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Online now: 1 member: TABLE SETTER 11; 77 anonymousDiscussion: night games
| Posted | Discussion |
| July 11, 2011 brookery01 4 posts | night games After playing in 4 games on Saturday this past weekend I do not understand why during the middle of the Summer some of the games cannot be played under the lights(at night) to give a break from the sun and oppressive heat of the early afternoon games. If it is a question of money because of the electricity I feel sure most teams would be willing to ante up a bit more money. |
| July 11, 2011 Tater50 Men's 60 336 posts | Ed: good point; looks like the 7-9PM bracket would help some & the lighting cost would be minimal. Have to agree: the heat was brutal. Tater50 |
| July 11, 2011 brookery01 4 posts | Thanks Tater50. Hope the people who put on the tournaments will read this post and think about how hard it is for Seniors to play in the "brutal" heat. |
| July 11, 2011 DoubleL10 Men's 70 907 posts | That is all well and good for the "younger" seniors but I can tell you from personal experience that 60s up generally don't see as well at night. I've seen some of the older guys (70s) get stuck playing at night due to games running long and, it was sad to see NO ONE able to catch fly balls on either team I watched! |
| July 11, 2011 TexasTransplant Men's 70 516 posts | Anyone who advocates night games for seniors should try playing outfield at the Cesar Chavez complex in Phoenix (or any number of others around the country). We have some serious heat in the Texas summer, but I'll take day games anytime. I find that making a point to get acclimated to the heat with increasing amounts of outside excercise before the tournament season starts and drinking plenty of water, not just during the game, but also the day or two before the tournament really helps. |
| July 11, 2011 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | TT and those twilight games are the worse.we played at rose mofford(phx) one year and the snack stand right behind one of the fields had a light that was in the pitchers eyes,i seen a pitcher take one off the side of his face,and teams were using u-2's.to me the yellow ball disappears at night,and if the back ground is similar in color,look out...... |
| July 12, 2011 ShaneV Men's 55 393 posts | Played at Cesar Chaves, 2009 Worlds 50AAA, Friday evening. HS Football game going on next door with full banks of Stadium Lights in our eyes, playing defense. Our field lights did not seem to help at all. Truly felt like we were playing in the dark! I'll take daylight at any temp! ShaneV |
| July 12, 2011 ShaneV Men's 55 393 posts | And forgot to say: When you run it, you can run it your way! ShaneV |
| July 12, 2011 garyheifner 649 posts | Got to agree on night games. We have a very good outfield and they have one heck of a time picking up the ball at night. We are now 65+ and it gets worse every year. We are at the point that if we have a night game, everyone starts yelling the outfielders name so he at least has a warning the ball is heading his way. |
| July 12, 2011 Tater50 Men's 60 336 posts | Curious: you guys that play league; do you play in the day or at night? If at night, how do you cope? Special glasses? I have a hard time at night; when I played league, first game had some light but the others were dark or near dark & I never could get any glasses to take the fuzziness out. Tater50 |
| July 12, 2011 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | tater,It still is a prol with league,we have a light colored sand,yes sand, and the yellow ball kind of blends in with it when we play night games.the field they have us on now we face the parking lot and we are now playing the early games b/c of our eyes at nite,well now we only have cars windshields with glare off them,oh well.... |
| July 12, 2011 local 169 posts | Shane, I know you do a lot but did you run that tournament too? Don't be such a sensitive guy. I have played at Chaves and I think hearing all the car alarms going off at night would also be a distraction |
| July 12, 2011 ShaneV Men's 55 393 posts | local: No, I let SSUSA run the really big ones! I'm not really sensitive personally, just sensitive to the never-ending complaining coming from a few. Most of the time I can tell those really interested in contributing and improving our events, and those who just complain to complain. When anybody thinks they could do it better, I say please do. We all want more and better events, and cheaper too, with more teams in our age group and classification, with better fields, field prep, concessions, umpires, etc. etc. etc! Early in my softball career I encountered some really talented directors and managers. It often happened a couple years later they were absent. I figured out that the good ones usually get away from it when they find their efforts are not appreciated. I do my best to call out all the effort I see to organize and promote our game. None of these people get much back beyond the constant complaints. We heard the Lavene area was rough too. We stayed down in Chandler that year, nice house with a pool. No problems. ShaneV |
| July 12, 2011 local 169 posts | Shane I know you do a lot of work for our league and tournaments up here and Yes you do a great job. I was just foolin with ya. Two years ago we played in Vegas up past Summerlin. There were bars on all the windows of stores and some homes. After the first day someone broken into the photographer's trailer he left parked at the field. They stole his lap top, Senior photos etc So some dirt bag had some great photos of senior softball players. Bet he got a lot of good dope for that trade. |
| July 13, 2011 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | tater50-easy answer for how do we cope with night games in league-we end up losing-period. We cannot see well enough at night. The other night we were tied 15-15 after 7 innings, but we hit that twilight time at night and the other team got 14 runs in the eighth as fly after fly fell in the outfield. we hate night games. |
| July 13, 2011 GaCMan 86 posts | Wow ya'll must have some crappy lights!!! I to have played on some fields that were really bad but the fields we play league on are great. We dont have most of these problems with seeing the ball at night. Sounds like the lights need some serious attention!!! |
| July 13, 2011 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | g-man can't tell ya half of it.lights out in banks,one pole of lights not working,looking into lights from the other fields and soccer field,and like webbie says,twilight is the worse with this yellow ball....and it is not just the old guys,kids have the same prol here....we have a 5 field complex and basically only 1 is really playable at nite. |
| July 14, 2011 Webbie25 Men's 70 2414 posts | Lights???? There were lights on???? Gosh, that makes it worse. All kidding aside-we have a lot of work to do in Albuquerque to get things to where we could host a good tourney. Permanent facilities (portapots everywhere now), 4 field complex (we do not have one), field conditions (sandboxes, choppy outfields), lights-very weak, sigh!! |
| July 18, 2011 Brock Men's 80 84 posts | I agree with anyone in this discussion suggesting we don't play under the lights. In Phoenix, Cesar Chavez has already been mentioned but Desert West is no better. I talked to Fran the last two years about this. I play on both a 60s, Master Collision, and 65s, Scrap Iron 65 Redux and I know nobody on either team wants to play under the lights. Even though our Master Collision team was fortunate enough to avoid playing at night last year at Desert West, other teams did and also complained about the lights. Fran told me last October that Desert West had received grant money and that the lights were going to be upgraded with it. Someone will know this October. Even if they're better, I still suggest not playing under the lights. I'd rather go back to a four day world tournament instead to avoid someone getting hurt or worse yet, killed. |
