ICMTM, you're right there is no reason to come here and brag and put other teams down. It would behoove others to follow suit. But let's be realistic, this is the bucket and you always have parents come on here and beat their chest and talk about how good their dds team is. I've been following the 14s cuz my dd plays in that age group and there has been plenty of trash talking. You don't need to look any further than the 14s poll. Much have been said about the Sorcerer team, in particular by that orange team south of stockton. They (orange) have said some real nasty stuff about the (blue) team. Now don't get me wrong, my dd doesn't play for that Sorcerer team but I do have a lot of friends on that team. But every since the 14 polls came out the pumpkin team has had a lot to say early on, all negative I may add. Now, based on the poll the fans have voted the sorcerer #1 team this spring and every since then the orange team has taken offense and made it a mission to claim the title #1.
I understand the orange team is trying to make a name for their organization and be mentioned with the big orgs like sorcerer, lady magic, grapettes, san jose sting...etc but they want to toot their horns here on the bucket instead of leaving it on the field and of course anytime they win or do good at a tournament they want to let the whole world know about it. They want to let everyone know how good they are or to be mentioned with the best but based from the results of the last two tournaments they have played in they have gotten some pretty good beat downs, first from TS softball and now the sorcerers. I guess thats why they were crying about the Force brackets knowing they would've had to play either TS or sorcerers early during elimination sunday. Since they were sent home early Sunday (one and done) they havent had much to say. Unfortunately, this is the sad part of the game, we have a bunch of bloated parent egos who want to go on public forums and talk crap but when they are humbled by the game, they cant face the music. Its too bad because I know people on that Smash team and they have some special girls playing there. If the parents would just let the girls play and not let their egos get in the way, everyone could enjoy the games more. But I guess being civilized wouldn't make for a good forum and lack drama. JMO
On another note, I disagree with the 14s having more depth this year. Last year you had a lot more stronger teams than this year. You had Sorcerer, LM, Breeze, Silverstreak, Salinas Storm, Fresno Force, RR Gold, OBS Monarchs, KG Hitters, AASA...etc You don't have half as much this year. I think one of the reasons is you have too many girls jumping up to 16s/18s when they really should be playing 14s (case in point TS Softball) but hey that's life.
