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Confused Customer??!!

What's on your mind?

by Big Daddy 1 » Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:22 am

I read this on another message board and was curious to get your thoughts:
"I am seeing alot of advertisements regarding the Alliance on social media and started to do some research on the concept. It seems as though those that created the concept of franchising their brand are the same ones who have now created this Alliance. What needs to happen is that these guys need to be exposed for what they have really created.
What they were working on precovid was selling the idea that miracles or better opportunities would occur if you paid a small fee to put their name on your players chest. First of all that is pure crap. This was starting to show as the franchise from the middle of the country was not getting any better opportunities and was still the same mediocre team as they started. So as this idea or opportunity was slipping especially with the change in recruiting there needed to be a new opportunity created in order to keep the sheep in line and in the stable. VOILA, THE ALLIANCE. And we will figure out how to have more players to line our pockets even if they don't wear our brand. PERFECT!! We will create a smoke in mirrors point system where everyone gets a chance. At the end of the day the team from PoDunk America who invested in said brand for better opportunities will still not qualify to be one of the best even though they are spending more of their players parents money to chase a dream. Folks call it like it is, its a scheme and until I can be shown or explained otherwise this is what I will believe.
This is a PSA because many don't understand what they are signing up for and just follow because everyone else is doing it. Caveat Emptor! Your lining the pockets of those that already disgust you. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!!!"
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by Schmick » Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:32 am

Not sure how more opportunity for kids to play on the biggest stage for their age group can be a bad thing.
PGF is good, it's fun, but it got stale, the same exact opening ceremony next to the library every year, same speakers, same speeches, same performers. Then there's the same teams, same fields, same format
Before kung flu I heard that Alliance's plan was to play weeknight league games as well as tourneys on weekends. Get enough of a sample on all the teams in each region that they'd be able to tier them off so that teams would be able to play other teams that were at the same level. Maybe after the plannedemic is over we will see if what they planned is viable.

So far it seems like PGF with these qualifiers, only difference is you play for a ticket instead of a berth and the finals are in Florida or something.
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by sdiamond » Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:47 am

Schmick wrote:Not sure how more opportunity for kids to play on the biggest stage for their age group can be a bad thing.
PGF is good, it's fun, but it got stale, the same exact opening ceremony next to the library every year, same speakers, same speeches, same performers. Then there's the same teams, same fields, same format
Before kung flu I heard that Alliance's plan was to play weeknight league games as well as tourneys on weekends. Get enough of a sample on all the teams in each region that they'd be able to tier them off so that teams would be able to play other teams that were at the same level. Maybe after the plannedemic is over we will see if what they planned is viable.

So far it seems like PGF with these qualifiers, only difference is you play for a ticket instead of a berth and the finals are in Florida or something.

My take on the individuals who started Alliance was because PGF was poorly run in the midst of bankruptcy. The four men who started Alliance are some of the most succesful TB Coaches and organizations in California. It is true they were going to create Leagues and have the teams compete during the week and leave the weekends open for tournaments. These guys have helped out hundreds of girls get into colleges because of softball. The only thing I didnt like about Alliance was the agreement they had with BLD. I'm not a fan of BLD because their fields are poorly maintained you have to eat their overpriced food and $6 entry fee plus a $1 for each player.

California has some of the best weather in the nation which allows our children to play sports every month of the year however our venues are lacking with the exception of 3 or 4 facilities for Softball/Baseball.

I commend the individuals who started Alliance its more than what the poster said about lining their pockets. It appears to me he has had an issue with one or more of them at one time or another. Many girls and their families will argue with him as they have college educations because of these individuals and life long memories of travel and competition.Their organizations may have high dues and certain rules but look at the accomplishments of so many young ladies who have played for them. I know a few of the teams have up to 20-22 girls on them but the competition makes better players and rarely do I see a girl whose parents FORCE them to play for a certain team, its the young ladies choice where she wants to play and team chemistry starts with the Coaching staff of these organizations.

Thank you Alliance for giving our girls an opportunity to do something they love to do, play softball, compete with some of the best talent in the country and get an education because of it. There are many other organizations in it for just the money but they usually dont last because they cannot give the results promised.

I dont know any of the people who organized Alliance I have seen them and my daughters team competes against them and we have friends who play for them and are very happy.
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by curveballerguy124 » Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:26 pm

I for one like the Alliance so far, its competitive the fields are in good shape and maintained. If an event gets canceled they don't keep a percentage of your entry fee!!! You can't call someone and get an invite you either earn it or you don't its all about promoting competition. So to me so far so good......
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by Schmick » Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:06 pm

This weekend in Bullhead city the fields weren't that greatly maintained. They played 12 hours before starting the late games and didn't put any water on them, the pitchers would spend 90 minutes kicking loose dirt out of the canyon in front of the rubber and then a guy would spend 5 minutes raking it back in but not adding water or compaction. 830PM game times and the pitchers were in foot deep holes.
I'm not sure what could be done, 88 teams playing on just 6 fields was going to be tight. Maybe some water between games and then dragging and compacting the circle or maybe adding some sort of product to the circles the days before games start. Stuff like the military uses to prep desert runways or construction sites use to keep dust levels down.
Other than the circle the fields were in decent shape.

