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DCC
64 Posts |
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BravesFan
533 Posts |
 Posted - 03/19/2011 : 01:22:12
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| Looks like Longhorns, 643 & Braves all lost last night. Over at the Triple Crown, the EC Titans lost two pool games. Can anyone say "black friday" |
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Spartan4
913 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2011 : 12:07:14
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quote:
Originally posted by BravesFan
Looks like Longhorns, 643 & Braves all lost last night. Over at the Triple Crown, the EC Titans lost two pool games. Can anyone say "black friday"
Bottom line is if we(Longhorns) play like this later this afternoon we will have a day of or a Sunday practice..... Hopefully we perform a little better this afternoon. Good Luck to all the teams today! |
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BravesFan
533 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2011 : 11:04:56
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| looks like it was a rough tournament for most of the GA teams, Titans and Stars still in representing. |
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Wiryguy
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 10:59:52
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This is our first time playing in Atlanta. We play a lot of different venues but just havent been to Atlanta. The teams and coaches we played were great. I have a couple of questions though.
1 - Do all the umpires usually stay on the same field all day? Do they ever rotate fields and do they usually call so many games in a day?
2 - Are all umpires as unapproachable as the ones at Gerald Matthews field on Friday and Saturday? I watched the same umpire warn countless coaches and fans. Throwing some out.
We played Sunday at R. W & Mary Lou Coley Park and the TD over there and the Umpires were totally different. They had fun with the kids and fans.
Just an observation.... |
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Gwinnett
791 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 13:25:00
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| What a INCREDIBLE weekend of baseball! I was in heaven ALL weekend. Every game next to us and at the same park was EVERY team I wished I could see. I even got to watch the 12u Bandits play. The baseball stars (in the sky) lined up this weekend....lol |
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m72
49 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 14:09:37
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| Umpires were flat out terrible all weekend at Gerald Matthews. I actually had the opportunity to see yesterdays play when the kid was clearly safe at home but ump called him out then threw the coach out after arguing it and tried throwing the assistant coach out. The team won in the end but not the point. We lost a close one Friday night due to bad calls which caused our team to have to play 5 games back to back to try and win it all Sunday. 5 games tough to do in a row but we accomplished 4 before falling. We won't even talk about the fact that it cost me $26 in gate fees to watch my son play 2 games in 2 days. By the end of the tournament it cost me more in gate fees than it did for my son to play. Not to mention the extra gas it cost having to deal the construction all weekend. Construction not USSSA fault but certainly didn't know about it til I was sitting for an hour in it Friday night after our loss because of the bad umpiring. You know pilots have a certain number of hours they can fly before having to rest, the same should go for umps and they should definately have to rotate fields so that there is no bias on back to back games due to having argued a bad call the game before with an ump. |
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Gwinnett
791 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 14:21:32
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Wiry, the umps did seem a little too touchy. I personally watched two different coachs and several fans get tossed. All times I thought it could have been avoided JMO.
quote:
Originally posted by Wiryguy
This is our first time playing in Atlanta. We play a lot of different venues but just havent been to Atlanta. The teams and coaches we played were great. I have a couple of questions though.
1 - Do all the umpires usually stay on the same field all day? Do they ever rotate fields and do they usually call so many games in a day?
2 - Are all umpires as unapproachable as the ones at Gerald Matthews field on Friday and Saturday? I watched the same umpire warn countless coaches and fans. Throwing some out.
We played Sunday at R. W & Mary Lou Coley Park and the TD over there and the Umpires were totally different. They had fun with the kids and fans.
Just an observation....
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Glenn Newton
57 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 14:35:21
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quote:
Originally posted by m72
Umpires were flat out terrible all weekend at Gerald Matthews. I actually had the opportunity to see yesterdays play when the kid was clearly safe at home but ump called him out then threw the coach out after arguing it and tried throwing the assistant coach out. The team won in the end but not the point. We lost a close one Friday night due to bad calls which caused our team to have to play 5 games back to back to try and win it all Sunday. 5 games tough to do in a row but we accomplished 4 before falling. We won't even talk about the fact that it cost me $26 in gate fees to watch my son play 2 games in 2 days. By the end of the tournament it cost me more in gate fees than it did for my son to play. Not to mention the extra gas it cost having to deal the construction all weekend. Construction not USSSA fault but certainly didn't know about it til I was sitting for an hour in it Friday night after our loss because of the bad umpiring. You know pilots have a certain number of hours they can fly before having to rest, the same should go for umps and they should definately have to rotate fields so that there is no bias on back to back games due to having argued a bad call the game before with an ump.
