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ecbinsider
318 Posts |
 Posted - 05/25/2011 : 00:54:04
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The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!  |
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biggin
174 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 09:02:37
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| Did u expect any different I haven't figured out all year how some of these tournements are drawn into pools. Good luck to all teams hopefully team from ga wins it all. |
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Spartan4
913 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 09:42:58
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quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!
LOL!! I'm sure that was just luck of the draw!! Having a neutral TD would have at least erased that thought from the outside looking in, but I will agree the EC Braves have what seems to be an easier draw. Stealth also won't have much problem with Pool K either, not that they needed any help!! Either way it should be a great tournament and give the boys a chance to see some of these out of state powerhouses, I'm just happy someone could make a tourney like this happen here in Georgia! |
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yankeedad
133 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 10:08:01
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| You make a good point...I didnt pick up on that |
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umpstake
2 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 11:31:45
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I'll take Stealth and a team from fla. FL teams own GA teams. quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!
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BballNut
73 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 14:06:37
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quote:
Originally posted by umpstake
I'll take Stealth and a team from fla. FL teams own GA teams. quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!
Umpstake, so you're taking Stealth and either N FL Hurricanes or Jacksonville Blueclaws? These are the only two FL teams on the other side of the bracket. The stronger FL teams are on the same side of the bracket as Stealth.
I have more confidence in our GA teams. Got a feeling an underdog could surprise. Show strong guys! Who needs a World Series with this caliber of baseball? This is going to be a lot of fun. |
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sgates
48 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 14:29:25
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quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!
Heck, you got to play the best to win it regardless if its in pool play or bracket, It will all wash out in the end and with anything this big, their will be several "upsets" and "suprises' that will screw the bracket all up anyway. Cincy and Grasshoppers will make huge runs on Sun/Mon and teams like Bama Buzz, N. FL and your EC Titans will make some noise as well, not to mention the normal favorites.
This is better than March madness, a coach from an out of state team told me last night on the phone...."We could play this thing 10 times and have 10 different winners"....I have to agree!
Gates
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ecbbraves
113 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 14:38:45
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I think you guys have too much time on your hands. As with any national level event, you never know how the seedings will shake out. Don't be surprised if some teams roll in here with roster additions that may change the landscape. The breakup of the Megastars may be a big factor on how things turn out.
As for the pools, a major effort was made to match up teams with squads that they haven't faced before. No out of state team wants to travel this far just to face someone from their back yard.
Spartan4, you have bashed every neutral TD from here and far so I didn't expect any different. I can assure you that we've put a ridiculous amount of man hours into this event to make it enjoyable for everyone. And with all that our team has been through over the last few months, the last thing on our minds is how we can manipulate a schedule to help us win an 11u trophy which is not likely to happen this weekend with all of these great teams coming to play. We have never avoided playing anyone in 4 years and our schedules bear that out. One thing is for sure, if you don't play well once you get to bracket play, anyone can beat you.
Just enjoy the great competition that is coming to town- win or lose- and stop with the belly-aching. |
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4 seam
46 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 14:53:13
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How come when someone like ecbbraves comments about other people it gets posted and when I post a comment about someone it never does?
I am sure you won't post this either! |
Edited by - 4 seam on 05/25/2011 16:28:32 |
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moccs
349 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 15:49:19
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Hopefully there will be a few upsets in pool play although not very likely. If we win 1st in our pool we will play Grasshoppers and if we finish 2nd then we will play Ec Braves if we win one game !! wow a lot to look forward too huh ! I think Team Fla./Stealth/Ec Braves/Grasshoppers are potential final four matchups the way the brackets shake out although I am hoping for an upset. If that happens maybe the big boys will knock each other off and allow us little fish to have a chance..
I say just shut up and play ball . Good luck to almost all !! |
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ecball
72 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 16:01:39
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Wow, Chris is fired up! He takes his tournament director job seriously :)LOL. I'm in Miami at a school and had to fire up my laptop as I heard about his blog. Spartan - I didn't have any issue with what you said but we weren't going to pay someone and hope to make them even - LIKE THE SUPER NIT! Also, to the guy complaining about pools - we drew Shiloh in our last TC tourney and I thought we were two of the favorites so I'm not sure it always works out (but it usually does) and our Super NIT pool was a joke because they used points to seed it.
