EmptyMessage board »Message Board home »Sign-in or register to get started
Online now: 2 members: T-mon, scottflodin; 18 anonymousDiscussion: Calling out the SSUSA staff
| Posted | Discussion |
| April 24 brian warner Men's 55 54 posts | We are playing in the Spring Nat'ls in Florida this weekend. Can anyone tell me the rules on picking up Major-Plus players to play in the Major division. We had to play a team Called Lemay Const. a major team. Well they had 6 players from Hollis Apprl. a major-plus team. And 2 of them were the Hollis brothers. Whats the point of having divisions if major-plus players are allowed to play anywhere they want? And not just 1 or 2 over half the team. |
| April 24 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Just a thought, You might check the rule book, it's there. |
| April 24 Lecak Men's 60 1026 posts | Maybe I'm looking at the wrong stuff but under the events tab the scores were posted for the Friday session and LeMay Construction went 0-2. Looks like you won the game you played them. |
| April 24 Freddie Men's 55 108 posts | the way it has been explained to the coaches from SSWC, if you have 5 or more ballplayers from the upper division, you should play the upper division bracket. example: any new team will automaticaly play AAA in their division in qualifing tournaments to get rated. Depending on how you do, runs scored & runs given up will determine your class. Team Tucson got their butts kicked in 2 tournaments before they were moved to AA. Chicano Cubs, a new 55 & over team, has 8 ballplayers who played 50 majors last year & before they took the field they were rated a major team. That's all I have to say. Have a great weekend. |
| April 24 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | First, there is no major plus or major division here. We have Platinum and Gold. If you'll read my post from April 22, you'll see that I commented on the fact that the Fl. Sluggers (a M+ team) wasn't allowed to advance through the bracket play. I said that this was unfair because there were other teams in the 50/55 Platinum division that were as good as them, if not better. This may be because these other team have many M+ players on them. I knew of the players that LeMay had picked up but I really wasn't thinking of them. I still think that all teams in the 50/55/60 Platinum division should be given the opportunity to win the championship. SSUSA should ignore M and M+ ratings and just let us/these guys play! Any one of these teams are capable of winning! I know of two other teams, Al Estes and the Fins that were told if they competed, would have to play M+. They decided not to compete. They should have been allowed to play in the Platinum division and not just as an exhibition. It's unbelieveable that SSUSA would force teams away from this tounament! Put us all together and let us play. Brian, who do you play for? |
| April 25 brian warner Men's 55 54 posts | Bruce, I play for Pinehurst Pub. We just got bumped from AAA. And I still don't understand if this legal. The whole point behind the different division is to make it fair for everyone. I'll be playing in the morning at 8am. Stop by and explain it to me. I'm kinda dumb! |
| April 25 audieh Men's 60 249 posts | Brian, I think you may be prejudging the division a little too soon. Yes, there were 5 Hollis players playing in the Spring National with Lemay. However, when the Hollis 50 or 55 team plays in a national tournament we always play major plus and always assemble the best players from Florida and Georgia to play. The Hollis team you see in the Florida Half Century is not the traveling team so it is not a major plus team. The Hollis FHC team is only rated 6th in the state. Your team is rated 5th. That very fact should make you re-think your position. The Lemay team in the Spring National consists of 5 Hollis FHC #6 rated players, 1 Sluggers FHC player rated #4 and just released, 3 Lemay players rated #14, and 3 players from the 42 rank or so team. This team is not very good and certainly no better than an average major team and honestly weaker than the Hollis FHC team. The proof is in the pudding as we went 0-2 in the round robin. None of the top bracket in the FHC are good enough to be a strong major plus team on the national circuit. For the Florida teams to be competitive you have to pick up the 2 or 3 best players from Georgia and then cherry pick the best 10 players from Florida and then you have a true major plus team. With Al Estes, the Sluggers, and Deerfield being designated Major Plus it makes it difficult to field a competitive team to play a national due to limited releases, etc. None, of Florida's best teams are truly competitive on a national level, in my opinion, without pickups. Before, agreeing to play in this tournament about 1 week before it began, we told the powers to be what was assembled and would that qualify as a major team. They gave their approval as they realized that this is an average team for the bracket. I hope this gives you some further information to factor in. |
