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Real name:
John OSullivan
Location:
Oak Forest, IL
Division:
Men's 50
Messages posted by JohnO28 »Message board home »Start a new discussion
| April 23, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batting Box rule change Left handed player called out correctly, entirely within the box Dave, wasn't saying Mike allowed it and he didn't condone it. I spoke with Mike about it and he said he was unaware. Just unfortunate that umpires aren't all following the same rules and pretty much no way to get him to do it either. It's a judgement call at best and you can't force and umpire to make the right call if he's opposed to it so it wasn't something I was going to Mike about during the tournament. He was made aware, but this was also the same umpire that said with 1 out and men on 1st and 2B and a pop up to the 2B who is one step into the grass with both feet isn't an infield fly either because it wasn't in the IF. Same umpire with a runner on 1B a ground ball hit to 2B he flips to SS who throws and hits the runner from 1B who not only failed to peel off when he was thrown out but raised his arms and ran like an airplane towards 2B in the arm and it rolled back to me at catcher and the ump didn't the batter out for runner interference. When asked he said he coudln't tell if it hit the runner or not as the runner was walking back to the 1B dugout complaining how hard our SS threw the ball. Some Umps just aren't good. |
| April 23, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Batting Box rule change Left handed player called out correctly, entirely within the box We spent the whole weekend in Dayton OH with an umpire who refused to call anyone out for being in front of the plate. One team we played twice had 4 batters in a row both games STARTING with both feet in front of the plate before the pitch was even thrown. He argued with me that there are no batters boxes in slow pitch softball and said the rules don't exist. |
| April 22, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Bats Discussion: Interpretation of the new bat rule DieselDan, The whole point of this post from the original author is the fact that you're not allowed to use anything that doesn't have the SSUSA stamp on it. You're not allowed to use any USSSA or USA/ASA bats anymore. Bat warmers only help the bat so much when directors have the balls sitting outside in their car trunks all night the day before the tourney starts the compression on the balls go way up. |
| April 22, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Bats Discussion: Interpretation of the new bat rule Mulldog, We played in OH this weekend and there were at least 8 broken bats on Saturday morning alone and temps were 45ish. There is no way to protect Senior bats in temps below 60 degrees regardless of what we are told by SSUSA on this site. Dave's comments on an earlier post about not seeing broken bats thrown in barrels pretty much shows how out of touch some rule makers can really be. A broken bat doesn't have to be cracked in half and thrown out to be considered broken. Dave, Nobody who knows anything about composite bats and balls would tell you its safe or even a good idea to swing bats under 60 degrees in temp especially senior bats and this weekend proved it again. Not only in OH but also at the Tidewater in Va. Whoever it was that voted 9-0 as you stated definitely doesn't have the players best interest or safety in mind. |
| April 18, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: The new ball AZBilly, I and I think pretty much everyone agrees with you on this. I believe at one point SSUSA even agreed that the ball cover has an issue and they were the ones that posted on here that there is an issue with the cover as far as getting dirty and Baden was working to rectify it. IMO, over all the ball is pretty good but doesn't compare at all to the Stote balls we used prior to these. But at the end of the day we know that SSUSA made this their official ball and I'm sure ordered thousands of them to make sure they had them to use at tourneys so I would venture to say even if there is a new ball with a better cover we will never see it until each and every ball they already bought that have their stamp on them is gone. It will only be then that we see this new ball. |
| April 15, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Bats Discussion: Interpretation of the new bat rule Dave, Altitude has zero to do with bats breaking. The other side of the coin is cold softballs. It's been documented that a ball stored for 24 hours in sub freezing Temps will take over 48 hours to return to normal core temperature in 60 degree buiding. I guarantee that when we show up to register and the balls were are mandated to use have not been stored indoors at proper temperatures to prevent bat breaking. The only thing worse than colf for bats is frozen softballs which will do far more damage. What do you consider chilly temps? Our tourney this weekend in OH will have a sunrise temp of 35 degrees 2 hours before first game. Maybe SSUSA should consider more than just members outside of CA region and the board of directors should be from across the county not all located in CA. Or here's a novel idea listen to the members once in a while and take into consideration of what they are saying. |
