| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| baseballpapa |
Posted - 04/18/2009 : 22:52:55
If discussed properly and with passion this topic should produce a lot of different opinions. Remember that this very question will be answered on the field between the foul lines and that what happens here is just opinion and speculation. Why am I sitting in a hotel room in Tennessee and asking this question. The answer is that the Bandits want to experience the full 10U baseball experience and wanted to see if the pasture really is greener on the Tennessee side of the pasture. The answer to this in my mind is no. We will never have to travel further than Atlanta to face the top teams in the nation. These Tennessee teams are solid but today I didn't see a Kennesaw, a 643, a Sandtown or a Stixx but I did eat a chili dog which reminded me of how the game should be played.
There can and I am sure will be many arguments to support Alabama's claim to this title and I am sure Tennessee will want to chime in with the Memphis Tigers, Germantown Giants and Knoxville Stars. But boys in Papa's mind the title lies somewherr in the area near Georgia and Florida. Even Papa will admit that these Florida boys can play some ball and although we win most of the time the Florida Boys have really got some game and when we do get beat more often than not the end of the teams name that beats us ends in FLA.
My observation is that in the early part of the baseball season that Florida has played a lot more and is ahead of most Georgia teams but that generally and I said in general later in the year the Georgia teams catch up and begin to win a lot more.
I feel that the best athletes and certainly the best baseball players we see come from Florida. I see that the Florida teams builds their travel teams from a much larger geograhical area (but not all do this) and that they all field a super strong team of 10-11 players that are strong in athletic ability and solid fundamentally and that makes for a winning combination.
We will continue our quest for excellence next week by playing in a Invitational tournament in Pigeon Forge Tennessee with the Cincy Flames, Germantown Giants, Knoxville Stars and another nationally ranked team. We look forward to laying it on the line with this bunch of national contenders as this is what will make us ready and help keep our edge when we return home to mark and protect our turf. Georgia is not only hard turf to take, it is even harder to defend and their is always a big dog waiting to take a bite out of the Bandits and though we may get beat playing these type teams in the long run win or lose it will make us better than we were yesterday.
Remember to lay claim to "Being the Best" you have to play and beat the Best. The stronger teams you play the better you will become down the road and all 10U baseball is about is getting better each time out.
Papa votes for Georgia as the overall strongest due to the number of great teams that we face every week with Florida and their few great teams the toughest that we play but I am sure and hope that you all feel the same way about your state as Papa does about Georgia and I am also sure that there will be several other states that will want to make your argument for your baseball programs.
Good luck to all teams.
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| bmoser |
Posted - 05/06/2009 : 20:57:44
Hard to know for certain which State has today's 10U bragging rights, but according to Baseball Almanac, in all of MLB history, 372 MLB players came from Florida while 303 came from Georgia.
When you chart them by dates played, you'll find that 67 current players are from the Peachtree State while 128 are from the Sunshine State.
The most prominent Georgians are/were: Johnny Mize, Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, and Frank Thomas. Florida hits back with Chipper Jones, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, and Al Lopez.
I'd say that Georgia used to have the best 10U players, but today Florida probably does. Safe to say Georgia has more top 10U baseball players per capita, but Florida has more overall.
Seems to me that Florida also does a better job of aggregating talent from a larger area than Georgia at the 10U age group too which yields stronger teams.
I've lived in both States for roughly an equal amount of time, so am somewhat impartial, but I'm going with Florida on this one.
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| baseballpapa |
Posted - 05/06/2009 : 17:08:07
With a name like FlBaseballFan I wonder why you feel that Florida is the best. The game is played on the field and the cream will rise to the top. What you should say is that with the teams Florida has that they should always be high in the rankings but I have seen some great teams bite the dust when they begin to think that they were better than they really were. Don't get too cocky as that always has a way of biting you in the butt when you least expect it. Florida is good and even Papa admits that. |
| 10 BB |
Posted - 05/01/2009 : 15:48:02
Just wanted this post to stay on the front screen |
| FLBASEBALLFAN |
Posted - 04/30/2009 : 23:55:24
I still say Florida has the best teams. |
| HITANDRUN |
Posted - 04/30/2009 : 08:32:22
I agree from 9U to 13U I have been impressed. |
| baseballpapa |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 16:09:07
Rocky: So far this year we have not had the opportunity to play in any 11U tournaments since it has been all we could do to get in the elite 10U tournaments. And that is how we decide. If there is something with the best 10U teams we will go there but if there is only local teams then we bump up into 11U. I have seen some awesome 11U teams at East Cobb that I don't know how we could compete with but it would be fun just to ratchet it up just a little to see how our guys might react. I watched the 11U Longhorns compete against some 12 year olds and they didn't flinch at all so I don't think the Bandits would scare them any. One thing that I have noticed this year and that is that there are so many good teams in all the age divisions. |
| Rocky |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 11:52:10
Papa, what 11U teams have you guys played this season? I would love to see your Bandits play some of the cobb teams. I wouldn't count them out even at 50 and 70. |
| 10 BB |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 20:32:26
PaPa: His stick has been pretty good this year I know his batting avg. is around 450 and an on base around 650. We have a coach that keeps up with it he does a good job. #10 has always been a tough out and puts the ball in play most of the time. He's that batter coaches hate to see when base's have runners and one out, you can almost guarantee something is fixen to happen. |
| baseballpapa |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 10:04:19
10BB: Faith and Tim are this coming weekend. The tournament yesterday was put on by the Knoxville Stars and I have to admit was the bomb. Very good tournament although the umpires could have been better. Competition level was awesome although the scores do not give justice to the teams we were playing. My grandson pitched pitched 8 innings in the tournament and gave up 1 run to Germantown and shut out Cincy Flames and did hit one bomb. #12 hit 2 homers and in my opinion is the best pitcher we have ever seen with no one we have seen except my grandson close on the left handed side of course. You know that I think #10 is the right hander. Could you imagine these three on the same pitching staff. When Papa thinks about these 3 together I sleep better. How is #10 hitting the tater.
