ERA

All the information about the tournament is now on our Coffee County web site http://www.eteamz.com/ccladyraiders/ You can click "Handouts" or the front page flyer to download a three page document for all the invitees.

Chattanooga Frost Falcons won the 18A

Stay tuned to Coffee County's web site for future information about this tournament. We should have things finalized soon with complete information on our web site. Good luck to all of the invitees. It should be one of, if not the, best tournaments in a long time. It should have very large crowds with tons of interest from fans of the game whose teams are not even in the tournament. I know I wouldn't miss one like this if my team wasn't in. You can't help but think the atmosphere will be like a Tennessee vs Alabama game. Softball needed a jolt to get more attention and I believe this is a very good start. I hope this is a sign of things to come for this game. As they say in the research and development world, "Think Outside the Box!" Coach Breeden and Worth certainly have.

I would like to ask the question of the media newspapers "Did your coverage wane because of the lack of fan interest or was it for your lack of interest?" My bet is possibly both. Hyping ball games is tantamount to fan participation. When a newspaper decides to drop their interest, the fan interest is directly proportional most of the time. This game is more entertaining than most sports but most people have not had the pleasure of experiencing it with the pomp and circumstance it deserves. Coffee County has been blessed with a lot of local hype and fan participation. The newspapers have been great (Manchester Times, Tullahoma News) to the point that probably surpasses any benchmark set by any other town, especially for its size. All things in this business are cyclical and softball is not impervious. Lest we forget, UT has been the hands down dominator of press. The Titans come to town and UT football took a hit on "Inches" in the papers. Yet, the fan base has dwindled for both with less than average seasons at this point. Simply put, we are vying for press against the pro and college teams. There are only so many inches allowed for sports coverage as a whole and frankly, high school press in the papers will take a back seat to the "Money Laden" pro and college teams. You'll have better coverage with small town newspapers than the larger "Corporate backed" papers. Advertisers want the most bang for their buck. It's a "NO BRAINER" to cover the big dogs and get the big advertising dollar. One more thing. Mike Mcgee single handedly brought softball to its pinnacle of success with his coverage of softball in the "Sports Leader" until two years ago in Coffee County. It was softball coverage at its best. We miss Mike greatly. There isn't a newspaper in this state that did for softball what Mike Mcgee did during his Sports Leader run. If anyone is looking for a great softball sportswriter, Mike Mcgee would top the list for girls softball period. [Edited by ERA on 10-23-02 4:51P]

They are from and around Lebanon. As for the umpires, they didn't do anything.When I questioned them, they didn't want to enforce the rules. As he put it, that's softball. I just remember No. 3 dishing it out all those years and calling it "That's rac'n!" but was the first to whine when someone did it to him and eventually it killed him. They do say what goes around comes around but everyone knows that Italians have their own way of getting even...........

Actually, STD, after that Intimidator team injured my daughter and took out our catcher too, I thought it best to lay low for a while....lol. They came very close to ending her career. She started pitching workouts 2 1/2 weeks ago.This was after being in an AFO since June 1st. She has a long way to go. Here's a tip, if you drum a team from the sticks, you better have a whooping stick because they will try to take your kids out of the game with injuries!

Congrats on your first major tournament. I wish all tournaments went as smooth as yours. Great Job!

In Nashville, Chatt and Huntsville areas? Who is the contact for the Caine Ridge Fall League and is that the same thing as Crieve Hall that I see mentioned on this site? Is Joe Howell still the contact and when does Caine Ridge start? :confused:

when they are truly high school. So far, at least one of the teams on your list are mixed teams playing A ball on weekends if not two. It would be more honest to call it a summer league than a high school league. I don't mean that as any kind of slam. Anyone thinking of playing in it needs to be aware of that going in.

