Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball (RADIO SHOW Thread of The Week)

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What's everyone's pet peeves during tournaments?<br>
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Some pet peeves struck again today while assisting with fields of first tournament of the year our Organization is hosting...not all of these pertain to hosting a tournament, some are also from a 'coaches' perspective.<br>
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To list a few:<br>
&gt; After grounds crew work diligently to repair your fields, DO NOT take warmup on the field, especially having your pitchers warm up between games off the main rubber and dig a hole before the 1st pitch...<br>
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&gt; Conduct your team post game meetings outside of the diamond. Clear the dugout (and pick up your trash) asap so the next teams etc can move in.<br>
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&gt; Make sure your scores get reported to the TD. Nothing better than trying to track down 7 different coaches to get late scores...this slows down figuring out seeds for bracket play, and then everyone is upset because they don't get their Sunday game times till late...<br>
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&gt; Rookie coaches: If you don't understand the ropes (how to's of tournaments), do your homework prior. It's foolish to stop a game and raise heck because you didn't take the initiative to read the tournament rules etc prior to playing. Don't know too many tournaments who don't post / hand out rules prior to playing. Stopping a game because the other team used a courtesy runner, you just realized they batted their lineup in pool play etc wastes everyones time and cheats the girls of some of their game playing time....Same goes for Umpires! Arrive with enough time to get the details before taking the field...<br>
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&gt;> Fans: Prime seats for your lawn chairs can wait till the prior game is complete. I'm sure some parents would prefer to watch their kid play then see the crack of your husbands butt hanging out setting up camp for the next game...! <img src="http://www.thesoftballzone.com/vb3/images/smilies/eek.png" alt="" title="EEK!" smilieid="9" class="inlineimg" border="0"><br>
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Let's hear yours...and please help educate the newbies on how to keep tournaments fun!!!

Your Thread is my pick for (The Softball Radio Show Thread of the Week)

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Great Thread, Admin

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

If you have this many pet peeves maybe you should just be a spectator.

 

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I am sure we all have many more.

I will list mine as a scorekeeper. Please give the opposing team enough time to get it entered into the book or electronic device. Also first names is not sufficient. First initial last name is appropriate.

Also know the Flex / DH rules. Amazingly many people do not understand the Flex does not hit.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

I can't stand drop dead time limits . With that in mind , it really bothers me how slow and unorganized teams are during these time limits .
I wish some umpires would not be so confrontational ( rabbit ears & looking to throw someone out ) . There are a small few out there who believe if they even hear you whisper something about one of their calls that you are out of line !

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

My major pet peeve is when the concession stand runs out of Doritos for the walking tacos. I used to be a Fritos guy, until I went out of my comfort zone and tried the Doritos.
I think there has been a major shift in the popularity of the Doritos version (ref; Taco Bell's locos tacos) and the TD and concession director need to accommodate for this. So this, by definition, is a "peeve", but in reality, it has to deal with food, which thus classifies it as an "issue".
I'm not sure if there is ASA/OHSAA/PGF ruling on this, we'll have to ask bretman, but can the home/sponsoring tournament team get penalized for running out of Dorito's (like maybe awarded a base on the first runner?)

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

My only pet peeve is HITTER23 eating all the hotdogs up and then messing up all the port-a-potties.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

My problem is with areas in our state with untrained umpires being hired to work fastpitch tourneys. Umpires with little to no knowledge of our game , yet they not only take the field but feel they have been enpowered to call the game as they believe it should be when there are girls on the field with more experience and understanding of the rules. I know we have a shortage of umpires but the least an association could do is get all umpires up to speed on the rules before allowing them to work 2,3,or 4 games a day. They should take our (team) complaints serious and have a more demanding roll in making sure their fellow umps are corrected if they don't understand and demand a change in their attitude towards their demeanor on the field. This is not an adult slowpitch softball league or tourney where the beer-drinking trophy carries as much notoriety as the 1st place finishers. I despise umpires that take the field with the "Know everything attitude" and call the game like they have acid reflux for 2 hours.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

Time limits ...especially drop dead time limits....I understand to get games in its necessary , but maybe you play 8 games on 1 field instead of 10! Maybe you invite 12 teams instead of 16 . Who came up with the idea of softball/baseball to have time limits? Was the idea driven by accommodating as many teams as possible or making more money? Lets try this...Play 5 innings add a runner in the 2nd add 2 in the 3rd add 3 in the 4th and 5th, thus bringing the game back to its original format. not to mention making the players better defensively and offensively better ....baserunning, bunting fielding etc..