I will tell you what I told the Bandits. I love country music but if Faith and Tim don't have a 10 year old son hitting a ton or throwing 62-65 mph I ain't interested. |
| 10 BB |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 22:31:39
PaPa I feel the same as you, the B-BOMBERS played for the pure fun of it this weekend. We were at the disadvantage playing older kids, on a bigger field (50ft mound)so we actually had nothing to lose and every thing to gain or at least thats what I thought. We lost one game, the Championship. PaPa if you don't mind #10 pitched the game before the championship, a 5 inning shutout 8-0 victory against an 11u team from Dothan Alabama. How did the grandson do on the mound in TN and did he go yard and last did ya'll get to see Tim and Faith? |
| baseballpapa |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 21:34:35
Georgia Guys, The Bandits did us all proud this weekend taking on the best of East Tennessee, West Tennessee, and Ohio and coming away scoring 35 runs and allowing 3. And take it from Papa these were no rum dum teams we were playing. The Knoxville Stars are as good a hitting team as we have seen and Germantown Giants and Cincy Flames both have very stong teams. But when our pitching and defense is on like it was this weekend we can be hard to beat for any team in the nation. I really like the idea that these Coaches forgot about trophies and ego and gave these teams the opportunity to play each other. Good job Coaches. It only shows that you are more interested in developing your team than chasing titles and winning trophies. |
| stanlewis |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 14:00:25
AAU is one of the participating organizations in the National Youth Baseball Championships. The NYBC tournament director told me last Thursday the dates for this year were August 27-30 although the web site has not been updated from last year by MLB. He felt these dates were final. Last year there were teams from Georgia participating. Here are some links to last years forum posts.
www.nwgabaseball.org/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4263
www.nwgabaseball.org/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4275
www.nwgabaseball.org/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3700
The AAU state tournament qualifiers for the National Tournaments at Disney are still looking for teams. Click on the AAU banner on the right and check out the information about the state and links to the national information. Lets send some Georgia teams to Disney and then on to the NYBC in Memphis. |
| baseballpapa |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 08:25:29
10BB: We also enjoy every now and then in playing in some 11U tournaments winning 2 out of 3 I believe. In fact 2 of our biggest wins last year in our minds came against major 11U teams that we have a ton of respect for. This just shows that the Bombers are trying to get better and not just fill up the trophy case.
We are doing something this weekend that we have never tried before and so far it has been a great experience. We played the Germantown Giants yesterday and the Cincy Flames both nationally recognized programs and will play Germantown again today along with the Knoxville Stars that is also recognized on the national 10U scene.
There are no trophies being given with just the opportunity to play the best.
Germantown is the real deal so be watching out for them. We won 3-2 in a great game but I would as soon lost 3-2 just for the opportunity to be in this type game. Cincy couldn't get going against us but do have a solid team Bandits won this one 15-0.
I will let you know how we end up. Glad to hear our buddies from Florida are doing well and keep up the good work. We hope to hook up again soon with the Bombers. Good Luck.
