Balk/Illegal Pitch???

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by bkbjones

Don't make it personal, and don't should on me either. It's my question and I'll ask it how I please. Thank you.

It only sounds like you're taking it personal. Did I flame you in some way that I'm not aware of? ... Unless, you happen to be one of those people who thinks it's a personal affront whenever anybody disagrees with them.

Teams don't register with ASA just to get the rulebook. C'mon! Who believes that? They register with ASA so they can play in ASA tournaments. And teams play in ASA tournaments mostly based on geography.

If a certain community had only USSSA and NSA tournaments, then the local teams would all likely play in those tournaments. They wouldn't say, "Even though we're not going to play any ASA tournaments, let's register just to get the rulebook!"

Most coaches can't even find their rulebook. ASA sends it to them and it ends up at the bottom of their sock drawer, or, it gets tattered to shreds at the bottom of the equipment bag. (Have you ever noticed how easily the pages fall out of an ASA rulebook?)

* * *

Also, just because something is copyrighted does not necessarily prohibit the owner from making it available online to the public. If you own something you have the right to disseminate it in any manner you find appropriate. If that means making it available on the internet - so be it. MLB does it. USSSA does it. NSA does it. AFA does it. Countless other organizations do it. I'm quite certain MLB owns the rights to their rules.

I'm not arguing that ASA doesn't have the right to make their rules unavailable online; I'm only questioning, "Why?"

If it's about money, I think that is a horrible reason.

And, if the ASA "thinks" that teams will only register to get a rulebook, then that comes very close to extortion.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN