FRIENDLIES: Nor Cal/So Cal Philosophy

[peon]

most norcal teams suck, so if you do have a competitive norcal team, you'll have a real short contact list for friendlies.

[Intel]

Peon. Any time you and the Lady Magic want to come down to Fresno and play the Force, just let me know. 14s is not 16s!!

[peon]

why do you think I'm with the magic? Because I rate a team highly, it must be because my kid plays on it??? good grief.

14s is not 16s, but the magic aren't 14s anymore. I suspect they'll be a team that norcal 16s measure themselves, as they were at 12s and 14s.

[Old Darter]

Intel...things are not always what they seem to be. I'm sure these two teams will play once school ball is over, please post that score.

[DonnieS]

>> Hey Donnie or anyone from Texas,
Do y'all do these down south? <<

Not really but we should. Scott Smith, with the Bombers out of New Braunfels and I have talked about doing them and bringing our teams together - hopefully pulling some more teams into it.

My younger kid loves tournaments - the double elimination type - with all the hoopla involved. She does not like showcase, she does not like the friendly idea (probably because she isnt), she does not like round robins - she wants it to always be for all the marbles.

[Demonboy]

>> Hey Donnie or anyone from Texas,
Do y'all do these down south? <<

Not really but we should. Scott Smith, with the Bombers out of New Braunfels and I have talked about doing them and bringing our teams together - hopefully pulling some more teams into it.

My younger kid loves tournaments - the double elimination type - with all the hoopla involved. She does not like showcase, she does not like the friendly idea (probably because she isnt), she does not like round robins - she wants it to always be for all the marbles.

That tournament is at the beginning of August.

[Old Darter]

Say Intel...are you ready to play Lady Magic yet? Where did the Force finish at nationals?

[dittoz]

Interesting to see this brought up.

A few weeks ago, our team invited 23 teams from around Sacto and the Central Valley (14u) to play in a series of friendlies this fall instead of paying $400 for a trophy or a little medal. We received replies back from about 5 that were interested. As a result, yes we will play in several this fall, but we'll also play in a few ASA tournaments locally as well.

As was suggested, I just cannot understand how teams can pay that much to face the same 8-10 teams week in and week out, then pay exorbitant snack bar prices for a bottle of water, pay a $3 gate fee at a stink hole like DF or a $4 fee in Lincoln and then come home with a $4 T shirt. No need for this white-knuckle stuff all the time - just invite a few local teams to come play, charge them $150 for three games and let the teams have a chance to work and develop some kids at other positions.

Of those who replied, every one of them heartily agreed...

[DonnieS]

>> That tournament is at the beginning of August. <<

Yep, it sure is, 3 weeks after our kids have started school. As much as I love fastpitch and all the noise around a big tournament like those, we will probably never get to do one because of the year around school here. With a small majority of the kids on my travel team all attending the same year around high school, and most if not all of those kids taking a/p classes (advance placement or the older kids are taking college classes in high school), they can not take a week off 3-4 weeks into the 1st semester. Not saying that we would qualify though, but I think we would, at least at the below gold level. Disappointing but like I said before, school sure gets in the way of softball.

[peon]

"Say Intel...are you ready to play Lady Magic yet? Where did the Force finish at nationals"

to avoid eating crowe, the answer to this will probably be:

"yeah, well 18 gold is NOT 16U"....