m72,
did you guys losing any of your games have to do withthe other team playing better on the field or was it the bad calls, gate fee, or traffic? The umpires at GM & RW in my opinion were very professional and made fair calls, did they miss some, sure, but every umpire does. The only issue I had was the TD director at GM, he was always there but he was seen yelling at fans and hadnt even represented who he was, just stood back there like he owned the joint, basically telling fans to not be passionate about the game. His attitude was not pleasant, very unapproachable.
Glenn |
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bball99
29 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 14:51:24
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| It really bothers me when coaches or parents blame their loss on bad umpiring. Sure there are some bad calls made, but in the end if your team is good enough, they will win on talent. As far as gate fees; it was $8 a day for Sat and Sun, and $5 for Friday. ???? Do the math. |
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Wiryguy
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 15:24:28
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| I will say Umpires had nothing to do with the loss we had. I just think they were on the field to long and were too thin skinned. A ump should never be on the same field all day. He should rotate fields. |
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Spartan4
913 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 15:54:57
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quote:
Originally posted by Gwinnett
Wiry, the umps did seem a little too touchy. I personally watched two different coachs and several fans get tossed. All times I thought it could have been avoided JMO.
IMO many umpires try to be God between the lines. If they can't take the heat they probably shouldn't jump into a frying pan. Fans should be allowed to voice displeasure in PITIFUL calls as long as they don't get completely out of line. A simple, "come on blue" isn't hurting anything!! HS and pro games have deafening booing anytime a call is even questionable. People getting frustrated with poor officiating is as much a part of the game as the bad calls themselves. Take the criticism or pursue a job that doesn't require your skills or lack of skills to be put on public display. I know many umpires just turn the other way and go about the job...Not worry or freak out about what people who aren't involved in the game are saying. For umpires like that we should be thankful.
Once this weekend I asked an umpire, "isn't that ball 4?" his response, "I don't know, it's two I think?!?!?!?!"....The game wasn't on the line and I jokingly told him that is some information he HAS TO KNOW NOT THINK HE KNOWS!! He told me after the game it was his 5th game and he was hot!! Sorry bout that!!
And then we had the bases loaded with our best hitter at the plate, full count. The opposing catcher was set up outside, pitch was so far outside he DOVE ACROSS the other batters box.....He was rung up, not using it as an excuse as that had ZERO to do with our team playing defense like 5U kids but HORRIBLE umpiring does affect games. We tape some at-bats and this happened to be one of them, it was absolutely ridiculous. Very poor officiating IMO. Not to mention the garbage mound we were forced to play on with the rubber coming out of the mound and the mound looking like a tabletop, flat for 2 feet before it started going downhill. This event is special, and I really wish we could do it on alternating weekends, odd ages then even ages or vice versa. It would ensure our games were played on decent fields, fields with decent mounds and fields without gopher holes up the baselines or in the outfield. |
Edited by - Spartan4 on 03/21/2011 19:58:45 |
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4 seam
46 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 18:07:40
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Last year we lost 14 games and in every game we had bad umpiring......in the 32 games we won it was really good umpiring! Funny how that works!
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jcrew4
8 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 18:53:51
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I saw a game at R. W & Mary Lou Coley Park were an ump called what I assume was suppose to be an field fly rule when there was runners on 2nd and 3rd and a pop to the infield. He really called dead ball. The infielder missed the ball and then hestitated. The runner from 3rd scored. After a protest, and a 20 minute delay, call to the head umpire where ever he was they had the runner go to first and the runner that came home from 3rd counted. I think the umpire realized his mistake and felt bad about it but it was pretty strange.
