Kicking off a 31 team tournament at 8:30 A.M. tomorrow. Natch
the weather has turned cold. High to be about 50 degrees,
with wind. Easy to make a what to carry list. Long johns,
Long johns, themos with well, whatever to keep warm. Rain
forecast for Sunday, sooooo nothing unusual there. Let you know
if anything unusual happens. This is an AFA Qualifier.

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/Gif/papa.gif
glen

Brrrrr!
 

Kicking up lake effect snow tonight along the west coast of Michigan, maybe 3-5 total accumulation, temp in low teens. We're staying indoors and only dreaming of tournaments. Have fun, we are envious.

Whiskers
 

Its going to be 50% and your talking about needing long johns and thermos. Man, you guys really are weak down there in South Texas aren't you??

JUST KIDDING AROUND

Good luck and let us know if anything fun happens it will be about another 3 weeks before I have to put the gear on


Don

Not quite the lake effect stuff that they get in Michigan, but tomorrow's high should get up to 20 or so and we've got white stuff on the ground & more falling now. No sympathy here, Glen - but lots of envy & maybe even some jealousy. Have a good one.

Steve M

Whiskers,

Tell Steve Finley I said hi and I'm in D.C metro area if he is working the game. ditto for Albert Arrondo.

Thanks

Ron Aerts

Whiskers,

There is a highly competitive Fed tournament usually the first week of February in Brenaham. It is an invitational and the teams that go are 4A & 5A powerhouses as a rule.

I remember that the College Station chapter was in charge of the umpires. If you have Terry Hicks number and wanted to call in that tournament, then I would let him know you are interested. He can get you in touch with the UIC if it isn't him and they are looking for umpires.

ronald,

I am already in. Have done it for three season. UIC is Mike
Grogan. They have the annual Kickoff classic and then there
are two more. Great tournament every year so far. Although
this year it is somewhat smaller, only three full days. Had
Abliene Cooper two years ago. Great team. We have
a local team in it also PNG [Port Neches Groves]. Steve backed
out of this one. Have not seen Albert in two years. He passed
the Nats last year.

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/Gif/papa.gif
glen

Let you know how this goes.

Well gays/gals,

All I can say is, Brrrrrrrrrrr, it was in the 30's, wind chill
in 20's and the kids wearing shorts and sleveeless jerserys.
Never saw so many out of the park home runs. [200' fences].
That cold ball was jumping. The play was pretty good for this
early. Because of a shortage of umpires [probably sitting in front
of the TVhttp://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk...lookaround.gif and fireplaces - SMART], had to work four straight
one off, four more. Left the fields at 12:15 A.M. Sunday
morning. Woke up to rain. They called off the remainder of
the tournament. I was scheduled for the 18U Championship game.
Had one interference, one obstruction and a batting out of order
call. Oh yes, I did get hit in the back of the head by a catcher.
Foul ball went to screen, I moved to 3rd base side of plate and
for some dumb reason, took my eye off her position and WHAM.
She apologized for the next 4 innings. Hell, it was really my
bad. Pool play $20 [1 pool game] at plate 60mins and drop, bracket
$23 1:15 min. get a winner. Most ended on time.

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/Gif/papa.gif
glen

What a shame their intelligence didn't kick in until Sunday morning. A tournament like this is absurd. Part of me says that because too many idiots have forced the game of softball into far too long a season.
The other part is that some people would actually like to have time to do things other than their regular job and umpire softball. I hope that was the reason they were short on umpires.

To be honest with you all, I really don't care what the climate is, there is no good excuse to make softball a year-round sport.

JMHO,

Mike

It may seem absurd to you Mike, and to many others. However, if there weren't a demand for it, we wouldn't be having the tournaments. Besides, many of the tournaments that are scheduled here now are warm-up tournaments for the high school season. The season starts here in February, so it is time to start working the kinks out of winterized bones and muscles.

As for me personally, I kind of like calling ball from Feb through Nov. Keeps me on my toes and in some semblance of condition.

Scott

I agree with Scott. We start NFHS in Feb. [3rd]. The cold
weather did not put a damper on any of the gals taking part.
Most wore shorts from start to finish. We did not require that
numbers be visible, only that if questioned, they could be shown.
Some of the Northern States have indoor facilities, but not used
here because we don't have much winter as a rule.

Mike,
they have tournaments nearly every weekend around here. If not
in Beaumont, then Houston, College Station, Surlfur, La.,
somewhere.
Honestly, we were short because some really wanted to watch the
playoffs. Others just not around and we have a lot of shift
workers in our chapter.

glen

Glen,

That's my point. Umpires have lives outside of softball, but too many organizations don't understand that. My local association has been threatened with litigation a number of times because we couldn't supply a particular organization with umpires for tournaments on bad weekends. Too many folks think that if they schedule games, umpires will just appear.

My comments were not directed at umpires, but at softball organizations in general. To me, the climate is irrelevant. I've got too many other things in my life to worry about softball (which has now become a year-round job for me) all the time. Other than taking care of our dogs, house and cars, my wife and I both enjoy following college (UD) & professional football, college basketball, pro indoor lacrosse, we also love to snow ski, catch a blues festival here or there and to top that all off, my 86 year old mother in law lives with us. And, oh yeah, we both have full time jobs which makes everything else possible.

Personally, I think it long seasons are detrimental to the kids. I've seen many posts telling me about how this daughter is also a volleyball player or a cheerleader, but at the same time, the same people crucify any player who may skip a softball practice or tournament for an outside activity. I wonder how all these parents feel when they find out that there are more players than scholarships?

Sorry, but I believe softball is a spring/summer sport and should remain such.

JMHO,

WOW Mike,

You do have a busy life and sounds like a good one. Our biggest
problem getting umpires when needed is the fact that most of them
work in the refinieries and are on shift work. At times we have
so many, you wonder what the assigner was thinking. I know they
{assigners} have tough jobs. they have to try and please everyone
registered. Sometimes that is a problem. One reason I belong to
several associations. I am semi retired. Work for a house
contractor when I have nothing else and I honestly don't just mean
calling softball. I have three granddaughters I love to entertain.
In other words, spoil em rotten, then send em home.

Thanks for the reply and the URL listing.

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/Gif/papa.gif
glen

BTW, have you even been to the Newport Jazz Festival? I did when
I was stationed near there. Had a great time.

That's right, I forgot to tell you about my granddaughter!

No, I prefer the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. And I always make it a point to see my favorite artist, presently out of Austin, Texas, Marcia Ball.

Good taste....http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/singer3.gif

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glen