Please don't bash Chris - I put together the pools and brackets and will expand on my thoughts below. First things first - we play all of the ECB teams next week so I tried to keep most of them on the other side. Keep in mind, I don't have the time to look over all 47 other teams and who they play, what field and what times. I know people think, they are screwing us but not the case. You are going to play good teams, that is why you signed up for this.
My goal was to provide pools with different match ups while also taking into account teams schedule request. Some wanted to go to Braves games, 6 flags...you name it and we made this happen for most. I thought I balanced them out pretty well but I don't know all of the teams from the Carolinas as well as others. Also, many teams think their team is better than they are so of course they think their pool is loaded. I may not view it the same way - just one persons opinion. Long story short - you will have too beat 4 or 5 higher ranked teams to win it. Also, many folks think they have this thing figured out but I think you will see some serious surprises. Teams like Wills Park, 643, EC Titans, FL Hurricanes, Viper Baseball, Sparkle City, Hobgood Thrashers, Moccs, Alpharetta, just to name a few that may not be viewed as favorites but can win several games against top teams. These won't be the big upsets you think as these teams can play and have a few top players. The beauty of the tourney is the depth. There won't be many blow outs after pool play.
To the ECB Insider who said we don't play anyone ranked in the top 24 in pool play. I have no idea what you are talking about. I didn't look at points and TOLD every team that pools wouldn't be based on a point system because they are irrelevant as you get older. Some teams play all U-trip others don't play much. I'm pretty sure we aren't the 20th ranked team in this tourney but I could be wrong. My main goal with the brackets was to seperate the top 8 teams and I did that - IMO. I don't want to say who I think are the top 8 but I bet you can figure it out.
Now, please keep in mind two things....We got screwed 36 hours ago by the MegaStars dropping out so we had to plug in another team. I had them as a top 8 team. With some of these "pick up teams" it's hard to judge how good they will be from tourney to tourney. If they brought all their pick ups then they are very good. The other team to watch out for is the Grasshoppers as they probably have the best player in the event. I don't know the kids from a couple of FL teams so no disrepect but the Grasshoppers kid pitched against a loaded Legends team last year and dominated. Somebody is going to have to face him and nobody is lining up for that match-up. Anyway, it should be a fun event. |
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Gwinnett
791 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 16:05:48
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| Can't wait to see how it all unfolds!!!!! Very excited to be a part of this tournament! |
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Spartan4
913 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 16:20:16
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ecbbraves....There was no "bashing" in my post?...The original poster is the one who referred to "home cooking" not me. The pool schedules have been out for weeks if I was going to complain I can assure you I would have done so by now. Anyone who has played across the south as both of us have tend to be able to figure out who has a favorable draw, not once did I say you did it on purpose or in an attempt to win. When tournaments come to town posters on this board discuss who has the best chance to win, and pool play determines where you seed and how much pitching you can save. Playing tougher teams in pool play will obviously have a toll on your pitching you can take to Sunday. I also mentioned that I personally think the Stealth have an easier draw than other teams, this is just part of playing big tournaments. Each tournament is different and our particular team has had tough draws and not so tough draws so far this season, again it is part of playing tournaments. There is no belly-aching here.... personally I think the winner of this tournament will be the team who picks up the best pitching(make your Disney/WS adds and pick up 3 stud pitchers and pool schedules will be irrelevant)...Just like the rest of the big national tournaments late in the season.
I agree 100% with what SGates said that this tournament could very well have 10 different winners if we were to play it 10 times. Toughest field for ANY tournament in our age group this year PERIOD!! |
Edited by - Spartan4 on 05/25/2011 16:30:16 |
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RACGOFAR
208 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 16:54:34
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| All this whiny talk about tough draws and seeding makes me wonder if you just want to win a bunch of games or are you playing to compete against the best teams you can find? Hats off to the Bravos for putting together the deepest tourney field I can ever remember. And kudos to the 15 or so AAA teams who stepped it up and came to compete. |
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ecball
72 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 17:12:30
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Guys - Don't kill the messenger but I want you to be aware that enterance into the park will be $5 tonight and Thursday night at ECB and $7 for Friday through Monday. I figured I should address it now so I don't get asked 35 times and get killed on the board for it. The reason it's $5 tonight and tomorrow is because the 12's have the AABC tournament and they charge $5 for that tourney. We have to charge the same amount otherwise some folks will say they are here to watch some other age group to save money.