The ball is in Memphis' court. It's up to them to make everyone feel they're getting their money's worth. With two strikes against them to begin with, it will be tough. More than likely, the first year will go off without many problems making a good first impression like any businessman would. The second year I will bet you the police coverage and other smoothing amenities will begin to fade in order to recoup the initial investment. That's where the slippery slope of municipality economics gathers speed and it becomes a political tennis ball. When they begin to look at the profit projections from the proposal and realize how far off they were, well, now you know the rest of the story. This sounds like gloom and doom but all of us see this time and again in our own communities. Tack that on top of the worst logistical location and you have a ticking time bomb.

ASA has the largest college coach following of all the organizations put together (in my opinion). No doubt, the coaches know where the upper echelon players are at. This gives merit to my complaint about ASA's organization. ASA does not need to fall into the comfortable mode and go under. The old heads know what it takes to put on a "college exposure tournament". There is no question about that. Problematically speaking, the underlying infrastructure (B teams and all younger A&B teams) are falling away at an alarming rate. With that much undercut in revenue, the elite teams are in trouble. Costs will skyrocket. When the numbers dwindle as in any commodity, stock falls and another goes to the top. I don't believe there is another organization in our region to put this college coach display out there in such a finely packaged product. My real fear is the start of watering down exposure to coaches by having too many splintered groups vying for it. Up till and maybe through this year, ASA is tops. In the next couple of years, anything goes and we all might be scratching our heads and trying to figure out which tournaments to go to. That, in itself, could be disasterous to the travel world. Your spending could increase by at least double or more trying to catch the eye of a "FEW" coaches rather than a herd. ASA, wake up and smell the MONEY or do you have too much already?

Just vote by writing in a town or city name you would like to see the Spring Fling go to. This will not change things but is far more democratic than the product you are getting. Murfreesboro is my vote!

Don't stay out past dark, don't go anywhere unless there are three of you together at least one male, don't make direct eye contact with people at intersections, don't expect to drive a nice car and not have something stolen. These are just parts of the short list of Memphis no-no's. I have a brother in Germantown with his family of two girls. I've heard it all. He moved from the Arkansas side seven years ago and now the crime has come into Germantown. The cops all wear bullet proof vests and helmets with shields in Germantown. It's a beautiful place but this book's cover is a chameleon. Even the housing prices (beautiful homes) are falling. The Murder Mall or Mall of Murder as someone tried to correct me about is called the latter by the press and the former by the local public. It's a story of gangs, rapes, murders and control of territory that brought down a new multimillion dollar mall a few years ago. All taking place in the mall itself and parking lots. The press had to put it in the back pages because the merchants in the mall threatened to cut all their advertising with the press and tv stations. Eventually, the mall was brought to its knees and is nothing more than a dying hulk. There's a lot more to this story. Another fine mess we're in. I am suspicious of money like the rest of you but I can't shake a gut feeling I have that this is also about something else, maybe two or three things in all. When you have org's that don't have to answer to anyone but themselves, anything goes, even spitefullness. Is there any ties to Memphis amongst the board? It doesn't stop there either. There's more I'm sure, it will eventually come out.

Better bring your bullet proof vests. Have you heard about the "Murder Mall"?

C'mon Mike, don't beat around the bush. Tell us what you really mean! lol Man, I thought I was Cold!

