Disappointed in Expressway...

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I coach an 18u team and we played at the Smokey Baker Tourney July 2nd and 3rd. This is my 2nd year there as a coach and I played in the tourney for 6 years as a player. This year was very disappointing.
--First -- the 18u teams got completely screwed over when it came to scheduling. We played at 8 a.m. on Saturday then had to wait around for 6:30 and 9:30 games which of course were delayed almost 2 hours. We didn't get out of the park until 1am. There were 16u teams who played at 12:30 and 3:30 and then were done for the day. Why not give one of those times to some 18u's so they aren't at the park for 18 hours?! Sunday, again, was delayed almost 2 hours by the time 18u came around. Many teams didn't get out until 1 a.m. or later.
--Second -- The umpires. Next time there is a tournament on the 4th of July, how about we get some umps who weren't alive when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. I have no problem with older umpires but these couldn't crouch behind the plate and we had to waste time waiting for them to get in position in the field. One was so concerned with telling jokes to people off the field that he completely missed a play in the game. The home ump made the call and was obviously out of position.

Those are my gripes and I know I'm not the only coach who has complaints. Many teams will not be returning next year.

 

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I agree about the umpires, but how about the 5 game guar. I know alot of the teams only got in 4 games with no explanation about the 5th game. the weather sure wasn't the problem for the delays.

 

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I agree on all points. Play at 8, 5 and 9:30 which turns into 11:00 is just too much. Umpires early in the day weren't too bad but I had an older gentleman and the comedian on the same field.

 

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I think the pool play should have been 1:15 limit. Maybe we could have all played at least 3 on Saturday. Most of the teams only played two.

 

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our game times were 9:30 am and 8 pm (played at 11:30pm) on sat. and then after getting home at 2 am sat night (sun. morning really) had the first game of the day at 8 am! talk about unfortunate scheduling! 5 games in a day has a whole new meaning when your entire team has had 4 hours of sleep or less! Then we didn't get done until 2 am sunday night as well!


New thought: how about when you have an 90 minute time limit, don't schedule the games 90 minutes apart! maybe that's why the games got so far behind.

i enjoyed the tournament and would go back, but it def. needs some organization.

 

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What a horrible weekend! As if it wasn't nuts enough to have your games scheduled 7 hours apart, but then to have 1-1/2 to 2 hour delays!! Our girls were at the park 15 hours on Sun. from their warmup for first game to the final game. When we left after midnight, there were still games to be played!! Don't know about all of you but we were shot on Mon. So much for enjoying a holiday weekend. Maybe next year we should all take campers and fill the parking lot. That would hurt concessions

 

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Our 14U team played at 11 AM and then 8 PM (really 9:45), so our POOL play was not even complete on Saturday. Think about it, if they scheduled teams to play 3 games over like 6 hours, you wouldn't be there an extra 5-10 hours to visit their friendly and inviting concession stand. From a team perspective, the scheduling could be MUCH more efficient.... However from a REVENUE standpoint, they have it just the way they want it. As far as the umpires... A third of them were average at best, the rest were playing "Guess that Pitch"

Enough said...