Is the game actually ruined?

[Joker]

try using paragraphs next time

 

[swingnmiss]

Seems like two camps have been formed. The one of guys who can get it out and want to get them out more often and further.......And one of the guys who can't and don't want to see it done as often because they're not the ones doing it. Pretty interestin dynamic.

 

[swingnmiss]

A lot of the douche bags in softball forget what it used to be about, that was fun. I played in a league that was very competitive (for league), each team had two or three guys that could hit it out, IF they hit it good, and we all had "that" guy on the team that was just funny watching try to catch and throw, and if he got on base it was a bonus. Any given night the first place team could lose to the last. Two other guys from the team I was on (my employer sponsored team) and a few guys from other teams (a local plumbing co. and a bar) that wanted a little more serious and competitive ball would get together on the weekends and do tourneys, all three teams would stop at the bar to screw around talk **** and allow us to talk tourney, and if we were going to be short for the weekend, pick up a guy. Fast forward to today.... Everyone wants to win at any cost. They form a tourney team and go into leagues and destroy people, but not in a fun way, they act like asshats while doing it, and the league starts to fall apart, or the league director says go find a new league and they come onto SBF and cry like a *****. It's not fun to beat on teams that are not as good as you in league, and it's not fun to go into a tourney and destroy everyone, because you wanted to sandbag for the prize. It's not worth the effort for recreational players to play the game any more. There is 3 times the amount of things to do today then there was years ago. Youth Sports is a full time commitment, and no longer two nights and a Saturday game, Kick ball, Volleyball, dodgeball, Video games, concerts, festivals, social media, people are working longer hours for the same pay, etc etc, Softball has to compete with it all. It has to be fun for everyone, not just the good players. It's your fault, look in the mirror. The diehards are killing the game. Attitude, of get to my level, cheating, and sandbagging. You don't see the average Joe in the beer league with his Cyclone doing it. The people that are serious about the game are the ones that are ruining it and making it a serious commitment then a recreational sport. The only way it's going to get fixed is to stop forming "super" teams to win league ball, when you form a "super" team, play at your level, and take your lumps until you get better, get to the next level, and play for fun. The funny thing is you'll see guys telling people to work at getting better, and when you tell them to fly a kite they say, "My team has won E or D State 4 years straight." So you won D or E state for years, and are telling people to get better? What about you moving up to the next level, or would losing hurt your vagina? Get to your level? LMAO If every competitive team split into 4ths and invited 7 or 8 family and friends, and coworkers to play ball, no matter what ability level you'd fill every park in the country, with good fun softball. But you may not win every game, so lets just take our tourney team into the e rec league and crush everyone, because that makes us men. It's not the balls and bats, and if you think so, you're wrong. In the late 80s and early 90s I could count the number of HR in each game on a 285 foot fence 47cor Blue or 50cor Red Dots, on one hand, and it was unlimited home runs. It's not fun if everyone can hit a HR.

I'm done...

Too....****ing......much......reading

 

[chrometip78]

I think less of anyone who actually read all that.

 

[louconn]

Seems like two camps have been formed. The one of guys who can get it out and want to get them out more often and further.......And one of the guys who can't and don't want to see it done as often because they're not the ones doing it. Pretty interestin dynamic.

if only they had a way to seperate these different camps into different divisions that allowed them to be competitive and suitable for their skill levels.

 

[getsideways]

Everyone? I don't think so. You mean everyone in your area? It sounds like crap and people assume it's not hot, but if you switch to it in the summer and they see it flies better than the 44/375 when it's over 100 then they'll feel differently.

Perception is reality for 99% of people. Let them hit the 52s when it'll outperform or keep up with the others instead of switching in January like most places do when the lower cors are king because of the cold.

I'm with Frojoe, people are used to the lower cor balls hugging the ground, but I'd rather time hops again (like I did in baseball and softball with 47/525s for years) than just get low on ground huggers and hope they don't jump up and crack my face.