Saturday, at the Snyder Oliver tournament, we had a second pool game scheduled for 10:30 AM on Cook 4. Both teams were prepped and ready but the umps didn't show. 10:45 still no umps. 11:00 still no umps. 11:05 umpires showed up for the game. This was on a field right in the middle of all the action and ASA did not have their act together. This game caused our and the opposing team not to have a break before our next game in that 90+ degree heat. The delay had us moving to another field and playing back to back. To the umpires credit, even though we lost, the officiating was great. We show up for the next game at Vanzant field and start the warm ups for the 1:30 game. At 1:30, no umps. 1:45, no umps. 2:00, no umps. 2:15 one shows and 2:20 the other. The teams had been out in the sun for a long time and were finally moved to the shade while waiting for officials again. Last year the Snyder Oliver had over 120 teams to its credit. This year barely 80 teams show up. Unfortunately, now I know why. The organization is struggling with its base. ASA has alienated many teams from showing up to its tournaments because of the "Elitist Attitude" projected through their rules that handcuff substitution of players. Coupling that with less than adequate planning of field usage, poor officiating distribution and you have bred an air of contempt. $275 entry fees with hotel bills and time off for parents work are not exactly getting the product they paid for showing up for a tournament like this. This rumbling was pursuant through much of the teams I had discussions with. Unlike NSA and other rising upstart organizations, ASA does not allow an EP (extra player) or other team building rules of substitution. ASA rules are great for what they are, top teams competing at top levels, however, they are forgetting their base of "B" teams and the 14&U down to 10&U A and B teams. The rules need to be adjusted to help the general populous build teams with large rosters by allowing substitutions on a more forgiving basis. Parents and coaches are at each other's throats when they go to these ASA tournaments because of little to no playing time that the unrefined players receive. This attitude is reflected throughout this organization in middle Tennessee. It reminds me of a politician who has forgotten his voters. Sooner or later they will vote you out unless you come around. USFP and USFA are two more org's trying to break into Tennessee from Florida. USSSA is causing a stir because they are listening to coaches and parents complaints and making adjustments literally on the fly to accommodate the changing climate of girl’s competitive sports. It's amazing to me that the prophecy of competition has always been the person or team who makes the quickest adjustments will always come out on top. Why is it that the proclaimers never heed their own warnings? The TSSAA got it right by allowing double substitution in their games. This has brought more players into the game that, quite frankly, would never have received a chance. There is Always a diamond in the rough that gets overlooked in sports. Let’s lessen those chances by listening to the very ones who make it happen, the kids. The square look is out. The round and aerodynamic look is in. It's time for the Cadillac of the 80's to go back to engineering for a redesign. The Lexus and Infiniti are here and winning over the competitor’s base.

Two weekends in a row, we have shown up to tournaments only to be stood up at the proverbial altar. Last weekend, we were at Drakes Creek and played the first pool game and had the other two pool games (Rattlers and Sting)forfeited to us by NO SHOWS. This weekend, we show up to play the Knoxville Tornadoes on Frost Field no less, and we have another NO SHOW. Many parents, as I, had left work early. 4 hours early for me to get some last minute things done to drive to Chatt for a NO SHOW. My take on this is a lot of time and MONEY goes into preparing for these tournaments and the pool games are just as important as the elim. games for preparedness. No phone calls were made by any of these teams to forewarn a tournament director about any problems. I believe the summer team masses have been infiltrated by non commital/honor lacking coaches. If teams are taking this stance to not have the decency to allow a reschedule, then a penalty must be induced to propogate accountability amongst the competition. Monetarily speaking, it should be $100 for every pool game you don't show up for and a termination after two misses while being struck from playing in that tournament the next season as per "Coaches Names" and not team names. The $100 should go to the team that they would have played. Does ASA or NSA keep records of these NO SHOWS and deal with them in any way? I don't think the entry fees are hurting the teams enough to prevent this problem. What do you think? [Edited by ERA on 5/31/02 10:01P]

I learned to scuba dive when I was 9 yrs old. My father was a diver and taught lessons in the mid south for years. Spear fishing contests were the rage when I was young and my father and I use to travel and win these things all the time. Carp was the fish of choice and we would bring in 100 to 350 lbs in a day. They had a month long contest that ended on the 4th of July Picnic for AEDC. Dad brought in 1900 lbs for the month. That's a lot of Carp or Crap, whichever you prefer. We would run full throttle into a cove and make a hard 90 degree turn as we would leap off the boat at about 25 mph. Upon impact, carp would be everywhere. They are very curious. The noise would attract them. That was our secret to success. Sometimes he would come up with 3 at one time. We learned from the locals how to prepare them. And yes, you were right about eating the board and throwing the carp away. lol Anyway, that's what I did growing up. Travel diving as opposed to travel ball. Lived on the lakes 24/7!!!

