate in a restricted tournament at the Major Plus level. It‚s a sham and a waste of time to me and to all true competitors. |
| Jan. 4, 2005 Walk 192 posts | "THE CALIFORNIA AND FLORIDA EXCEPTIONS WERE INSTITUTED BECAUSE OF THE NUMBERS OF SENIOR SOFTBALL PLAYERS IN THOSE STATES COMPARED TO OTHER STATES. California has twice as many players as Florida, and Florida had almost twice as many players as the next largest senior softball state – Arizona." Question, how many of the senior softball players (numbers would have been done a better job of proving the point. Anyone can make a blanket statement) How many of these are Major Plus players? How many Major plus teams are in CA and FL? How many teams have been destroyed by this new rule already? I know of 4 right now The regional move was to get rid of teams like Dan Smith who paid the players but now I understand the new rule is allowing a bidding war and once again is discriminating states, players, and age groups. Why weren't the players who are the sole support of these association asked what they thought? WHY WAS THIS PUSHED THROUGH BEFORE THE SUMMIT? These questions and more will soon have to be answered. You believe this is a fair rule then ask one of your TD why he is the only one still forcing any AAA team that picks up one major plus player to move up to major especially when the major plus player has nowhere else to play? One player cannot make a team a major team especially when the AAA team has never even finished in the top 20 at any worlds. Is this about being fair or is this about serving one person want and desire? |
| Jan. 4, 2005 Walk 192 posts | I have a few more question which I am sure none of them will be answered. 1 How many major plus players come from the eastern part of the country compared to the western part? 2. How are the one or two teams in OR, AZ, and NV going to be able to field Major Plus teams if they cannot draw from as you say the one state with the most senior players CA.? OR has no chance whats so ever if CA is off limits and the one or two players up there also have little to no chance of playing on a major plus team with CA closed. 3. How can anyone make the arguement this rule is fair for one and all when it discriminates against so many? 4. How can this "Dedicated to informing and uniting the Senior Softball Players of America and the World." be a true statement anymore with what everyone knows? Maybe it should read Dedicated to informing and uniting the heads of the associations and forcing the softball players of American and the World to play by rules made up in the backroom. 5. Why is there a advisary board of players if no one is going to talk to them or listen to them? Maybe it is an advisary board of players who can only vote on what the association heads want. I know some of these question are harsh but I am sick and tired of hearing how the few decide what is fair and just. Not only have this rule and the regional rule killed softball in the non softball states but it is now going to kill the last haven for softball CA and FL. |
| Jan. 4, 2005 Walk 192 posts | One last thought and then I will shut up for awhile. What I do not understand about this rule and the regional rules is that everyone involved in making this new rule and the regional rules at one time or another either played or was related to someone who played in the Major Plus division during its hey day. When any team could draw from anywhere. RB did, Ridge did, and TH father in law founder of the SSUSA did. Those times were great and there were a lot of teams. Then Ridge bought the SPA, and TH got the SSUSA and things changed. Once the changes happened the Major Plus division started dying a slow death. Yet these guys do not see it and these changes are the rules we live with now. My questions which will never be answered are why did you change other than to get Dan Smith out of the senior program? Why are you killing the game? I understand there are more teams in AA and AAA but I don't think those guys care if the major plus rules are different. If they did they would already be upset because the major plus plays different game rules. In fact I believe they will be more upset when major plus players have to start playing in the AAA divisions because of these rules. So why worry about who plays on whose team at the major plus level? |
| Jan. 4, 2005 jah#4 Men's 70 576 posts | Thanks for the quick response to the restiction issue. I hope the this restiction is reviewed at the Summit in Fla. Because it does hurt Fla. and Ca.but also hurt the states that border those states. The way I read the rule it stops Ga. to go into the main part of Fla and picking a player that might help them play at the Major + level on the 50+ but look at the 65+ division a lot of the players come south to Fla from NC, VA, and GA to retire and can't play but with a Fla team Please remember that Fla borders Ala and Ga where there is very few Major+ Player. Don't make seniors used false address like a few did year just to be able to play on a team outside Fla. so that team could just have enough players to field a team in tourney play. |