| April 26 brian warner Men's 55 54 posts | You make my point by saying that none of us are as good as your Hollis players. I don't understand how it can allowed for you guys to drop down and play at a level well below your talents. And to top it off you blew up are pitcher. He wasn't really hurt other then the can of chew that burst apart. And cut his butt up. Should only be minor brain damage. But my question still hasn't been addressed. Are there no rules in place to keep players from dropping down. I mean other then we called a week before and they said we could. I just hope SSUSA gets alot of entry fees from you guys. Because they won't get anymore from us. |
| April 27 Conman Men's 50 72 posts | Brian … you guys (PineHurst) were probably moved up primarily because you are now ranked in the top 5 in the FHC and no other reason. It's why Deerfield Storage was bumped from Major to Major Plus as they are now ranked # 1. Somehow this equates to having to move up despite the fact Deerfield has not won any tournament. It was runner-up in their only tournament last year (Major Winter National) and does not have any sponsorship money for national tourneys to speak of. Their SSUSA roster does not match their FHC roster either. (I am not on Deerfield's SSUSA roster because I played Major Plus with the Fla Sluggers at the Winter National in November not that it's a great loss to Deerfield). You mentioned about some Hollis guys dropping down (of their roster was loooked at and given approval )… sooner or later you also will face the same problem. You are going to want to play somewhere and your team will not want to or have the funds to. Trust me on this. Talk to anyone who has played a few years of 50 ball that plays in nationals. If some other team does ask you to go ….. on their dime ……. you'll probably go. Because we all want to play ball. As I have discussed with Audie and many others, every time you miss any tourney at our age, you never EVER get that opportunity back. Because of where we are located, our chances are less than a lot of other teams to play so whenever somebody calls you play if you can. I know a lot of the Deerfield and Estes guys wanted to play. One more thing, just because a player plays for a Major Plus or Major team, it does not mean he is of Major Plus or Major caliber. A few years back our sponsor got a few swings in a some of the play-in games at nationals. At best he is a AAA player. Does this mean he can only play Major Plus from now on? Most teams do not carry an entire roster of players rated for where they play, some on the upside of the team rating and some on the down side. That is the problem when you "blanket" an entire roster with a particular rating. Okay .. time to climb down off the soapbox. Good luck and maybe we'll talk in Ft Myers. Dave Alarcon (Conman) |
| April 27 BossBandit Men's 50 55 posts | OK David, now let's be totally honest about the situation with Deerfield. Changing the name doesn't mean totally new team. To quote the manager of the Florida Fins (Anyone remember that name?) team "I have cut some players and we are changing our make up and are adding some new people to the roster. We should be competitive but I'm not sure and Oh, by the way we're changing our name to Deerfield Storage" Son of a gun, here they come and those 4 new guys look like they are about equal or maybe (maybe, to be fair to the ones who left) better than the people they replaced. If you are a tiger filling in the spaces between the stripes doesn't change your character. I do understand what you are trying to say there, David, and maybe the time of the true Major Plus teams is coming to an end because of the dearth of sponsors available out there in the real world. Or maybe, what we need is a true professional softball league or division. What other sport has recreational players competing head to head against people being paid to play the game? What's wrong with this picture? |
| April 27 c.hollis 7 posts | Brian Just for the record, Audie and I played in the seating games on Friday and then we left town. Neither Audie or myself played during the actual tournament. curt |
| April 28 chyaz8 Men's 60 3 posts | Mr. Bandit:Florida Fins (Deerfield) changed their name two years ago. And when the coach told you that Deerfield is changing the make-up of the team he did, and not with the four or more players that you're talking about now. Deerfield started last year playing in lower A division bracket, which they didn't win. The next FHC tournament we played in we're in the top of division A. We've played in two Winter Nationals and were runner-up twice! Now, with the new players that you're talking about we're a major + team without winning anything except a few games in the FHC. What makes you a major + team? Winning games at the FHC? I play for Deerfield and I'm not a major + player, are the new players we have now - apparently so! Chyaz8 |