Yes everyone that plays in our league, And No when its 90 out Thunder Advances (an excellent .44 375) still fly WAY better then the .52s

 

[huzzdog]

i feel like this topic has lost it's luster. the beginning was, is the game ruined. the answer is yes.

 

[stork]

I don't know what the problem is, I am still having fun. Your expectations are out of whack. Those damn expectations.

 

[Joker]

we scored 18 in our first game using 2 of the 3 HRs. we scored 26 runs in the 2nd game, not 1 HR was hit. it was still fun

 

[chrometip78]

I don't know what the problem is, I am still having fun. Your expectations are out of whack. Those damn expectations.

we scored 18 in our first game using 2 of the 3 HRs. we scored 26 runs in the 2nd game, not 1 HR was hit. it was still fun

Peculiar.... You both say you have fun. Do either of you spend a lot of time crying about the game? Also, do you show up and just play ball?

 

[stork]

Peculiar.... You both say you have fun. Do either of you spend a lot of time crying about the game? Also, do you show up and just play ball?

I want to cry about the game, I just have writers block. Then I want to cry at the game, but I am too focused on the game to spot people questioning my manhood. What am I doing wrong?

 

[chrometip78]

I want to cry about the game, I just have writers block. Then I want to cry at the game, but I am too focused on the game to spot people questioning my manhood. What am I doing wrong?

Nothing, that's your manly essence protecting you from turning into a p*ssy.

 

[stork]

That's cuz I don't shower after work before going to play.

 

[huzzdog]

if you can't hit homers you can have fun playing softball.. if you can hit homers but the rules say you can't it's less fun. i don't see how that's even debatable.

 

[stork]

We can debate anything here whether we believe it or not. That is the only undebatable thing on SBF. And even that is up for debate.
Wait a sec.

 

[Joker]

if you can hit HRs and you're playing at a level that doesn't allow HRs, you need to move up

 

[louconn]

yeh, the classification system is what's flawed in the associations. i looked up WA USSSA a couple weeks ago and there are like 10 registered C, 30 D teams and like 1200 E teams. there is the problem.

 

[ilyk2win]

yeh, the classification system is what's flawed in the associations. i looked up WA USSSA a couple weeks ago and there are like 10 registered C, 30 D teams and like 1200 E teams. there is the problem.

You have more C and D teams than most other states. What's the problem?

 

[stork]

If you are not challenging yourself in this game, even if it is just for fun ultimately, you should just quit. Otherwise you are just a bunch of Al Bundy's.

 

[louconn]

the classification system is what's broken. the saturation of E and rec is laughable. i do think hr limits should be increased, but i do not think it's "ruined" softball. i think rec should be limited to 0 hr's and maybe 3 for E and maybe go up 3hrs per division increase. i dunno. makes more sense. i think the 0 in E and D was supposed to be a deterrent that has obviously failed.

 

[MJL 00]

if you can hit HRs and you're playing at a level that doesn't allow HRs, you need to move up

haha you sound like our state softball board

the classification system is what's broken. the saturation of E and rec is laughable. i do think hr limits should be increased, but i do not think it's "ruined" softball. i think rec should be limited to 0 hr's and maybe 3 for E and maybe go up 3hrs per division increase. i dunno. makes more sense. i think the 0 in E and D was supposed to be a deterrent that has obviously failed.

With the bats now ive seen guys that do not even close belong in ball except for rec hit HRs. I played upper and now play with buddies at the rec level, IMO think 2 HR's per tourney game is not crazy. Heard this year Nats in our state there were @200 HR for inning ending outs. That's just stupid

But what do I know

 

[swingnmiss]

if you can't hit homers you can have fun playing softball.. if you can hit homers but the rules say you can't it's less fun. i don't see how that's even debatable.

Agreed....................I've played unlimited home run tourneys and been roped into playing no home run tourneys.....The unlimited ones were sooooo much more fun. Get up there and take your hacks and if you don't hit one 400' you're hitting a 100mph line drive somewhere. The zero homerun tourneys I walk up to the plate and think, "Middle......Backside.....Liner.....Grounder......WHATEVER YOU DO MORON.......DO NOT HIT ONE OUT OF THE PARK." Fun, but just not as fun.

 

[sjury]

try using paragraphs next time

But...but... No one else does....:17:

if you can't hit homers you can have fun playing softball.. if you can hit homers but the rules say you can't it's less fun. i don't see how that's even debatable.

See next statement....

if you can hit HRs and you're playing at a level that doesn't allow HRs, you need to move up

Exactly.....and it wasn't even a paragraph.

Agreed....................I've played unlimited home run tourneys and been roped into playing no home run tourneys.....The unlimited ones were sooooo much more fun. Get up there and take your hacks and if you don't hit one 400' you're hitting a 100mph line drive somewhere. The zero homerun tourneys I walk up to the plate and think, "Middle......Backside.....Liner.....Grounder......WHATEVER YOU DO MORON.......DO NOT HIT ONE OUT OF THE PARK." Fun, but just not as fun.

Well now that's the problem. You shouldn't have to worry about hitting hr, it never used to be a problem. With today's bats and balls, half the guys can hit it out with some sort of regularity, if they're good. It used to be only a handful of guys would have that ability. So restricting homeruns was not needed, because you'd be lucky to have 5 or 6 a game. If you think you're a homerun hitter, then pick up an old double wall, anyone, and swing away, if you're still hitting hr, then you're a homerun hitter, if not then your a product of equipment and not really the masher you think you are.

 

[jbo911]

A lot of the douche bags in softball forget what it used to be about, that was fun. I played in a league that was very competitive (for league), each team had two or three guys that could hit it out, IF they hit it good, and we all had "that" guy on the team that was just funny watching try to catch and throw, and if he got on base it was a bonus. Any given night the first place team could lose to the last. Two other guys from the team I was on (my employer sponsored team) and a few guys from other teams (a local plumbing co. and a bar) that wanted a little more serious and competitive ball would get together on the weekends and do tourneys, all three teams would stop at the bar to screw around talk **** and allow us to talk tourney, and if we were going to be short for the weekend, pick up a guy. Fast forward to today.... Everyone wants to win at any cost. They form a tourney team and go into leagues and destroy people, but not in a fun way, they act like asshats while doing it, and the league starts to fall apart, or the league director says go find a new league and they come onto SBF and cry like a *****. It's not fun to beat on teams that are not as good as you in league, and it's not fun to go into a tourney and destroy everyone, because you wanted to sandbag for the prize. It's not worth the effort for recreational players to play the game any more. There is 3 times the amount of things to do today then there was years ago. Youth Sports is a full time commitment, and no longer two nights and a Saturday game, Kick ball, Volleyball, dodgeball, Video games, concerts, festivals, social media, people are working longer hours for the same pay, etc etc, Softball has to compete with it all. It has to be fun for everyone, not just the good players. It's your fault, look in the mirror. The diehards are killing the game. Attitude, of get to my level, cheating, and sandbagging. You don't see the average Joe in the beer league with his Cyclone doing it. The people that are serious about the game are the ones that are ruining it and making it a serious commitment then a recreational sport. The only way it's going to get fixed is to stop forming "super" teams to win league ball, when you form a "super" team, play at your level, and take your lumps until you get better, get to the next level, and play for fun. The funny thing is you'll see guys telling people to work at getting better, and when you tell them to fly a kite they say, "My team has won E or D State 4 years straight." So you won D or E state for years, and are telling people to get better? What about you moving up to the next level, or would losing hurt your vagina? Get to your level? LMAO If every competitive team split into 4ths and invited 7 or 8 family and friends, and coworkers to play ball, no matter what ability level you'd fill every park in the country, with good fun softball. But you may not win every game, so lets just take our tourney team into the e rec league and crush everyone, because that makes us men. It's not the balls and bats, and if you think so, you're wrong. In the late 80s and early 90s I could count the number of HR in each game on a 285 foot fence 47cor Blue or 50cor Red Dots, on one hand, and it was unlimited home runs. It's not fun if everyone can hit a HR.