As for the cost that was really ridiculous. I don't know what the tournament fee was but I'm assuming it was $400 to $450. I've been to high school, college and minor league games that didn't cost me $8 and they gave me a nice seat to sit in. Seems a little much when you have 455 teams paying on average $400 ($182K). |
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m72
49 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 20:25:03
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Glenn Newton- Both teams played well in the game I'm refering to. But I honestly feel that the 3 bad calls late in the game by the umpires made a difference in the outcome. I can't draw you a picture through words that would allow you to see the plays at hand. You just would have to of been there to understand as with all cases like this. I was simply commenting on the topic as we experienced bad umps this weekend too. Nobody's trying to find an excuse for a loss here as I feel you're implying, it is what it is. Our team made as tough a run as anyone with having to play all brackets in one day back to back starting at 8:30. I'm sure other teams had the same bracket experience we did but ours could have easily been different and it wasn't due to our kids talent. Our second loss, we flat out just got beat and there were questionable calls there too. It's part of the game. Also, I don't believe I said gate fees or traffic had anything to do with any of our losses. It was just another experience I felt compelled to mention. Obviously you didn't care for the TD on site but I'm not here questioning whether you perceived him the right way or if you could have done something different that would have given you a better perception of him. You saw and felt the way you did about him. I saw and feel the way I do about the outcome of one of our games. No need to imply anything else. Doesn't take a genius to see where you were heading. By chance, you weren't the team with the air fog horn were you?
bball99- Sorry it bothers you that I feel we took a loss to bad umpiring. Unfortunately, the reality IMO here is that bad calls by umpires can make a difference in the outcome of any game. If a coach can make a bad decision or play call that can cost a team a game then why can't umps. If a player or team of players can make mistakes that cost the team a game then why can't umps bad calls do the same. To say if your team is good enough they will win on talent isn't always true. I've been on teams that have won games they shouldn't have, and we were far from the most talented of the two. Many factors can play a role in who wins a game. Sometimes it's as easy as a simple mismatch among the two teams. But at times I firmly believe it can be bad calls by the officiating. Most of the time it's not. A bad call 9 times out of 10 ends up playing no role in who wins. We all make these statements like " pitching wins games", " team that controls the clock will win" etc. While true, other factors were more than likely involved in the win. Bottom line is, whoever scores the most points wins but that can be detoured by bad calls from officials. As for the gate fees, I did the math. 2 adults on Friday $10. 2 adults on Saturday $16. $10+$16=$26 to watch my son play 2 games in 2 days. Then I have another $16 on Sunday that totals $42 for the weekend. I paid more in gate fees than I did for my son to play. In your defense I failed to mention that there were 2 adults but I assumed anyone doing the backwards math would have figured that out. Bad assumption on my part. I think any team only playing 1 game on Saturday should only have had to pay $5 like Friday, but yes I know, how would they have known which teams that would be. Perfect example as to why $8 was to much to begin with. Heck a T-Shirt was only $2 more from what I understand but I couldn't afford it after paying gate fees. |
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Wiryguy
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 22:05:29
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With such a large tourmanet, why would the ump be at the same field all day long?
It amazed me the polar opposites the TD was at Gerald Matthews compared to R. W & Mary Lou Coley. How are these guys chosen to be a TD at a field?
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oldschooldad
203 Posts |
Posted - 03/21/2011 : 22:23:17
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Every really big tournament seems to lead to complaint about the umpiring. I have a theory as to why that is. IMHO too many games and not enough quality umpires. Have you ever watched the 1st round of a really big sporting event on TV? The broadcasters for many of the games are people many of us have never heard of. There are too many games for the top notch broadcasters to do all the games. Same thing with SNIT umpires. Just look at the number of games and the number of fields. Not to mention the other tournaments in Metro Atlanta with other umpiring crews.
As far as gate fees are concerned, vote with your wallet. If USSSA continues to make money hand over fist, they will continue to charge the fees. If you don't like it, don't enter next year. at some point, they'll get the message. Just my 2 cents.
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prestont
197 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2011 : 12:08:38
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Hi All - Congrats to Stealth on winning this past weekend! They won a number of close games in pool/bracket play before the bats woke up on Sunday.
Was fun seeing the Stealth families again at the park this past weekend - and a bunch of other teams too. The Alabama Bombers were really good folks too. Class team & families, and I hope we get to play them again.
With all the discussion on the Ump's I think folks are missing one of the important observations from this past weekend..... Parity @ 11U.
There was ALOT of very close games thru pool play, and some very good teams that didn't make it to Sunday. In our pool alone, Alabama Bombers + Central FLA Gators were very strong teams, and I know that others probably saw strong teams from their pool that didn't make it past Saturday.
This season is shaping up to be a really good one ;-) |
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