Team USA - World Cup

[anonlooker]

LOL Good point!
But hey, if you find the game boring... why are you here?

[Blind Squirrel]

I would guess that Cat, Monica, Mendoza, etc. were better players after a few years of international experience than they were after a few weeks. Same with the coaches. My kid has played with and against many of the National team players. She has respect for most if not all of them. I'll let her know that she needs to be more discerning.

A JV team? You can watch them in the championship game tonight in a tournament with some of the best (Varsity) National teams in the world. Please feel free to PM me and let me know which college team your kid plays for so I can make an effort to see what high quality players look like.

Yeah, the "product" sucks.

Ignorant Squirrel

[gunshy]

Was it just me, or did every umpire call in last night's Championship game leave you sitting on the edge of your seat? The routine out at first was somehow safe, runner stealing 2nd was clearly safe but definitely called out, odd play and call on runner hit by batted ball, etc. After watching the whole game, I found myself thinking about the calls (for and against both teams) and their effect on the game's outcome rather than the game itself. I am not sure if it was the language barrier within the crew or what, but as a spectator, they never made me feel warm and fuzzy.

[slapperdad]

After watching most of the games my observations were:
1. I enjoyed watching younger players develop and learn how to deal with international competition. Does having our nation's best players pound other teams really serve the purpose of growing Softball? Does it serve the purpose of getting the game back in the Olympics? Part of the allure of the Olympics for me, was always having our amateur athletes face the best the world has to offer. Am I the only one who thinks watching the "Dream Team IX" beat Latvia 135-47 sucks and serves no purpose? Had the US used professional players in 80, the "miracle" would never have happened.
2. I love Coach Erikson's coaching style, I wish my style was more like his.
3. Mixed international officiating crews will never work out well. One of the key components to having a good crew is communication, the problem with that is obvious. Communication however has nothing to do with missing routine calls, I'm hoping they just had a bad night, rather than putting less than the best on the field in the name of gender/racial equality. I'd say the call at 3rd was 50/50, there wasn't a really good camera angle, I'll give the PU the benefit of the doubt, but not putting the batter/runner on first was simply not performing under pressure, and inexcusable in my opinion.

[gunshy]

I was very surprised that, after 35 different replays and different camera angles of the runner at 3rd getting hit by the batted ball that not one of the commentators noticed that the runner was a full 2 steps off third base while the ball was still in the pitcher's hand. When the runner was struck by the ball she was already HALF WAY to home plate. Unless the international rules are different, that may be the biggest missed call of the whole game.