The reason it's $7 the rest of the weekend is because the 14's are hosting the Super NIT at ECB and they always charge more for those events so we mimick their gate fee for reasons stated above. Again, this tournament has better fields and has a bigger and better group of teams so just think of it as a WS in the ATL and don't kill Chris or I about because it's out of our control.
Thanks,
Mike |
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biggin
174 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 17:44:03
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| From an outsider lookin in. I think the confusing part is with being usssa sanctioned event and event this large most people would assume that pools would be determined by following their guidlines. That way none of this would be issue. Either way gonna have to play great and have a few breaks go your way to win it all. I don't think 1 mans opinion of who top 8 teams are is proper way to handle event like this jmho. After last week in alabama I have no clue how pools are determind for that matter if you look at 1st rnd of bracket play still can't figure out how stealth got 5th seed. I wish everyone the best of luck and go ga teams. |
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Take 2
21 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 18:32:24
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| Love the attempt to give everyone a great weekend of baseball. Some people on this post will always have some type of excuse brewing, so they can have a whining session on here later. Some teams will totally dominate, others will have to step it up a notch. Fun Stuff. I have to admit my disappointment with the change of fields from Mt. Bethel to All Tournament Park. Mainly due to the field size. ATTP is a much better field but the field size SUCKS. The only strategy you can have at All Tournament Park is tell your outfielders to stand at the fence and be ready to jump. |
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BballNut
73 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 18:53:24
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| What happened to the Megastars? |
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gloveman
40 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 19:34:12
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| Some good ole pot stirring happening in here. The Nature Boy said it best "to be the team you have to beat the team" Whuuuhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Something like that. Awesome Job putting this together. Awesome matchups through out. You may think you see some easy games out there, but just wait for a suprise or two. I look forward to seeing how our Little Ole Moccs do in this one. I hope we can come out and play our game. If we do not get intimidated by all the competition in this one we may be in a few games. If we can't win it I hope the Braves make it to the Ship and win it for Ga.. Good luck to all and I pray every one has a safe trip. |
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sportsman
37 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 20:40:09
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| Wow! First game goes extra innings. Great game. |
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ecball
72 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 21:07:20
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One final post on this topic and I will let everyone else figure it out. We did a U-trip event because teams didn't want to come unless there was some sort of roster restrictions and this is were U-trip has it right (frozen rosters). That is the reason we used U-trip. As mentioned, the points system probably would have created horrible match-ups so we never even considering such seeding. I put the pools together (somebody had to do it and admit to it) because we have played most of these teams or know teams that have played them so we have a decent idea (and that is all it is) of who is better than who. Again, most of these teams are closer to each other in talent than they want to admit.
Megastars bailed out at the 12th hour. No comment.
Agree on the field size at ATPP (not good) however it's not being used for bracket play in the gold division. Some didn't like Mt. Bethel so we did the best we could do. Also, ATPP has one extra field so if we get weather, we have some options. We can always pick up Mt. Bethel if we need it as well. Trying our best to think of all situations.
I went and looked at the brackets and if you go with the suppossed favorites to be the #1 seeds then the top bracket of 8 teams (where we would be if we got a top seed) would have had 3 of the top 8 teams in the tourney (IMO) with the Cincy Flames and Megastars before they bailed...Again this is assuming the favorites won, which is a huge assumption. I doubt any of this will play out the way it's expected because of the depth of the tournament....Some teams will make some nice runs....Should be fun! |
Edited by - ecball on 05/25/2011 22:46:30 |
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Catch3dad
90 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 22:07:00
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quote:
Originally posted by ecball
Guys - Don't kill the messenger but I want you to be aware that enterance into the park will be $5 tonight and Thursday night at ECB and $7 for Friday through Monday. I figured I should address it now so I don't get asked 35 times and get killed on the board for it. The reason it's $5 tonight and tomorrow is because the 12's have the AABC tournament and they charge $5 for that tourney. We have to charge the same amount otherwise some folks will say they are here to watch some other age group to save money.
