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Details for DaveDowell

Real name:
Dave Dowell
Location:
Sacramento CA
Division:
Men's 70

Messages posted by DaveDowell

May 10, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Rules of the game
Discussion: TEAM ROSTER

Possibly ... We won't consider potential rules changes for 2026 until later this year when the National Rules Committee sessions occur ... But for now, there's no "sunset legislation" that would cause the current rules to change without intervention ...


May 10, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Oil city classic

big cat7 ... Same answer as we posted on Monday: That's up to the independent T.D. Will Rogers ... His contact information is available for you on the event tournament page here ...


May 9, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Rules of the game
Discussion: TEAM ROSTER

Gary ... An 80-AAA team may have up to three (3) players with "Major" experience rating history on the roster ... Also, 80+ teams, regardless of rating, may have up to seven (7) total underage players either 78 or 79 years old (NOTE: not more than three 78's are permitted) ...


May 7, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Atlantic Coast Championship Schedule

I think it's a "days" typo ... Second set of games is Saturday morning (not Friday) ... That will cure the apparent conflicts ... Thanks!
May 6, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Atlantic Coast Championship Schedule

Session #2 is also online, about a day ahead of what was projected ... Good luck, everybody ...
May 5, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Atlantic Coast Championship Schedule

SGW ... Session #1 DRAFT Game Schedules and Brackets were posted (above) at about 4:00 PM Left Coast time on Monday ...


May 5, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Oil city classic

That's up to the independent T.D. Will Rogers ... His contact information is available for you on the event tournament page here ...
May 5, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Texas state championship

YES
May 5, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Atlantic Coast Championship Schedule

SGW (and other interested parties) ... Session #1 should post later today for the age 65+ and more senior gang ... Realistically, Wednesday would be a reasonable estimate for the "youngsters" ... Between now and then, Session #2 for the Top Gun Reno Tune-up qualifier is at bat and ACC is on deck ... Thanks ...


May 2, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Carson City

LC7 ... Allow me to explain why it's highly unlikely we will be moving entry deadlines even earlier ... I'm the guy who oversees and manages the tournament administration function as it relates to who plays where, the mix of specific divisions at multiple parks, attempting whenever possible to rotate those parks so that teams generally are not "stuck in the same place" annually, matching divisions to appropriate facilities (example: no Major+ at Russell Rd. in Las Vegas so we avoid mortar attacks on vehicles) and trying to honor a multitude of special requests you may or may not know even exist ... Those include LSR's, MRS's and ESR's (late, mid-day and early start requests), split schedules at the same park for teams sharing players across both rosters in different age groups and other random requests seemingly only limited by manager imagination of issues, real or not so much so ... As Tim mentioned, those often arise closer to "tourney time."

Although these do take some time, I am disinclined to advocate pushing entry times even earlier, for a few reasons: [1] In multiple facility venues like Las Vegas and Reno, with gaming opportunity based hotels, I am convinced the (vast?) majority of players stay at the same hotel year-to-year that issues their "Frequent Gambler" card, and are using the housing "issue" as the way to try to get early information on which park for this year ... [2] Moving the times earlier has a notable reduction in the aggregate number of teams attending ... We normally receive around 35% of total entries for an event in the last 10 days of the entry period, because teams (appropriately) prefer to spend their hard-earned entry funds as late as possible ... I am reluctant to ask people to pay even earlier, just so the "anonymous keyboard courage cowboys" can spout their inane mantra of "..it's all about the money with SSUSA.." ... Nothing could be further from the truth ... [3] There's also something inherently inappropriate in my view of asking teams to have two or more entries "front-funded" even before the first event occurs ... That would be the result if we had moved the Reno deadline another month earlier before the Southwest had played ... We're already about four weeks out front of the individual World Championships scheduling, but that's because of the 650± teams playing ... It's not reasonable to extend that to lesser attended events, even larger ones like the Southwest (227), Reno (198) and Phoenix (196), all of which trail the World's by over 420 teams ...