| Jan. 4, 2005 Fred Scerra Men's 80 542 posts | I would like to see the whole rule changed to "a team has to have 75% (or whatever pct) from the state which the team comes from. I come from Ma. and we don't have any 70+ tournament teams except from the Cape. I did play for a team from Canada but now I can't because of the territorial rule. I know that the partial reason for this rule extended to the 70 division is a team from Pa. Why should players like myself be denied a change to play at the tournament level because 1 team went overboard. |
| Jan. 4, 2005 kuyath 10 posts | Where were the statistics obtained regarding the number of senior players in each state? How is it known that California and Florida have so many more senior players than other states? For example, California has 35.5 million residents, Florida has 17 million, New York has 19 million and New Jersey has 8 million. New York (which already has 2 million more residents than Florida) is permitted to have a pickup form New Jersey, which has 8 million residents (total residents of NY plus NJ = 27 million). It appears that California and Florida are being treated unfairly. |
| Jan. 4, 2005 kuyath 10 posts | I've read the Major Plus rule more closely and understand it to say that major plus teams (except those from California and Florida) can have one pickup from any other region. This appears to be unfair to major plus teams from California and Florida. For example, Califonia has a population of 35.5 million but a major plus team from Califonia can only have players from that state (i.e., from a pool of 35.5 million). In contrast, Minnesota has a population of 5 million and a major plus team from Minnesota can have a pickup from any other state. Since the US population is 295 million, a major plus team from Minnesota can have a pickup from a total population of 290 million in the remaining states. This rule is based on poor logic and results in unfair treatment to major plus teams in California and Florida. |
| Jan. 4, 2005 sjuhoops 145 posts | terry ridge and rb. if fla and cal have so many players then the adjoining states who have so few should be at least able to draw from them. while you think your idea is good for softball you have crushed our 60 major plus team this year as we have only 4 count 4 players in nevada that play major plus. we have 4 in arizona and about 6 in so. cal. without these players we will have to play in a lower age bracket every year until this rule is changed. you have only hurt the adjoining states as well as hurting fla and cal. why is it that so many major plus players want to play this level and you are forcing players like bruce walker and many others to play aaa or play in a younger age bracket. as mentioned other people will be getting address in other states thats a fact. i just dont get it. 11 years in senior softball and now i have to drop down to a lower age bracket and hope to pick up 3 more players as we only have 11. our other states that we have to draw from(idaho oregon and utah) dont help at all. we are two to four hours drive from the so cal guys 5 - 6 hours from arizona why is this a problem. frustrated in las vegas hank |
| Jan. 5, 2005 Walk 192 posts | Since all my questions have been answered I will ask some more. Explain to me how the situation that Hank and his Vegas team are now facing good for senior softball and the Major Plus program? Once again why was this rule made and not introduced at the summit? What are you guys hiding? Please explain so all can see what is really going on because everyone knows this rule is not at all good for the major plus division and is doing more harm than good. Also this board states "Questions posted here may not be answered." E-mail question as well as a fax are not answered. Why is that? |
| Jan. 5, 2005 PattyMac 90 posts | Just a word from a 50 major plus player from Florida. We have in this state an organization called Half Century Softball and this is senior softball tournaments once a month all year. This has all ages and has a huge turn out for these tournaments. This is the reason for the large roster of senior players in Florida. Now that this info in known also know that there are only about 3 teams in the 50 division that will travel out of Florida to play senior softball. The Crush team has been the only major plus team from Florida for the last 3 years. I wonder why this information is not put on the table when decisions are made. We are in danger of losing the only 50 major plus team from Florida with these rules. How does that help Senior Softball? Also the 50 division is the smallest division in the Half Century organization. These numbers need to be looked at closely before throwing out the huge numbers of "senior players" from Florida |