The reason it's $7 the rest of the weekend is because the 14's are hosting the Super NIT at ECB and they always charge more for those events so we mimick their gate fee for reasons stated above. Again, this tournament has better fields and has a bigger and better group of teams so just think of it as a WS in the ATL and don't kill Chris or I about because it's out of our control.
Thanks,
Mike
Who is getting the $ from the gate fee?
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ecbinsider
318 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 22:54:25
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quote:
Originally posted by sgates
quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!
Heck, you got to play the best to win it regardless if its in pool play or bracket, It will all wash out in the end and with anything this big, their will be several "upsets" and "suprises' that will screw the bracket all up anyway. Cincy and Grasshoppers will make huge runs on Sun/Mon and teams like Bama Buzz, N. FL and your EC Titans will make some noise as well, not to mention the normal favorites.
This is better than March madness, a coach from an out of state team told me last night on the phone...."We could play this thing 10 times and have 10 different winners"....I have to agree!
Gates
Coach G-Money,
You are right in that there will be a few upsets and there always are in bigger tournaments like this. I still think the other side has the top 2 teams in this tournament and probably the top 4 of 5 teams as well.
Mark it down, here are my final four picks:
Braves, Middle GA, Team Florida & Stealth
"jimmy the greek" |
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moccs
349 Posts |
Posted - 05/26/2011 : 10:37:11
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quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
quote:
Originally posted by sgates
quote:
Originally posted by ecbinsider
The big tournament of tournaments is upon us fans, pool games will open tonight and some of the best teams in the SE will be competing. Who do you like in the finals? I'm going with the ECB Braves vs. Team Florida.
After looking at the pools and bracket games, only 9 of the top 25 teams by USSSA points could be in the Braves side of the bracket thru the semi finals. Team Florida, Stealth, Pokers, Tampa Threshers, Shiloh, Rays, Longhorns and others make up a loaded bracket on the opposite side, only way this evens out if a few are the wildcards but most if not all will be #1 or #2 seeds.
How did the Braves who are #20 in points not draw anyone higher then #24 in pool? Things that make you go hmmmm. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I think there was some home cooking going on up in here!
Heck, you got to play the best to win it regardless if its in pool play or bracket, It will all wash out in the end and with anything this big, their will be several "upsets" and "suprises' that will screw the bracket all up anyway. Cincy and Grasshoppers will make huge runs on Sun/Mon and teams like Bama Buzz, N. FL and your EC Titans will make some noise as well, not to mention the normal favorites.
This is better than March madness, a coach from an out of state team told me last night on the phone...."We could play this thing 10 times and have 10 different winners"....I have to agree!
Gates
Coach G-Money,
You are right in that there will be a few upsets and there always are in bigger tournaments like this. I still think the other side has the top 2 teams in this tournament and probably the top 4 of 5 teams as well.
Mark it down, here are my final four picks:
Braves, Middle GA, Team Florida & Stealth
"jimmy the greek"
Thanks for the faith but unless a Ga team would fold and give us a few players(Like Carolina teams have done with Megastars)I wouldn't quite bet on it. Moccs goal is to make the Gold bracket and after that we want to play as long as we can. We told our guys we want to at least play 4 games this weekend for it to be a success.(btw- don't tell them it's a 4 game guarentee)
Also to the team that keeps contacting our players after the Auburn tournament about playing with you we may just start doing the same with yours if it doesn't stop  |
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biggin
174 Posts |
Posted - 05/26/2011 : 10:39:28
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| Well the first big upset happened ec diamondbacks beat gamers red. Hopefully red can recover only gets tuffer. Wow what a shocker. |
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ChooChoo
24 Posts |
Posted - 05/26/2011 : 10:43:58
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Our team was scheduled to play the Megastars and have now been scheduled to play Vortex Baseball? Can anyone tell me anything about Vortex?
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