| April 15, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Bats Discussion: Interpretation of the new bat rule Dave, In the spirit of this conversation. Please elaborate on how you expect players to "plan" for this when the only bats that are approved to play come with WARNINGS from EVERY single manufacturer telling you not to swing them under 60 degrees. Exactly what preparations could have been made by players to follow your new rules? There are really 3 options for those in the Midwest, North and Upper East Coast. Option 1: pay for expensive bats with NO warranty and risk breaking them in these tourneys just to play. Option 2: wait another month until it's safe to swing these bats. Option 3: choose to play every other assocation which doesn't hold you to the same bat standards and realizes that not everyone lives in FL, TX or CA and thinks about all it's members instead of just the CA based ones. It's apparent that not all members are considered when rules go into effect considering at least 1//3- 1/2 of the country it's not safe for them to play in SSUSA tourneys but yet that is when they are scheduled. If you want players to adhere to the rules then maybe schedule their tourneys for months that are safe to use the equipment mandated by SSUSA. But for real, I would like an honest answer how SSUSA expects us to "Prepare" for this rule change? |
| April 14, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Bats Discussion: Interpretation of the new bat rule I get the idea behind the bat rule change but there should be some leeway prior to May. Those of us in the Midwest and the Northern states who don't get to play year round are itching to play some tourneys this time of year. But for example next weekend we are playing in OH and the high is 55 on Saturday with morning temps of 40 at 8 00 AM. We all pay a lot of money for these bats and everyone knows Senior bats are the most fragile and shouldn't be swung under 60 degrees because they will break much easier. Most directors are loading up their car/trailer and the supplied balls will be in 40 degree temps overnight and that is even worse on bats than a 50 degree temp outside. The balls get harder and won't be in warm enough weather to ever soften up to the point where they won't break bats. Like I said I get the idea behind the rule change but using a USSSA or ASA/USA stamped bat is actually a disadvantage over a Senior bat and these tourneys cost enough money without adding the expense of broken bats when it's easily avoided. |
| April 10, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Double Play - Does run score? Bear1369, You're wrong though. At every level of softball and baseball that run scores.. The runner heading back to 1B isn't considered a force play because the batter was out thus making the runner not be forced off the base. You can certainly tag the bag for the out but it's no longer a force play The run counts in that scenario at every level of ball. |
| April 3, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Bats Discussion: Is there a poundage/inch pounds pass/fail test for Sr bats? There is no cutoff number in Senior softball. If they are making up their own rules and testing Senior bats then for their individual league they can set their own number. But Senior bats aren't designed or built to any testing standards besides the 1.21 BPF which is the industry standard. Senior bats have no minimum compression number. |
| March 31, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Bracket Updates MCK71, The point is every other association can and does offer 5 GG using quickscores or some other online venue to post scores. It's a very antiquated system. |
| March 29, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 50 AAA Team out of IL looking for 2B for Dayton Missing several guys for Apr. 20-21st in Dayton. Have filled most spots but looking for a 2B. John |
| March 27, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Bracket Updates MCK71, That probably did take you way too long. My only answer is, well every other association also offers 4 GG and 5 GG tourneys and still are able to use Quickscores and others. But you kind of nailed the it on the head. If an entire company is doing all these tourneys off of 1 single computer and only accessible by 1 person then maybe it's time to upgrade. If what you say is true and only Dave can do it, what is something were to happen and Dave needed to be off work for a few months? Sounds like with your explination the entire SSUSA tourney infrastructure would collapse and nobody would play a single tourney. |