| Jan. 5, 2005 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | Welcome aboard Pat! Too bad you aren't playing with us this year. Good luck, see ya around! |
| Jan. 5, 2005 Walk 192 posts | Pat I have a feeling the numbers that are being used have not been researched. I would bet the numbers are for seniors in general and no one really knows how many play what division or age group. It is a shame to see the Crush on the edge of not being able to field a team after all these year and all over some stupid made up rule that was done to satisfy one person. |
| Jan. 6, 2005 cpope Men's 75 160 posts | While I am not a Major/Major Plus player. I just play AAA, but by the comments above it sounds like the Major Plus players are getting the royal shaft. These guys (Major Plus) work very hard to be able to play at that level. Don't they reserve the right to have a say in this matter. Somebody above said something about 70 % from the home state, that sounds fair, 20 man roster will give you 6 players from outside your state. Don't screw up a good thing for the players who deserve it. The make of the game is Play Ball, lets do it. |
| Jan. 6, 2005 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | After reading this column again, this Senior Softball Rule declares that the best teams from Florida and California are the best teams in the country. It shouts it. Even screams it. If I were from any other team in any other states I would feel demeaned and be beside myself. "What do you mean, they're better than us? Bring those turkeys on and we'll show 'em who's best." I know Thermco and The Stars from Vegas and Pine Knob and Damon's, the true competitors they are, have to feel the same way. Also, it means that in my desire to be the best and be recognized as the best I am already there, thanks to this ruling without having to play a game. Why should I show up for any nationals with nothing to gain and everything to lose? And maybe, as Walk suggests. that's exactly what someone's trying to do, and that is keep California and Florida teams from competing and winning national titles. This situation is unAmerican, unOlympian and is blatantly unfair to all major plus senior players and has begun to smell bad to all of us. |
| Jan. 6, 2005 Walk 192 posts | A quote from Paul Harvey fits this situation perfectly: "One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do." |
| Jan. 6, 2005 Walk 192 posts | Hank, Jah4 and Pat some have asked how this new rule is hurting teams both outside of CA and FL and inside FL. Maybe you guys could explain again. I know for me the only team to ask me to play super major is a CA team. I live in KC where we having nothing but AAA and AA teams. While there is nothing wrong with those levels I don't think someone who has played Major Plus all his life and still can should be forced to play AAA. It is not fair to one and all. Also because of the bordering state rule and given our surrounding states it would be alomost impossible for me to find a team or to start one. We need to be able to tap into the "states with the most senior players" |
| Jan. 6, 2005 BillyMac Men's 55 91 posts | Einstein; I agree with you and the other affected players about the restrictions on FL and CA. It does seem to me that the rule about states outside of CA & FL not being able to draw from these 2 states does go hand in hand with the main part of the rule, to protect those 2 states from being drained of top players by other states. I am on the advisory board for the summit this year, and will lobby to the best of my ability for a change to this rule. At the very least, if CA & FL are to be considered as their own geographical area, then they should at least be allowed the one exception to the rule that other geographical areas are afforded. Maybe we can at least get that part of the rule revisited for this year. I will do my best to be the voice of the "opposing view" in all discussions and voting (if any) on this issue. I do need to point out however that, if Thermco boycotts the sanctioning bodies that have this rule, thus leaving only USSSA and SSWS, our season would be virtually nonexistant,except for these 2 worlds. We do not have any senior leagues on the East coast in which we could play as a team, and even individually, very few of us have the ability to play senior ball locally. I am from Cape Cod, which doesn't allow participation in the old timer's league until 57. as a "softball junkie", I want to play every night of the week, and every weekend. This cannot even come close to being accomplished if we were to acquiesce to your request that we not play in the associations which discriminate against you. In 95, I took a stand against USSSA over an issue which I felt was just, and boycotted them for the second half of a season. Guess what! The only one hurt was my team. The majority of the tournies in my area are u-trip, and they were virtually unaffected by the loss of our presence. I feel that the result here would be exactly the same. the associatons' tournaments would be unaffected, due to the small number of teams at the major plus level. I fear that just the opposite would be true. The tournament director's would actually have an easier time logistically without a major plus division at their tournies. I'm with you in principle, but I'm unwilling to "not play ball" to try to accomplish the goal. Sorry. peace Hit to WIN!!!!!!!! B Mac |
| Jan. 6, 2005 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | Hey BillyMac, Thanks for the honest show of support. A phrase made popular in World War I was, "They also serve who only stand and wait." I respect you, your position and anyone or stance that reflects the unacceptable nature of the unfairness that has been demonstrated. Everyone should do what they can as it relates to their own perspective and justice will be served. Senior Softball needs men of integrity and strength like yourself, inside, outside and along side of the system to make any meaningful change. Sooner or later, and I hope sooner the powers that be will decide in favor of justice, fair play and the wishes of the majority of its senior softball major and major plus constituents. We all need and look forward to the exercise, the challenge, the recognition and the rewards that can only come from the fairness and equal application of meaningful standards. Then, there will be a true, uncontested national champion with ALL the accolades and braggin' rights. And only then. |
| Jan. 6, 2005 Walk 192 posts | Let those voice ring out loud and clear. |
| Jan. 6, 2005 william wallace 42 posts | I am new to this board what is all these stuff about Major Plus Players being restricted for 200? William Wallace 55 |
| Jan. 7, 2005 Airbosn Men's 70 329 posts | S.P.A. rosters will be based upon state boundaries. A Player may only play with a team from their own state, or a state whose borders touch the borders of the Player‚s own state, except for Players from California and Florida (excluding Panhandle, Fl.). Players from California and Florida can only play on teams from their own state, with the exception of the Panhandle of Fl, and Players from states that border California and Florida cannot play on teams from California and Florida. The S.P.A. National Headquarters must approve any exceptions. |
| Jan. 7, 2005 william wallace 42 posts | so one must ask permission to play outside of his or her area. and california and florida can pick up nobody is there a reason for this William Wallace 55 |
| Jan. 7, 2005 BillyMac Men's 55 91 posts | William: The first message in this string explains the premise that these associations are using for their rule. peace |
| Jan. 7, 2005 PattyMac 90 posts | Hey BillyMac, You saw first hand what the rule did to our Crush team last year. It cost us 5 players who had played for the Crush for the last 3 years. We don't want anything more than everyone else has and that is the ability to get players from touching states. Without this our team is probably doomed. Answer this for me if anyone can. Why do this to 50 Major plus teams when there are only probably 7-8 teams in the whole country that can and would travel? This just doesn't make since to me to penalize any team that has the players that are able and willing and want to travel 7-10 weekends a year to play the game they love. Without the Crush team there will probably not be a major team from the south this year. If that is the way it has to be so be it. Good luck to everyone. |
