Burn the Ships - A Softball Documentary

[Under the Radar]

This is a very good Doc. about the struggle of Women's Pro Softball & mainly follows the Akron Racers.

It is a very good watch and every player both young and old should see it , as it also talks a lot about the struggle of Women's sports in general.

The Doc is on Hulu & I know you can buy it on Youtube for 4 bucks....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nbjCpg8450

[Schmick]

Nobody cares to watch women's sports


Women's pro soccer failed
Women's pro softball is failing
Women's pro basketball is subsidized by the NBA or it would have failed


It's like girls sports in college, if it wasn't for title ix, the schools wouldn't be wasting their time with them.
How bout they start letting the business schools run the athletic programs at these colleges. Let each sport support itsself a d those that make money stay. Sports that lose money go.

[LUCIEGMZ]

Great doc, really shows the struggle to keep the sport going. It sadens me that there is still so much work to do for girls/women softball to be taken as a serious sport.

[Schmick]

A few things that may make casual sports fans watch softball

Increase the size of the playing surface.
Women's softball at the women's college world series is played on a field smaller than the one the Little League World Series is on
Think about that for a second, 10 year old boys are playing on a larger field with the same sized diamond as full sized women, twice the size of the boys.
Push the bases to 75 feet, the fences to 280 these women can play on a larger surface than 6 year olds.

Get rid of the slapping.
Softball is going to have common fans with baseball and when baseball fans see a player running down a little league baseline before making contact with the ball (yeah I know the rules say she has to stay in the box) but to the casual fan coming over from baseball it looks bad. Also, going to the larger diamond will help this look better to casual fans.


Accept the fact that women's sports will never attain the level that men's sports do. Males generally won't watch female sports unless their daughter is playing. That takes out half of the population right there but males make up closer to 75% of the sports watching population. Then, of the 25% of the sports watchers that are females you're going to have a big portion that only watch males sports because they like athletic males. Many of these are females who didn't play sports but are attracted to guys who do. That can be up to 50% of the female sports watchers. That leaves softball with a maximum of about 12% of sports watchers who would even consider watching softball. That there is no male version of softball for sports fans in the states and with sports fans already watching baseball, making softball even more like baseball might help. That would mean no slappers, 9 inning games, wooden bats....


How many times have you driven by a park and seen girls, with no coaches or parents around, out having a pick up game of softball? I cant ever recall seeing that. I see boys out playing baseball at the park every day. Perhaps the interests of males and females is the reason why softball is maxed out now. The ncaa has put so much money, so many magnets in softball and still a ton of schools so not field teams and don't even seem to want to start them. The Pac 12 athletic conference has long been the Bell Cow of women's athletics and 25% of the schools in the conference do not have softball programs. In softball crazed Southern California D1 schools like USC, Pepperdine, UCI.... don't even have programs, one of those schools has twice as many national championships in baseball as any other school in the nation and they have no softball.

Softballs validity as a sport is what it is

[Under the Radar]

Hey Schmick,

With all that you state why is the College Women's World Series the 2nd highest watched event on ESPN?

Then I have a question if you think women's softball sucks why are you on this web site or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

[GIMNEPIWO]

Nobody cares to watch women's sports


Women's pro soccer failed
Women's pro softball is failing
Women's pro basketball is subsidized by the NBA or it would have failed


It's like girls sports in college, if it wasn't for title ix, the schools wouldn't be wasting their time with them.
How bout they start letting the business schools run the athletic programs at these colleges. Let each sport support itsself a d those that make money stay. Sports that lose money go.

Football and sometimes boys/men's basketball, everything else goes ?

[Tyler Durden]

Hey Schmick,

Then I have a question if you think women's softball sucks why are you on this web site or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

Yes you are misunderstanding. People can be critical of flaws in the sport without being accused of "saying softball sucks". Wake up.

[sdiamond]

I played sports all my life im now in my 60's. Baseball was a big part of my life and in 1995 I went to every stadium in the Lower 48 with two friends. I got married in 2001 and have had two sets of twin girls. First set 2002 and the second set 2004. Fourteen months apart. They are very athletic and almost four years ago the youngest decided to play softball.

Since then the oldest started playing about 18 months ago and. I cannot believe how exciting this game has become.. For those of you here in California who havent attended any games 14U and up, you are missing out. Girls softball is exciting, more enthusiastic than Boys baseball ever was and in February each year in Cathedral City 30-40 of the best college teams play in the Mary Nutter Tournament over 2 weekends.

Even at my daughters school the Baseball Coach says Girls softball is more fun to watch then baseball. We also have UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and several other smaller colleges with fantastic programs and you can watch a game for $8 or less a person. These women athletes are unbelievable with some of the skills they have.

Next time you want to watch an athletic event where there is excitement, hustle and amazing athletes, go find a softball tournament or a high school and college game in your area. Im sure you will be very suprised and i know you will not be disappointed.

[Schmick]

I never said softball sucked. I simply gave reasons that casual sports fans or baseball fans have relayed to me with why they won't watch softball.

I have a son who played major travel, HS and now d1 college baseball and a daughter who plays travel ball here in Southern California (only an 8th grader) and I can honestly say the athletic abilities are not even close even when the athletes are close to the same size.

