men talljie aunt wrote:First, thank you Joe for the intelligent reply not laced with sixth grade mentality rebuttals. I would much prefer to discuss things with you on a more mature level. Is it just me or does anyone else think Joe might have had his hand slapped by someone? Anyway, back to the discussion.
I have to disagree with you on your claim that VTD has only been around for 6 months. Again, VTD has been around for many years now for team registrations, insurance needs, and in NTX as the sole tournament sign-up portal for ASA. I have stated before MY opinion why VTD is "cornering the DFW market" so I will not get into that again for sake of brevity. Suffice it to say, in MY opinion if there was no such thing as VTD prior to this year, I really do not believe they would be having the success they are experiencing in Tarrant County.
Adding PGF....what exactly does that mean? What exactly is VTD's relationship with PGF? Handling their team registrations; posting a qualifying tournament in Cypress for the PGF Nationals held in CA this summer? How did this relationship come about? Who paid who to basically post the PGF logo on your home page?
Once again, this is your admitted personal vendetta against one old guy in Tarrant County, not necessarily your support of VTD. That just seems to be a very narrow, close-minded approach to take towards the advancement of this great game our DD's love to play.
I honestly do not believe I have taken a swipe against teams or their players. I have voiced my opinion in regards to the different classes of play in our area. I do believe their are true A teams and then everyone else. I do believe that teams can change from one level to the next in any given year. Factors for this change include, maturation and development of the individual athletes, coaching (whether its complacency by those in the top half or development by those in the other levels) and most importantly player movement. I do strongly believe, however, the best way for a team to improve, besides those listed above, is to play better and stronger competition. It is more important to develop personal growth and character than it is to win games against competition that will not push you to be better. So while you talk about those teams trying to achieve "eliteness", my only comment is why are they not pushing themselves to play against the very best competition available - regardless of what sanctioning it is?
Finally, I will close with this whole concept of promoting the game. I did some quick research and do you know how many tournaments VTD has listed outside of TX? Answer is 87 - total in all states. Of those 87, the breakdown is as follows: 44 are IFA, 25 are ASA, 1 is PONY and 17 are VTD. Doesn't exactly defend your position of promoting the game. Now in all fairness, I did not go through and count all of the tournaments in TX. I will gladly concede it is an overwhelmingly butt whuppin in favor of VTD. What I did find somewhat amusing though is there were 5 ASA sanctioned tournaments in TX under VTD. Do you know what those 5 tournaments were? Yep you guessed it - all 5 were college showcases and are annually the biggest tournaments in the area. OUCH! And while I am being an admitted jerk here and gloating, guess what else I found in my research? The VTD World Series in late July. Once again, guess where they are being held according to the listings under VTD as of this morning? Yep you guessed it again - TARRANT COUNTY!! Damn I hate it when I am right! Per VTD here is the breakdown:
18U - Mike Lewis in Grand Prarie??? Never played there - are these fastpitch fields are men's fields with 300 ft fences
16U - Jennifer McFalls in Grand Prarie
14U - Bob Jones Southlake
12U - NRH
10U - Keller
Time for a history lesson...
VTD was formed along with North Texas Fastpitch approximately 10 years ago. Mason and Glen, both ASA JOs (Dallas and FW), and Allen put NT Fastpitch together to provide a useful tool to sign-up for ASA tournaments. Later, ASA decided to contract with VTD for individual registration and insurance distribution. ASA has always been attached to VTD and NEVER, let me repeat...NEVER has anything been posted, deleted, approved, or disapproved with the prior knowledge and consent of Dallas or Fort Worth ASA. VTD has never provided insurance or player registration independent of ASA. VTD has, for about six months now, sanctioned, insured, and registered team. Nice spin job...but it won't work with this old-timer.
You may honestly believe you're not taking a swipe at none of the "elite" teams, but I dare you to ask those that have been called, "not intelligent", subject to "sheep herd mentality", and negative "B team" comments... coming from who??? YOU!!! You've gone out of your way to degrade teams that you label as 'B' team just because they're playing in an Open tournament in Keller or NRH...sanctioned by VTD. Of course, never mind that plenty of those teams could have and would have put a spankin' on your precious elite teams in Garland! An then...calling out the Ladycats? WTF bro'? Let's hear what team you're associated with? I'll be happy to drag your stuck-up, uppity, sh#t don't stink..through the mud. C'mon...let's hear it. Pffft...not a chance...I know...
Your analysis....LMAO. For someone who writes off VTD and those that participate, you've sure gone out of your way to do your homework. Let's see..."300 ft fences", "87 tournaments out of state", "44 IFA, 25 ASA"...? Dude...get a life. It's softball! A kid's game. Let it go...
Hand slapped?
By who? How can anyone slap my hand when I'm always right. You on the other hand...are a 'B' player here. Facts (VTD) are wrong, personal vendetta against B teams, rec teams or presumably any others that can't compete with your "eliteness", trying to keep up with Joe...with your stupid "weenie" references....sniffle...