| Jan. 7, 2005 sjuhoops 145 posts | hey walk. sorry ive been busy. as for our former 60 major plus team from nevada. we have 4 players left, we have 4 from arizona and we had 4-6 from so. cal. we had seeked permission to try to put this together as the three states combined only had 12-14 major plus players in the 60 age bracket. we were not including northern california as we know the bandits and gary tyrhorn draw from about a hundred mile radius. both ridge and terry allowed us to put this together back in october. we played in two tourneys one a 55 and another against the bandits. we were competitive in both. now we are into december and most teams have committments from players for next year. three td's have a phone conversation on a friday at 10am, i call ridge at 1pm as he had asked me to do. hank sorry no good for your team and tells me about the new rule isolating cal and fla. today jan 7th we now have a total of 11 players 9 60's and two 55's. we will not be able to play 60 major plus this year not 60 major so we are forced to play 55's. i dont think that is fair however i like others am a softball nut. a point of interest to some people who feel cal and florida might get raided. last year our 50major plus team in nevada actually went to two worlds with 9 players and played in a third with a 60 year old player being the 10th. our 55 group played at the aaa level. california actually took two of our players to play with them. our 60 major plus team had one player from so. cal. inmo if the;y would change the region for nevada and so cal to be combined then we would be able to field a team. if our team only winds up with 11 players we will not make it through the season. our first tourney next weekend 3 guys cant make it so we picked up two of our cal gu;ys and a 64 year old to go play 55's. i cant see why the td's cant see they are hurting the adjoining states to cal and fla as well as being unfair to them also. sorry to be so long but i still dont get it if the best want to play the best why cant it happen. they bring up dan smith's team of the past. california wasnt raided as most of the guys on the team were from the east coast with only a few cal guys. we had great battles those years won some and lost some. hope this helps walk hank |
| Jan. 7, 2005 william wallace 42 posts | billymac, I read that but itdoes not jive with thishear 2000 census numbers: 59.6M PEOPLE or 21.1% of the U.S. POPULATION are 55 & OLDER. 33M are FEMALES & 26.6 M are MALES (MALES make up 45%). 76.6 % of the U. S. POPULATION are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER. CALIF. has 35.5M PERSONS & 77.7% are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER.( 3.3M SENIOR MEN) FLOR. has 17M PERSONS & 74% are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER. ( 1.6M SENIOR MEN) TEXAS has 22.2M PERSONS & 79% are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER. ( 2.1M SENIOR MEN) GEORGIA has 8.9M PERSONS & 77.2% are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER. ILLINOIS has 12.6M PERSONS & 77% are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER. TENN. has 5.8M PERSONS & 76% are FEMALES or 18 & YOUNGER. NEW YORK has 19.1M PERSONS. PENNSY. has 12.3M PERSONS. OHIO has 11.5M PERSONS. NORTH CAROLINA has 8.4M PERSONS. NEW JERSEY has 8.6M PERSONS. VIRGINIA has 7.4 M PERSONS. NV, AZ, UTAH, IDAHO, & OREGON have a COMBINE POPULATION of 15.1M or 1.4M SENIOR MEN. KANSAS, OKLAHOMA, COLORADA, MISSOURI, & NEBRASKA have 18.1M or 1.7M SENIOR MEN. N. & S. DAKATA, MONTANA, & WYOMING have 2.8M. (ONLY 1/4 of a M SENIOR MEN.) ARKANSAS has 2.7M & can DRAW from (6 STATES) w/ a TOTAL POP. of 44M or 4.2M SENIOR MEN. W. VIRIGINA has 1. 8M & can DRAW from (4 STATES) w/ a TOTAL POP. of 35M or 3.3M SENIOR MEN . KENTUCKY has 4.1M & can DRAW from (7 STATES) w/ a TOTAL POP. of 51M or 4.8M SENIOR MEN. COLORADA has 4.5M & can DRAW from (7 STATES) w/ a TOTAL POP. of 18M. GEORGIA has 8.9M & can DRAW from (4 STATES) w/ a TOTAL POP. of 23M. TEXAS has 22M & can DRAW from (4 STATES) w/ a TOTAL POP. of 12.5M. William Wallace 55 |
| Jan. 7, 2005 william wallace 42 posts | Alba gu bra Looks to me thenumbers dontlie Alba gu bra William Wallace 55 |
| Jan. 7, 2005 Steve Men's 65 25 posts | Hank, I'm with you and the majority of the board. The bordering states rule is not complicated, easy to define and supports what we all want-----more teams, players and better competition. Good luck Hank. Steve |
| Jan. 7, 2005 SoCal'er 76 posts | Maybe,the organizations just don't care if there is a Major+ division. Let's face it it would make there life alot easier. |
| Jan. 7, 2005 william wallace 42 posts | Aye, fight and thismay die anyway, to getrid of Majorplus and just have the major level and things lookto be ok. At least a while. but in the end those who like Longshanks will take our freedomagain! Alba gu bra! William Wallace 55 Alba gu bra |
| Jan. 7, 2005 STONEMAN Men's 50 535 posts | I GOT THIS FROM SSUSAs' rating. THE 50 AGE GROUP has 331 TEAMS. 34 r MAJOR PLUS & 56 r MAJORS. (90 TEAMS or 27.2%) To the MAJOR + 50 players, r there really 34 M+ teams? Has any player in these division ever played against 10 different MAJOR PLUS teams in one yr? THE 55 AGE GROUP has 260 TEAMS. 23 r MAJOR PLUS & 29 r MAJORS. (52 TEAMS or 20%) Same question as above, please? THE 60 AGE GROUP has 266 TEAMS. 16 r MAJOR PLUS & 29 r MAJORS. (45 TEAMS or 16.9%) Played against 8diff. teams? THE 65 AGE GROUP has 198 TEAMS. 15 r MAJOR PLUS & 32 r MAJORS. (47 TEAMS or 23.7%) Against 8 teams? If, this webs rating #'s r correct, then, MAJOR & MAJOR PLUS PLAYERS MAKE UP ROUGHLY 22.2% of SENIOR BALL. Is there really 34 M+ teams in the 50's & 23 M+in the 55's? If, this is true, then, where & when are these teams playing? TO William Wallace, would u mind tell' me who sent u u're data? |