P.S. We are also all over the real National Championship tournament in Memphis. I understand that most of the organizations are going to attend and crown a true champion so that there should be no debate as to which team is the best. |
| C. MORTON |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 00:27:00
I'm not saying anyone should go play L.L. baseball...I was just stating what L.L. would provide for a team making it to the BIG SHOW. As far as Coopertown goes, there are several weeks and diffrent teams win weeks. There is no real winner of Cooperstown I don't think.. Like I said before ANYONE can go to Cooperstown, win or lose..... |
| 10 BB |
Posted - 04/25/2009 : 19:04:27
If it matters to you Papa the Bay Bombers were the 2005 Dizzy Dean FL. State Champs. The next year our league (RLTurner Panama City) changed over to LL, our "All-Star" team won what was considered Little Leagues Florida State Championship in 06,07,08. All of our kids play on seperate teams and then join back together after a 20 game season and become RLTurners All-Star team. The problem is our kids can't play any other ball or be on a official roster 2 weeks before tournament play begins. I personally would rather win a real National Championship like the one in Memphis....;) On to something different PaPa we are playing up in an 11u USSSA Tournament this weekend and went 2-0 in pool play. WE lost a tough one last weekend in a wood bat tournament to a AAA team, we just couldn't put any thing together about like we played at the S-NIT against the TPSA Bandits. Nevever the less we will see how we hold up tomorrow against the older boys. |
| tuckersbo |
Posted - 04/25/2009 : 18:28:11
C. Morton: Our son-in-law formed the Chattanooga Chiefs when our grandson was 6. As an 8-year-old, our grandson was fortunate to play on the team that won the 10U championship at Cooperstown and also fortunate enough to have his dad as the head coach/manager. Baseball Papa's 12U grandson was also a member of that championship team. As a 10-year-old our grandson is once again fortunate enough to be headed back to Cooperstown for the 10U tournament--this time, with Baseball Papa's 10U grandson. Being able to say you were on that team, being the first team from GA to win 10U (we were told), and the memories from that week will never be erased. However, just going to that "arena" with all the aura it possesses is a memory in itself--win or lose. |
| C. MORTON |
Posted - 04/25/2009 : 08:32:11
Papa only good thing the Bandits would get out of it is NATIONAL TV, and we all know what that can do for up and comming ball players..There are some MLB players that played L.L. and some ex-MLB players coach some of these teams..It may not be travel baseball, but where else in the world would you get the chance to teams from all over the WORLD...I bet once you get to region the teams would be tougher than most think...But I guess Cooperstown is as close as most teams will get to playing teams from across the world...And with Cooperstown anyone can go..L.L. you just have to keep Winning...It may not be the best teams in travel ball but to be on a national stage like that will be what few 12yr old get to talk about...... |
| FLBASEBALLFAN |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 14:29:13
Papa, don't bother with Little League. It would be a waste of time for the Bandits. The level of play is terrible. If a travel team was going to get into any form of rec. ball you should go to Pony or Cal Ripken. You have open bases at majors and you can qualify for the NYBC.
quote:
Originally posted by baseballpapa
I am completely lost with this Little League junk. What are the rules. Would the Bandits qualify and if we did qualify would it be tougher than what we are doing now. Someone out there knows the answer to these questions. Remember that 90% of our kids are within 15 miles of each other.
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| baseballpapa |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 12:54:37
I am completely lost with this Little League junk. What are the rules. Would the Bandits qualify and if we did qualify would it be tougher than what we are doing now. Someone out there knows the answer to these questions. Remember that 90% of our kids are within 15 miles of each other. |
| 3sondad |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 11:32:27
quote:
Originally posted by tater77bug
I believe this LL topic came up awhile back....I side with PAPA here...can't see how LL and true travel teams can even be compared...and yes I realize many LL players play travelball but by in large how many play elite travel ball week after week??? I say few........this would make a fun post...
PC Vipers at 9 and 10 played Dizzy Dean and they also played numerous travel tournaments. Looks like they were successful in both. http://www.pcvipers.com/about_us.html I am sure one of them could chime in and say if it hurt them to play closed 60' bases and pitch 45' and then play in Travel Tournaments. The elite LL teams are playing travel ball tournaments week end week out, they are using different names as required by LL. Last year even East Marietta LL had a travel team. They were not strong by any stretch of the imagination, but they were also not strong in the LL district tournament.
This area could have a top LL team, but there are a lot of variables that need to be addressed. I would say 80% of youth baseball players in the NW Atlanta area are not within a LL District and could get waivers to play in a LL Park. I would love for someone to try to pull (recruit) a great team together for a run at the LLWS out of East Marietta. Their is no reason why a "player" could not play both LL and Travel at a high level... JMHO
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| FLBASEBALLFAN |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 10:55:31
If you are looking at USSSA for last year you won't find nearly as many teams from South or Central Florida. Most of the teams played AAU in Central Florida and South Florida was Triple Crown last year but have since made the switch to USSSA. This includes the Glory, Rawlings USA Patriots (formerly Tampa Boltz the 9u AAU National Champions), Bullets Baseball and many more.
quote:
Originally posted by C. MORTON
quote:
Originally posted by C. MORTON
quote:
Originally posted by biged
The Miami Playmakers are out of Kendal. Not a powerhouse area. Again, if they ain't playing out of Tamiami then they are most likely a sub par team.