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

Time limits ...especially drop dead time limits....I understand to get games in its necessary , but maybe you play 8 games on 1 field instead of 10! Maybe you invite 12 teams instead of 16 . Who came up with the idea of softball/baseball to have time limits? Was the idea driven by accommodating as many teams as possible or making more money? Lets try this...Play 5 innings add a runner in the 2nd add 2 in the 3rd add 3 in the 4th and 5th, thus bringing the game back to its original format. not to mention making the players better defensively and offensively better ....baserunning, bunting fielding etc..

I like time limits. This keeps the tournament going and girls also get to play against more opponents. Also if game is lopsided, it's over in 75 minutes as opposed to just dragging the inevitable out

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

If you have this many pet peeves maybe you should just be a spectator.

Lol...I don't raise heck unless something major, usually just grind my teeth a little and get over it!

Sorta like my wife does trying to put up with me!!! (oh wait, I guess she does raise heck and jump my case alot...bad analogy!)

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

My only pet peeve is HITTER23 eating all the hotdogs up and then messing up all the port-a-potties.

Good thing I don't have to worry about his team being up at Berliner late this summer, those are bad enough already...

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

My only pet peeve is HITTER23 eating all the hotdogs up and then messing up all the port-a-potties.

Good thing I don't have to worry about his team being up at Berliner late this summer, those are bad enough already...

what the ......

My hot dog eating prowess is greatly exaggerated on here.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

Time limits ...especially drop dead time limits....I understand to get games in its necessary , but maybe you play 8 games on 1 field instead of 10! Maybe you invite 12 teams instead of 16 . Who came up with the idea of softball/baseball to have time limits? Was the idea driven by accommodating as many teams as possible or making more money? Lets try this...Play 5 innings add a runner in the 2nd add 2 in the 3rd add 3 in the 4th and 5th, thus bringing the game back to its original format. not to mention making the players better defensively and offensively better ....baserunning, bunting fielding etc..

I'm with you, brah.

39-42 outs = 1 softball game. I remember watching 10u games that were only 24 or 30.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

what the ......

My hot dog eating prowess is greatly exaggerated on here.

Exaggerated, I don't think so I remember hotdogs getting delivered to the dugout.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

Exaggerated, I don't think so I remember hotdogs getting delivered to the dugout.

I think half of those dogs went to BouldersDad......

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

Rocketboo ... I was with you until you started adding baserunners all over the place. While I also hate time limits artificially changing the game, I do understand why they are necessary in tourneys. With that being said, any tourney which is scheduling games less than 90 minutes apart is basically saying we don't care if you get full games in ... this is about making money. And there should be a law against drop dead formats!

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

Without time limits the tournament would be controlled by the slowest game in each slot delaying each game down stream in an ever widening arc. The last games will be hours behind schedule on a full day. There will always be a time limit unless you are just playing friendly double headers so that neither team cares when the first game is over.

TD's would have to allow at least 150 minutes. (180 minutes would be required between games to take the clock completely out of the games and played the full 7+ innings). The 1:30 games allow 8 games to be scheduled, the 2:00 games will allow 6 games to be scheduled, only 5 games at 2:30 and we'd be limited to 4 games per field at 3:00.

No one will sign up for a 3 game guaranteed tournament, there are very few 4GG left in travel ball. We would need to change the tournament culture to a round robin format of just a few teams playing each other on a much more limited basis. Does anyone truly think that is where we are heading?

If you hate the time limits so much I invite you to start a round robin tournament format and be the first on your block. I'd certainly pay attention to your success.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

I think drop dead time limits was the pet peeve expressed by most of the previous posters. They shouldn't be used in elimination games. Whenever used, proper revert rules need to be posted.

Time limits are a fact of life and I don't have an issue them as long as they're not too short. For example, 1:30 no new inning is long enough for good games and scheduling them 1:45 apart can be manageable. Coaches need to keep from wasting time.

ASA and PGF Nationals don't have time limits on bracket games and they manage with game times tighter than Fairman suggests.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

I would like to see the Flip Flop rule utilized. If, after the home team's at bat, they are in danger of a run rule the following inning, they should become the visiting team and bat again. If they do not score enough runs to avoid the run rule, the game is over. If they do score enough runs to avoid the run rule, the game continues with the home / visiting teams reversed.

 

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Re: Top pet peeves of 'tournament' ball

As I stare confidently at the bed of my truck at the amazing job I just did packing it with percision for the last 20 minutes, I close the tailgate and out comes my wife carrying what appears to be a suitcase asking "is there room for this?"