| Jan. 8, 2005 DoubleL10 Men's 70 907 posts | I've read this thread with great interest; I'm lucky enough to still play 55 Major + in Texas. I played with Walk last year and know intimately the problems the rule change killing exemptions is causing. The exemption rule was put in place for a reason - to allow players with no place to play within their state - at their level - to be picked up by a team outside their state (or region) to play the game we all love. The theory is still good. I support the continuance of this rule. I've also had the pleasure of playing with Hank on the Dan Smith team that keeps being brought up as the reason for the regionalization rules being established. I was one of the east coast guys, at that time (I now live in Texas) and, as Hank said, there were only a few Californians on the team which, for those who don't know, was sponsored by a California-based man - Dan Smith. Even back in those days, there were only a few Major + teams, in several Nationals in 1999, for example, it was us and Orange Crush or us and Fergies. It seems to me we actually have MORE Major + teams in the Nationals today than we did back then! To cut to the chase, I have said for years, and I see that thought running through some of the comments on this thread, that the TD's and the association heads would probably be happier if the Major + division did not exist. Our games are longer, since more runs are generally scored and we lose a lot of softballs (or used to) AND we probably complain more! My belief is the TD's and association heads (NOT ALL), would prefer not to have to put up with the hassle of setting up Major + brackerts for just a very few teams. I remember fondly when, I thought, the National tournaments wanted to SHOWCASE the upper levels in softball. We used to draw real good crowds to see some of the great contests between Smith and the Mavericks, Orange Crush, Fergies and Sawtre. I miss those days - and they were only 5-6 years ago! Now, don't get me wrong, I don't support going back to National rosters but I do think some of the rules that have been put into effect to HELP teams have enough players (see Hank's comments) are good rules. Here's hoping the guys at the Summit come to their senses and do what needs to be done to allow great players like Hank and Walk to play at their competitive best at the age-level they prefer. JMHO |
| Jan. 8, 2005 sjuhoops 145 posts | larry thanks for the kind words. im running out of words to describe our situation. good luck this year. stay healthy and keep hitting them long. see you at tournament time(i hope) hank |
| Jan. 15, 2005 william wallace 42 posts | ihear things are getting outofhand. Alba gu bra William Wallace |
| Jan. 16, 2005 Proudtex40 57 posts | Although I've played softball for the past 32 years, I am about to start my third year of senior softball. I've had the priviledge to play for Fergie's my first year and Damon's this past year. I enjoy playing the 50 plus division because I love and thrive on the competition. I've had an opportunity to play against some of the best competitors in the history of the game and now I'm finding that a large portion of those softball legends (at the 50 plus division) are frustrated with all the rules and basically saying "screw it"! Since there are only 12-15 teams (max) that want to play in the 50 plus division I would like to see the board let those teams pick up a couple of players from anywhere. In the 50 plus we end up playing the same teams anyway, so let the teams load up, let us play "real softball" (no 5 run per innings crap), and let the best team win. Just my thoughts. Not sure who I'll be playing for this year, but I know I look forward to seeing my old friends as well as the new ones I've made the past two years. (From Steve Shannon, Springfield, VA) |
| Jan. 16, 2005 BillyMac Men's 55 91 posts | Player Advisory Board at Senior Summit recommended that the restrictions placed on CA., FL. & TX regarding touching states rule should be removed. Also voted that 1 exception (out of area player) should be allowed in all associations in the major plus division in all age groups. I don't believe that this recommendation will be instituted, but at least the players voice was heard. The vote was unanimous on both issues. Now it is up to the delegates. peace Hit To WIN!!!!!!!! B Mac |
| Jan. 17, 2005 BillyMac Men's 55 91 posts | No change to this rule for 2005. peace |