I'm done...

I didn't read all of this, but I think this is caused by the equipment. When it took some skill to hit, the douches either practiced and learned some sportsmanship or just quit. Now, it's so easy to hit the ball hard the game has more guys that never played baseball or organized sports of any time and they think they're big stuff if they win anything. That's who made the win at all costs attitude the problem it is today. It used to just be the teams with the douchebag "coaches" who had never won anything before.

Yes everyone that plays in our league, And No when its 90 out Thunder Advances (an excellent .44 375) still fly WAY better then the .52s

There is a reason the Thunder Advance and all multi-layer balls are illegal everywhere except ISA. They aren't actually what they're labeled. Plus, like I said, that's just your area. If there aren't many shaved bats and sandbagging there I think regular 44/375s are just fine when it's hot out. When it's 50 those TAs are closer to Stadium balls though.

Well now that's the problem. You shouldn't have to worry about hitting hr, it never used to be a problem. With today's bats and balls, half the guys can hit it out with some sort of regularity, if they're good. It used to be only a handful of guys would have that ability. So restricting homeruns was not needed, because you'd be lucky to have 5 or 6 a game. If you think you're a homerun hitter, then pick up an old double wall, anyone, and swing away, if you're still hitting hr, then you're a homerun hitter, if not then your a product of equipment and not really the masher you think you are.

This is all I'm saying about the equipment. E teams around here enter unlimited or 5-10 homerun tournies all the time and hit all their homeruns, and still sometimes hit them for outs. These same guys could've free swung all year in '97 and hit maybe 1 or 2 for the entire year.

 

[franknwhit]

E-Rec and E uses wood bats, D uses single wall bats after that composites.

 

[gaternation]

E-Rec and E uses wood bats, D uses single wall bats after that composites.

Good idea, that will really bring in more people to play the game genius

 

[franknwhit]

Good idea, that will really bring in more people to play the game genius

HLS :bigok:

 

[jbo911]

It could bring some pride back to the game. I'd make it E uses metal, and then on up uses composites, but the sentiment is the same. It could encourage people to move up. I think that, plus changing the prizes for each level would do the most to move the competent up.

 

[Waggs]

The most fun tournaments usually have 3 divisions.Declare your preferred placement to help with seeding games. Play 3 games get placed by that record and seeded. Double elimination. Most good players wont sandbag as saying we won Lower is harder to brag about than we won a E tournament. 12-24 teams works best. This format gets more league teams out for tournies as the get to play without getting rolled. Than these league teams start combining and making more competitive teams. Hr limits is the wrong way to classify teams. Once classified correctly a progressive or plus one or even designated hr hitter will give enough long balls to keep things fun. Softball is a hr sport and more times than not the losing of balls is more a reason Tourney directors make low hr limits than anything to do with sandbagging. Giving teams 3 balls with there team name with option to buy more spares or replacements for when there on offense keeps balls coming back. 44/375 or 44/400 is a good ball choice unless fields are tiny. Stadium tournaments with unlimited hr's are lot of fun and not done enough as well. Bring the fun back and teams will show. Bat rules hardly matter the new bats are all so good now. Most tournies here are anything but senior and nobody complains. Using a 52/300 and any bat should be allowed.

 

[natedd]

Definitely sucks when you go play the lowest level at a complex and you have the guys that play 3-4 days of league then tournies playing in e. Then you try to play a e level toys for tots and its c+ players all over in the e division. Pretty much makes new people want to stop playing. Pretty much League directors ad Tourney directors not giving 2 ****s causing the issues.