[Sue Trubovitz, Turbo]

yes there is a tremendous amount of softball teams in so cal, but most of the time when you go out to watch many at younger levels you see a lot of average. And I will even throw in below-average. Because there is so many teams and so much average, until you actually go to a venue where you see the top players performing, it's hard to recognize that there is an actual skill level being develope . certainly know that there are extremely more softball teams than there are baseball teams in Southern California and we know this because every softball field almost every night of the week and every weekend is filled while there are baseball fields left empty. And we see this year round in Southern California where softball is a year-round sport. I think if we're going to start comparing Apples to Apples or oranges to oranges or apples to oranges then you need to see all levels to compair to Club baseball and you will see equality there. And when you start looking into colleges of course there's different level of college ball that's played and at that level you can see absolutely Talent in both apples and oranges.


as for the size of the field and the differences between baseball and softball or apples and oranges ....
The speed of softball is so much faster than baseball it really is a different sport. The strategies involved in softball and the speed and involvement of The Catcher in the game eclipses baseball to such a degree that it creates more defensive strategies. Also in hitting
strategies with small ball/ bunts & slap/drive hitters and regular batters make the game differ adding speed with strategy not used in baseball. With the challenge of the close home run fence and outfielders being able to get to the ball fast enough to make plays at the bases increases the defensive strategy on how to play the ball and the role of players in the Outfield, especially being required to make plays that the outfielders would never make in baseball. Equally so with the catcher and their role behind the plate with back pics not just Runner stealing but adding back pics changing the game again with speed.

in the late 80s they moved the pitching plate back 3 feet. the reason for this was because of the pitchers duel that was going on and the 1-0 or 1- 2 extra inning ball games that was not attracting very much fans. so they move the pitching mound back to give the batter's a greater opportunity and put action on to the bases. Along with the change in the ball which definitely has more flight and the addition of the new technology with the bats again created more game speed for softball. it is true that the explosive amount of the combination of changes has created a lot more home runs. Which has created a lot more excitement. Which has created a huge fan base for softball. where if you been paying attention, ( over the past years)has created a huge fan base on multiple channels on ESPN. Along with colleges having games on local channels for their communities.even in states where weather is inclement and people cannot play Outdoors softball is now being played in indoor facilities in its form called speed softball.

let's not forget our fabulous military which has used softball on many u.s. posts around the world. Softball is a form of entertainment and competition for our service personnel and have been part of the culture in military so much so that our Collegiate military institutions have women's softball teams. Something you also don't see very often are the men's Fastpitch leagues which have been ongoing since the early 1930s. softball has also taken on a diverse forms with slow pitch softball also. where you notice as the generations grow older men don't keep playing baseball they switch to slow pitch or find a fastpitch softball league because there is no baseball for everybody in their future.

let's get down to the difference in pitching distances ....is everybody aware of the calculation of the miles per hour of the pitch and reaction time?
for instance a pitch thrown in fastpitch softball at 50 miles an hour is equal to a 70 mile an hour pitch in baseball the reaction time is equal. As that number increases it increases for both.
55 sb MPH = 77 bb MPH
60 sb = 85 bb
65 sb = 89 bb
70 sb = 94 bb
these numbers were taken from some different charts and there are varying numbers on different charts you can look up.


if you want to talk about size' if size really matters' then we could remind everybody the baseball is 9in round and a softball is 12in round a softball weigh almost 2 ounces more than a baseball. I'm sure somebody
can offer the mathematical equation to resistance in that. Years ago, at 5'3.3" and at 142 pounds ( in my early 30's , not in my prime college years) on the UCLA baseball field, playing bb, was able to crush fly balls hitting the Home Run wall with a pitcher only throwing 80 miles an hour. those pitchess were extremely slow for me because I was used to 70 mile-an-hour pitching from softball. ( because my reaction time was set comprable to a 90 plus mile an hour pitch,) had to wait and wait and wait for the 80 mile an hour pitch to get to me and then I crushed it to the wall. So if you want to talk...."Size Matters" actually mechanics matter in hitting the ball correctly!!!!

another great difference between softball and baseball is in baseball the pitcher is given a raised mound and that was created to give the pitcher a better advantage and pick up speed on there throwing to home plate ( gravity and body throwing at a downward slope). And softball the pitching plate is flat which does not give that advantage ...someone could probably share that mathematical equation that goes along with that throwing from a downward slope Etc. And softball that pitcher being on a flat plate has another advantage and that is the ability to throw a pitch on up-slope, otherwise known as a rise ball. across-the-board it is well known that professional baseball players will struggle and strike out against the top notch softball fastpitch pitchers.

there are so much Sports out there for everybody to enjoy! enjoy what you like to watch! enjoy what you like to play! have been involved now with softball for 47 years. How amazing it is to see softball continue to grow! It is a sport that people enjoy watching and I know many Baseball fans who do watch softball. maybe that's because baseball does not last year round and softball does. Maybe that's because there is incredible Talent on the field. Maybe it's because you can watch an entire game without having to take 6 hours trying to get to the conclusion of it. I would recommend if you do have an interest in softball whether it's for your daughter who's in 8th grade or you have a young kid that might be interested in playing. Or maybe you're a senior citizen kicking back... go watch softball! it's just as fun as baseball and softball is a lot faster and has a lot more strategy. when you get into the competitive levels fastpitch softball kicks ass and there are plenty of top-notch challenge. in Southern California watching everything that's happening at all the local fields for the most part you might be watching average but don't worry there's elite softball out there and they're doing a great job!!!

speaking of how many baseball teams there are out there... certainly don't see very many... so possibly comparatively the players who are better baseball players are playing baseball vs ones who are average level don't play on a team at all. in softball there's a place for all levels of softball players. Thankfully! I know 30 years ago travel ball softball was only for the top Elite softball players. But I think it's a good thing that there's a place for everybody in travel ball! Imo, Fastpitch softball is completely different then baseball.