If I could change anything with with how the Alliance ran the qualifier, I would have liked to.see.some transparency on how the bracket draws are made. I liked that PGF used the ping pong balls, at least if you got a bad draw you'd know it was by chance. In this one, some teams had an easy 3 games to get to the ticket rounds and one bracket had about 10 teams that could have made the final 4 in the other 3 brackets . Would be nice to see that the draws were on the up and up.
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by sdiamond » Tue Feb 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Schmick wrote:This weekend in Bullhead city the fields weren't that greatly maintained. They played 12 hours before starting the late games and didn't put any water on them, the pitchers would spend 90 minutes kicking loose dirt out of the canyon in front of the rubber and then a guy would spend 5 minutes raking it back in but not adding water or compaction. 830PM game times and the pitchers were in foot deep holes.
I'm not sure what could be done, 88 teams playing on just 6 fields was going to be tight. Maybe some water between games and then dragging and compacting the circle or maybe adding some sort of product to the circles the days before games start. Stuff like the military uses to prep desert runways or construction sites use to keep dust levels down.
Other than the circle the fields were in decent shape.

If I could change anything with with how the Alliance ran the qualifier, I would have liked to.see.some transparency on how the bracket draws are made. I liked that PGF used the ping pong balls, at least if you got a bad draw you'd know it was by chance. In this one, some teams had an easy 3 games to get to the ticket rounds and one bracket had about 10 teams that could have made the final 4 in the other 3 brackets . Would be nice to see that the draws were on the up and up.


Schmick,
Theres another thread similar to what you say here and I totally agree with you. Teams pay very good money to enter tournaments Showcase and play friendlies. Field rentals per hour during daylight time are not that expensive Umpires get between $50-$60 a game. When we were in Havasu for Alliance 18u a few weeks ago there were two young men raking and lining the fields the best they could. Water wasnt an issue for us that weekend and it had rained both Friday Saturday a little. The pitchers mounds are always an issue and unless Alliance purchases clay to fix them after each game they will always have a rut infront of the rubber. Also the foul lines never get put on the grass in the outfield and this causes some issues every now and then. Then there the issue of drags rakes chalk hoses and enough helpers to do on the average 4 fields every hour and a half you would need at least 10 people at around $100 each a day to have the fields done right.

The solution would be if there was an entrepreneur who had all the quipment needed to maintain a field and staffing and they could just work out an agreement with Alliance. Most cities the Public Works is in charge of maintaining the fields and they just cut the grass and drag it they dont attend to the batters boxes or mounds.

88 games over a few days really messes up the infield dirt and sometimes the outfield where the outfielders stand all day. Only one field I can think of that is maintained very well and thats Rosetta Canyon in Lake Elsinore.
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by Schmick » Wed Feb 17, 2021 2:03 pm

That's awful that a girl got hurt in the hole in front of the rubber. I have seen that a few times this season and it makes me sick to my stomach each time. I can't imagine that the Alliance or any promoter would be too happy with a lawsuit against them for negligence and a trashed circle is as much of a fault on field maintenance as a hole in the ground anywhere else on the field would be. Imagine a hole that deep on the first baseline and the teams base runners had to run down that line 100 times a game.
Something has to be done, in travel baseball they use portable mounds for pitchers, I wonder how many girls need to be hurt before they come up with a similar set up for softball, and just make the pitchers wear turf shoes or molded cleats
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by curveballerguy124 » Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:03 pm

That is bad if a kid is getting hurt because the mound is torn up that is horrible to hear. We played in Havasu a few weeks back and the fields were in pretty good shape even at the end. However I would imagine it would be pretty tuff to maintain fields properly with games on top of games like that. As we were packing up another team was already there waiting on us to get out of the dugout.

A dedicated grounds crew with clay and the know how to pack a mound would be the only answer.... That or artificial turf!
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by Schmick » Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:14 am

They played 176 games on just 8 fields.

That's 22 games per field

I never saw them run sprinklers on the dirt let alone a compactor or tamper, granted I didn't watch every game or the field crew between every game. I have seen fields run water on them and use tampers between games and still see crazy ditches infront of the pitching rubber after just 4 games in a day.
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by Schmick » Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:56 pm

Spazsdad wrote:They did have one other park with 2 fields but yes too many games and hardly any maintenance

The other park is why there were 8 fields instead of 6 and 22 games per field instead of 30.
Not sure how many grounds crews they had but not one crew per field. When you have 6 games end at the same time and new teams walking in to the dugouts as the old teams walk out, you can't possibly drag, water and compact the fields before the next games start unless you have 1 equipped crew per field. And even then it's not going to be easy unless you have at least 15 mins between games.
Hopefully that's something that Alliance and TCS addresses in the future, at this point I was just happy the kids have a place to play and I have faith they will fix these minor issues
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