| April 28 brian warner Men's 55 54 posts | For openers I'm not upset with the Hollis boys or LeMay boys. My problem is with the SSUSA staff for allowing these things to happen. SSUSA still hasn't come on here and explained why they allowed 5 Major+ players from Hollis to play on a Major team. |
| April 28 c.hollis 7 posts | Hey Brian, No problem. Actually me, Audie and Horace are the only major plus players that were on their roster. The other two guys, Steve and Randy have never played Major Plus to my knowledge. I think Randy picked up to play some major last year. We picked Steve up from a low level FHC team this year to play FHC ball. After me and Audie left Friday Horace was the only major plus player left. I think Audie was trying to point out in the earlier response that only a few of our FHC guys play major plus on the Hollis Appraisal travel team. |
| April 30 Conman Men's 50 72 posts | Duane, not sure where you're going with the reference to the Fins from 2007 & the FHC. But just for the record, the first 5 hitters in the order (Doc, Spencer, Matty D , myself, and Bob) along with Stevie who played in OF were off the roster. That's 6 players not 4. I don't know of too many teams that can do that and be better right away, especially when we were already ranked in the top 3 … of course Mac is a recruiting genius. I swear that guy has an underground network of scouts. No, our question (sorry to hi-jack the thread Brian) was why (as our feisty captain asked in a previous post) was Deerfield bumped to Major Plus just before the Spring National without ever winning anything? And why was Pinehurst for that matter? Deerfield was bumped on April 8th and Pinehurst on April 10th. The tournament was held April 24th. Doesn't make sense unless they are using the FHC rankings which again … is not the same roster. Personally .. I have always wanted to play at the highest level but I am not the manager or the sponsor. Sometimes we if we want to play we have to play at a lower level or not play at all. I mean how much of a difference is there really overall between each level? There usually is a couple of standout teams but generally the competion is fairly equal. I wish we would go to just 2 or 3 divisions like Butch Drake from Travel Lodge has mentioned. By the way Butch … when you coming down to play again? Dave Alarcon Conman |
| April 30 butch17 Men's 55 412 posts | Dave, You know I really enjoy coming to Fa. to play so when you invite me I'll get there.:) Take my e-mail address for future reference direct17bob@aol.com. I will be back in Nov.-Dec. I'm sure I will see you somewhere this year. Good luck. Butch Drake |
| May 4 M2` Men's 50 11 posts | Brian, what's the heartburn? You hit with me at the SPA NAT's HR Derby last year. Why don't you play Major Plus? You must hit down to stay where you are at and I don't believe it's your normal swing to hit the ball down. Didn't your team the 'Pub do very well last year at the 50+ AAA Championships in Dalton? If we go by what you and I are used to in the young ball the 'Pub would've been moved up to a higher division for winning a National. Also, the Senior Circuit isn't what you and I are used to (being the young ones just turning fifty) in the young ball. It seems the norm in young ball to sandbag, shave a bat, hit the middle but not in the 50+ circuit. It's differnet here. Well it's just my two cents... oh yeah what did the SSUSA Staff respond with? Anything? They must not look on here. See you in Dalton Big Man. Hey by the way, how does your head not get sunburn wearing the visor?? Look forward to seeing you in the future. Mike Myers. |
| May 4 brian warner Men's 55 54 posts | We took 2nd in Dalton. Then we took 2nd at Winter Natl's in Ft. Myers. And as far as SSUSA responding. No they haven't and I don't expect them to. I can't play Major Plus. Didn't you read what Audie wrote. There isn't any of us in FHC good enough to play up there. |
| May 5 c.hollis 7 posts | Brian, So what is really bugging you? I don't think it's the SSUSA staff now is it? You have mis-quoted Audie twice now in one thread and he seems to be the subject of your complaint with SSUSA. Tell me I'm reading this wrong. curt hollis |
| May 5 Lecak Men's 60 1026 posts | Don't mean to sidetrack this Curt we are going to hit with your brother on Thursday in Vegas, always enjoy this part of the senior thing when folks from completely different parts of the country can get together over something as simple as hitting a softball. Good stuff sorry to sidetrack the discussion. |
| May 6 brian warner Men's 55 54 posts | Well Curt you your reading this wrong. All I did was ask a question to the SSUSA staff. Which was never answered. |
| May 8 c.hollis 7 posts | Brian, I certainly take you at your word and even offer my apology for thinking otherwise. Lecak, Oh my, make sure you got screen when you pitch to him. He blew up Brian's pitcher a couple weeks ago! Ya'll have fun!!! curt |
