First Tournament

[slapperdad]

Let me lay this out for you guys:
1. Winter, go with a darker ale, New Castle is a popular beer. If you want to stretch your legs, go for a Belgian Ale, there are all kinds of varieties out there. The holy grail of course would be Trapist beers. Abbey beers can cheaper than Trapist, but they are still brewed in accordance with the monks, many times having the monastery's name on the label. (Admittedly I've been sipping a lot of Brandy this winter)
2. Spring, I love wheat ales. Blue Moon is a popular beer. There are any number of great wheat beers available. Don't get freaked out over the orange slice. Wheats are typically flavored with citrus zest, it just enhances the flavor.
3.Summer, go with a pale ale, Rolling Rock is a favorite of mine in the summer. Your kid is breaking you up, your team is traveling all over hell's half acre this summer, you need good beer cheap! You can't go wrong with good ol Miller High Life. You can frequently catch it on sale cheap at the liquor store, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, where ever. Lastly, Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy was a big hit with or team last summer. It was stocked in great abundance in most of the coolers. Except the grumpy two old guys who only drink Mich Ultra and Bud.
4. Fall, I start getting back into the heavier side during the fall. I like several of the pumpkin spice beers. My real fav in the fall however is Pilsner Urquel. The original Pilsner. Check out their website, fascinating read.

The real keys to making this work is making sure you have adequate ice to keep the beer ready to drink at a moment's notice. Understanding how to load your cooler, so that you DD's three bottles of Gatorade and five bottles of Smart water, hide the case and a half of beer when you wheel you cooler past the entrance to the park. Knowing which parks you have to use your travels in, which ones you have to sneak out to the car, which ones you have to use a McDonald's cup in. Once you start to understand this, you will reach a zen like consciousness, you'll start to understand the game of Softball. Until then, I guarantee you, the Gnaw Bone LL All-Stars are the best damn 12U team in the state!

[Comegetsome]

Love it slapper..... Keep up the good work!!!!

Please biggest, just go away.... I yawn everytime I read your posts....

[dailyjoy]

Kudos to the Crown Point Bulldogs for winning the 12U Tournament. Solid team, well coached and will be a tough out for anyone this year. Good job and keep up the good work.

Thanks for posting the results Amish_TB.

Thank you, as well, for posting in such a way another team is encouraged and lifted up. So often the post on here are written geared towards tearing down and belittling another team.

It is nice to read your team had a good experience, identified areas to work on for improvement, and had fun in the process. Isn't that what the tourneys, especially the early season ones, should be all about?

Congrats to Harris 99 and Crown Point.

[Biggest fan bar none]

first off,i'll drink to that-pass the brandy ..now look here!,lotta good teams in indiana,like the gattor99's,cp98's-now they were good in 12's-now they moved up.raiders99,indy edge,indy extreme,Center Grove Xpress,klash- outta mich,and i cant leave out 'compuware'.also from mich.left out a few ill teams,i'm not gonna sugar coat anything here because the truth is da truth-'''most the teams in the area realy do look poor to me'''.to many watered down teams,and if you look at most of the teams-they all have a 'few' good players,but for the most part they suck.

[Hoosier_daddy]

Early predictions .... Raiders black slap all other 12 u teams ln the Midwest. 99 bulldogs have great year if they play Nsa b.

[HateHaters99]

Hoosier daddy,

I wonder how many tounaments have the Raiders black 99 backed out of when the Crown Point Bulldogs 99 entered? Before making a comment of them slapping all the teams in Indiana make sure they play them all. I would like nothing better than see these two teams play and shut up all the know it alls on this site. I don't see any of the Bulldog 99 parents on here talking s**t about the other tea or the Raiders. It makes me think you have to talk your team up thinking they are better than the Bulldogs. They might be, no one will know until they meet on the field.

[Biggest fan bar none]

hatehatters/iffin i ainta misstaken at all up in here my good ol boy,cp99 has neva beaten da raiders99 team,anda aina neva gonna either-shucks

[softballrealist]

Ok here it goes! Biggest fan bar none, get off the Raiders egg bag! I learned a long time ago people like you have no clue about softball! In this game one play can change the out come of the game on who will win and who will lose. We all know you must be a Raiders fan or parent. I will agree that the Raiders have a good team but I do watch the tournaments they get into and they seem to be avoiding the CP99'S but what do I know the facts are the facts!! Biggest fan bar none one thing to remember it's a new season and I think you might be let down by your early predictions on how the RAIDERS are the best! P.S. have fun hanging from the Raiders egg bags and learn how to present your post sure looks ghetto! Have a great season and keep up the good encouragement on here!

[slapperdad]

None of these teams you guys/gals speak of has beaten the Gnaw Bone LL All-Star 12U team, ergo, the Gnaw Bone LL All-Star 12U team is the best in the state! We don't even see any of these teams in either one of our tournaments last summer. You guys can hide in Crown Point and Lafayette all you want but sooner or later you're going to have to come see wassup.

[TWO BALLS-NO STRIKES]

What would sports be without trash talk? It’s a part of every sport. Players do it, parents do it, and fans do it. When is it too much; when you have a mom or dad who wants it more than their child. You can talk the talk, but your daughters have to walk the walk. When you boast a team too much, you're setting them for a letdown sooner or later. The Raiders Black are a quality team but not untouchable. Every team is beatable! They beat the Gators 99 who are a great team and organization! So that win says a lot for the Raiders. But if they played them again I don't think the outcome would be the same. On any given Sunday any team can go out on top. There’s a lot of Crown Point 99 bashing on here for them not playing a tough schedule thus far. My team Played them this past fall; They are every bit of, one of the best teams I've seen this season. I would like to see them play some of these so called top teams in the Midwest too. It would be fun to watch. Then if they tank for only beating up on these teams that some of you say suck, you can go on and on about how great your team is. I coach a team in Illinois, and received an email from the Bulldog 99’s about a tournament they’re hosting at the end of April. The teams I saw listed on the email are some of the top “A” teams around, Compuware, Klash, Gators, Raiders, Outlaws, Team Indiana and Indy Edge to name a few. So I don’t think they’re only trying to find tournaments that they can win. They won 4 tournaments, that’s a big accomplishment for their girls! Success always brings out the haters. I try to teach my girls that if a team hates you, it means you're doing something right. I would like to see all these teams together in the same tournament. You may be surprised to see a team that’s not mentioned much come out on top. Good luck to all!