It was the team from Tamiami and I may have had the names mixed up but that was the team...
It was Team Miami........last year as 12u and they were ranked in Travel Ball Select....
Papa what I have noticed is that there are 2 10u major teams in Fl that seem to be good THIS year...last year where were they??? If you go back to last year and look for the top 2 teams from this year you may be searching for a while. Now if you go back in Ga last year you will see the same group that is banging it out this year...Fl baseball, I mean South Fl baseball is doing well THIS year in the 10u last year in was North FL, I mean South Georgia..So I guess what that really means is for that past 2 years Ga has had the best baseball....
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| FLBASEBALLFAN |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 10:50:50
For the record, my kid played Little League one season, we would never do it again.
quote:
Originally posted by baseballpapa
FlBaseballFan: Glad to see you found somebody else's case to get on so that you could get off mine. Sic em Tiger. I know nothing of what you all are talking about with the Miami Playmakers, Little League and all that junk. When you are ready to talk some real baseball come to Papa.
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| FLBASEBALLFAN |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 10:42:33
Mr Moser, If I were moving to Florida and Travel Baseball was a pretty high priority I would not go to Naples (If you can help it). There are some decent teams and if you had to go there your kid could play. South Florida is better than Central Florida were I am at but I would not live in South Florida. If you could find something within an hour of Tampa or Orlando your kid would have plenty of options. You may not have a choice but to go to Naples, if that is the case there are still some decent teams there.
quote:
Originally posted by bmoser
You seem like a guy who likes specifics, so I will try to comply...
Disclaimer...I'm a 10u guy.
I have been considering moving to Naples to avoid GA State income tax.
But 1st, gotta ck out the youth baseball scene down there so I called some 10U travel ball Coaches. 2 Coaches told me USSSA is not the leading org along the Southwest Coast of FLA (remember, I said in "some" places). They were from Naples and Ft.Myers.. If they want to play usssa, they go to Miami, otherwise they play AAU, other orgs., or non-affiliated tourneys. I've spoken to others around the Country, but these are my most recent sources (3 weeks ago).
Now to the local scene...many ATL metro teams have played in multiple Triple Crown, USTBA, and non-affiliated tourneys, but hardly any usssa (if any at all). OP Storm has been very active this Spring, but we just ran into them at their 1st usssa tourney last weekend. Acworth Warriors are not even registered w/ USSSA. Sharon Springs Spartans played in only 1 usssa tourney (in their backyard). In East Cobb, I'd say Triple Crown is the top Org at the moment for 10U.
So this is where I get my info. USSSA is not really big ALL over the country. They may be the biggest ACROSS the County, but there are pockets where they play 2nd fiddle, or are almost non-existent.
I hope you will accept my facts as straight. I try to be a reliable source of info, and not just make things up to hear myself type.
B-T-W, my sons team has played USSSA exclusively this season. No TC, USTBA, GS, or non affiliated...yet.
quote:
Originally posted by FLBASEBALLFAN
Where do you guys get your information. First of all USSSA is really big all over the country. More teams were registered with USSSA than any other orginization in the country last year, including Little League. Second of all, AAU is not the biggest in Florida, they used to be but not even close to USSSA now. Third, the Miami Playmakers were not caught cheating last year. They were 10's and played and won the Pony World Series last year and they are out of Tamiami. They went to the Pony World Series and Tennessee NYBC as the Tamiami Playmakers. I forget what team it was but it was a 12u team out of Miami that was thrown out of the Little League tournament. Come on guys get your facts straight.
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| tater77bug |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 09:29:58
I believe this LL topic came up awhile back....I side with PAPA here...can't see how LL and true travel teams can even be compared...and yes I realize many LL players play travelball but by in large how many play elite travel ball week after week??? I say few........this would make a fun post... |
| C. MORTON |
Posted - 04/24/2009 : 08:49:29
quote:
Originally posted by C. MORTON
quote:
Originally posted by biged
The Miami Playmakers are out of Kendal. Not a powerhouse area. Again, if they ain't playing out of Tamiami then they are most likely a sub par team.
It was the team from Tamiami and I may have had the names mixed up but that was the team...
It was Team Miami........last year as 12u and they were ranked in Travel Ball Select....
Papa what I have noticed is that there are 2 10u major teams in Fl that seem to be good THIS year...last year where were they??? If you go back to last year and look for the top 2 teams from this year you may be searching for a while. Now if you go back in Ga last year you will see the same group that is banging it out this year...Fl baseball, I mean South Fl baseball is doing well THIS year in the 10u last year in was North FL, I mean South Georgia..So I guess what that really means is for that past 2 years Ga has had the best baseball.... |