While we certainly respect your stated goal "..to help [the] customer have a better experience..", we believe that moving the deadlines nearly another month earlier is inconsistent with your enhancement theory ... This probably isn't what you want to hear, but it's the current reality ... Thank you for writing, taking the time to read this, and good luck!


May 2, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Land of Enchantment

Dbax ... It's 40's ... They don't need no stinkin' temporary fences ... Ha!
May 1, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Land of Enchantment

Looks pretty cool from the aerial photography ... Five fields, all turf, and 385' Fence distances all around ... I love those dimensions! ...
April 30, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Carson City

31Bulls31 ... Yep ... The entries were coming in so fast yesterday, someone in the office triggered the team list to see if any teams had been double booked or overlooked and forgot to toggle it back off ... After today's entry deadline, we'll confirm what happens in the next eight hours and the list will go live and remain so ...


April 29, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Carson City

JohnO ... It all matters, just not as much as some people think, especially when they routinely forget the definition of the word "tentative" if something changes ... Couple that with us blowing by last year's total teams number early this morning and it's even more important to evaluate it in a couple of days when the team counts are accurate and known ... Until then, we'll just cite the late, great legend Bob Woodroof, who said it best when he called it, "..the continuing abuse of the equine corpse.." ... Have fun, fellas! ...


April 25, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Carson City

See my message immediately above and check back in a week or so.
April 24, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Tournaments
Discussion: Carson City

We'll take a look at that shortly after the entry deadline on Wednesday, 04/30/25 when we have accurate team counts ... NOTE: We will NOT be using Shadow Mountain Softball Complex this year, resulting in more games/divisions playing at Reno, Golden Eagle and Carson City facilities ... Some Session #2 (Men's 65+ and more senior divisions) will most likely play in Carson City ...


April 23, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: General and miscellaneous
Discussion: Cornerstone Border Wars

This event is a "recreational" event, meaning it's not an officially sanctioned SSUSA qualifier ... SSUSA annual player registration is NOT required to play in this one ... It's on our list as a courtesy to let people know about it ... The best place to find out why NCS registration might be required would probably be through an inquiry directly to NCS ... Good luck!


April 17, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Rules of the game
Discussion: Need help on a ruling for when a bases loaded walk occurs

JohnO, we agree on this ... I came away from the conversation this morning thinking, and telling the Director: "This umpire probably made a technically correct call that he never would have considered if the offended team hadn't started jumping up and down waving a rulebook in his face" ... Translation: The correct call isn't always the right call ...



April 17, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: Rules of the game
Discussion: Need help on a ruling for when a bases loaded walk occurs

What I attempted to convey was the application of the concept of the runner(s) on base being "forced to advance" because of the walk ... When R1 in effect abandoned 2nd base by not advancing, that had the practical effect of NOT forcing R2 and R3 to have to advance ... They remain "stuck" on 2nd and 3rd bases, respectively, because there was nobody advancing to 2nd base to "force them over ... As for the timing issue you raise, I asked the Director if the umpires and players were all still within the confines of the diamond (including dugouts) and he said "Yes" ... I "don't have a dog in this fight", but it seems to me that R1, for whatever reasons known only to him, didn't think he had to legally advance that one base following the walk ... That was a mistaken assumption on his part ...


April 17, 2025
DaveDowell
Topic: General and miscellaneous
Discussion: Ranking and Rosters

LC7 ... We simply keep track of the ratings of the teams you play with at the times you play with them ... As you indicated, a AAA team may have up to three players who have a maximum rating-history experience with teams that were Major (or equivalent) within the current or preceding two Seasons (one season in the case of players 70+ and more senior) ...

There are a lot of variables involved, such as medical exemption appeals, rating appeal changes for teams, and the effect of players playing across different age groups ... Publishing, or making available, some theoretical maximum rating-experience history without those variables identified and explained on a case-by-case basis will complicate, rather than simplify random roster inquiry ...


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