Dickson County had all the right pieces of the puzzle to be the state champs. I saw talent, effort, desire and a team spirit second to none. Talent wise, this team was skilled from corner to corner with players that have played summer ball their whole careers. They have been on summer teams that have won some good tournaments and have come in second or third at lots of others. You have to give credit where it's do. The pitcher, Erin Haggard, put top performances on every summer and played as much as anyone could to get better. Erin may not be the TOP "K" pitcher in the state but she can get a lot of "K's" and most importantly get the right K or "OUT" when she needs it. That's being smart and playing within yourself. Top teams seemed to be picked consistently in this sport by the "K" count of the pitcher. Nobody ever considers how smart a pitcher has to be in tough situations. When it's late in ball games and the pitcher has been seen a few times by the lineup, Erin doesn't think it's all about her. She'll put the ball where it won't get punished and allow her teammates to get the tough out. She's smart enough to know that her teammates are there to back her up. To me, that's the consummate team player. Most top pitchers want to be the hero late in the game and will make mistakes by throwing for a K and giving a meatball because their speed has slowed. Erin lets the team help her and doesn't make that mental mistake. It's called playing as a team and nobody showcased that more than Dickson County. As far as Effort, when you played Dickson County, you saw nothing less than all out play. When someone on the team made a great play, it would be followed by several more from other players. When an error occurred, you never saw the long faces or shrugged shoulders of defeat. I saw encouragement by teammates and mental toughness second to none. Now comes Desire. What better to fuel a fire than "no respect"? This ingredient alone has fueled more players and teams throughout sports than all other ingredients combined. Take a team for granted that has desire, talent and mix that with "no respect", and you have all the ingredients of a team out to prove everyone wrong. It took the work of the coaching staff playing that card at the proper times for the big wins. While everyone else was having their "K" counts and rivalry wins, Dickson County was methodically dismembering every team in the state when they needed it. TEAM. It's a beautiful word in every aspect of life. Family, friends, coworkers and teammates can use it to kill the "Goliaths" of their domains. Dickson County discovered it and honed that single most important skill and used it with preciseness. Someday, others might follow but for now, Dickson County gets my salute for their selfless efforts and sacrifices made to put the team first before their egos. Say what you want and brag about your shortstop or pitcher. It comes down to the BEST NINE on the field. Dickson County had it this year. God Bless you for what you have shown the masses, a love and respect for each other. Quote of the Day! "A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." --- Walter Gagehot [Edited by ERA on 5/27/02 8:42A] [Edited by ERA on 5/27/02 12:36P]

Everyone knows by now that you are reputable. No need to apologize for something we know you would never do...fudge. lol Anyway, thanks for that post. I like reading them. In fact, I find your posts extraordinarily detailed. Especially from someone just watching a game. You sure you don't coach?

Del, it seems you bring out the child in people. You know, this may be the secret to the fountain of youth....if you know what I mean!lol

Del, I did enjoy it. As for TheFlash....he's vying for your lead comedian roll. That was good about the fishing scholarship. Boy, I've got work to do on my script!

Don't take this wrong but this thread is still cracking me up. Did you notice the name of the guy jumping on Del? I'm sorry but that's just too easy of a shot! (LOL)

That's what I mean. Leno needs a writer!

If you ask me what instrument I play....I'll tell you radio!...lol. Del, You're all over it. I have no doubt that the school in question was innocent with intent. I believe a school that is new to a program typically has a lot of over zealous fans and obviously one overzealous announcer. It is unfortunate for something like this to happen but for my own selfish reasons I would not have been as entertained reading such a funny thread as this in my life...WOW! You are truly a comedian. I haven't read anything this funny for a long time. You have to consider writing for Leno or something like that... anyway, I do color for WMSR's Lady Raider softball and am just a novice at best but I do know proper protocol and that's to have silence during a game from the announcer and you should only hear the fans and the umpires. I'll bet you won't have to go to Ronnie. Just keep that great humor you've got!