| March 24, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Bracket Updates Softball4b, You do realize that you can still put people in whatever pool play games you want to. Has nothing to do with scoring posting live updated scoring. BTW, I don't know who makes each bracket for each tourney we play but I can tell you we've driven/flown to different parts of the country and still ended up playing team from Chicago where are from in Pool play. Fine, you would rather have team credits. Some people would rather have the swag which can be anything from patches, medals, or whatever you want. We play some associations that give gloves, bats, or even jerseys for the team. Bottom line is regardless of which side of the coin you stand on as far as what you receive for winning, the prices went up drastically and we lost almost all "Swag". Every other association had the same escalating fees like Umps, Field costs, balls etc but nobody else has raised prices greatly like SSUSA and taken things away in the process. Least they could do is give the players what they have asked for hundreds of times now which is live updated scoring and a way for people to look up online right after games are over what the results are. It's not that difficult. |
| March 24, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Bracket Updates Dave, Wouldn't it just be easier to make it happen instead of having to keep addressing it week in week out, month in month out, year in year out? Or maybe give people a reason it can't be done when every single other association at pretty much every level of ball from Tee Ball to Senior ball has been able to do. I mean I've seen this brought up so many times the past 2 or 3 years and have never seen an actual reason it can't be done(not saying it's not been posted or addressed just never saw it addressed). They do bring up a lot of valid points cost of SSUSA tourneys being higher than every single other association is a valid reason. Prices have gone up exponentially(everywhere in the world I know) and we get less and less. A couple years ago at Vegas Worlds we would get a really nice All Tournament Medal and 3 MVP medals and if I remember right this past year we got 1 medal and prices were $100 higher. We used to get like 3 patches to hand out at every tourney for all tourney team and haven't seen those at a tourney anymore. No other association has gone up nearly as much as SSUSA while still taking away "swag". The other associations have all gone up some but we are still getting the same "swag" and prize packages they always gave out. Maybe something like live scoring which to my knowledge costs nothing would be a way to appease some people. I've seen directors use their phones and update scores as the cards are handed in and it takes a minutes or two at the most per score. |
| March 22, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Music City results Tim, Do you really believe the Baden Fire is comparable to the Rock ball that used to be used? We found that it performs fairly well but not quite as good as the Rocks did and unless we had old stock in Vegas they havent fixed that issue with the covers yet. They still got dirtier than any other ball we have ever used. |
| March 18, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Tournament technology It's a battle you aren't going to win. SSUSA does things their way and everyone else does it like the players like.. You can find updated scores, team rosters, team managers onling in every other association as well as most have individual player rankings as well. Makes it easier to get a hold of other players and managers but SSUSA has heard this request, complaint or whatever you want to call it for years now and just doesn't address it. Hell One Nation you can go online and look up a specific teams name and find out everything about a team including every game they've played. This will either go unadressed, locked if the comments get out of hand or just outright deleted like countless others. |
| Jan. 24, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Tournament Results Jmac and BigJimC, This has been a topic of convesation for many years on the SSUSA site. Every other association we play uses websites like quickscores.com and other similar sites and most results are posted in real time for the most part and if not real time that same day. As you will see SSUSA will say they don't have the capabilities to do anything like that so don't expect it. Some directors will post as the tourney goes on results and some you can go back and look and you can't even see who won the tourney. They are one of the few Senior assocations that has a website like this where pretty much everything is easy to find but as far as some things go like tourney scores it's very archaeic. Don't count on anything changing. |
| Jan. 21, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Dave Dowell thanks for the answer. |
| Jan. 21, 2024 JohnO28 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Dave Dowell Dave, I have seen you state many times in multiple posts that when rules are discussed anything discussed on the message board is automatically disallowed. Can I ask why that is? This is the one place people all over the country who otherwise couldn't make it to those meetings can come together and occasionally have a rational discussion before they go off the rails as most do. I know you and whoever is in charge of using the SSUSA Staff username read these on a daily basis. Why not take what is discussed into consideration during these meetings when people spend the time to make their opinions on what could make things better. Now I know most of what is discussed on here doesn't reference rules and most threads get out of hand but when serious real concerns, Ideas etc are voice why wouldn't they be taken into consideration? John |
