***NEW TOURNAMENT OPTION FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND***

[outnlftfield]

hey watchtons, ive enjoyed your team rankings and some of your posts..I beg to differ on the rr fall showcase..you must not have been watching...cmon...no coaches from colleges?

[downthepipe]

The R&R TD is a marketing genius. First, having staged his poorly-run tourneys on poorly-maintained fields, he threatens coaches with banishment from his future tournaments if they play in the new Sacto Memorial Day event. That really worked. More than 130 teams jumped to the Sacramento Tourney. Now he announces that to play in his equally shabby Sept. exposure (attended by almost no scouts) or some alphabet soup association "world series" (that no one has heard of), you first must enter one of his two lackluster early summer events. Stand by Sacto...alert the post office that they will need additonal letter carriers as a tsunami of new entries for your Memorial Day event will soon be on the way. Talk about a guy who knows how to clear a room.

[Heyall]

The RR Fall showcase admittedly DOES have some scouts there but to say a team would be impacted by not attending this fall event is a stretch to say the least. The scouts are mostly only at one park and they are there to see the same teams and the same players as they are at the major showcases elsewhere. If you're not a top-tier team or your girls have not made the contacts they should have already made via emails and phone, the scouts wouldn't be looking for you anyway and like most of the HB showcases, the vast majority of scouts are only at the one park. I think it's the park where they also have that "free" BBQ to lure them in (after paying $4 per person to get into the park). If you're one of the other 90% of the teams playing, you'll hear about all the scouts - you'll hear about the BBQ and you'll think your team is being seen and you "need" to be there, but sorry to say - it's just not the way it works!

For the other 150 teams that used to come out to the RR event, they will be just fine attending the yet-to-be-announced Fall event in Sac on this same weekend where they will continue to support the new PETA (Parents for the Ethical Treatment of Athletes) fall event!

[Old Darter]

hey watchtons, ive enjoyed your team rankings and some of your posts..I beg to differ on the rr fall showcase..you must not have been watching...cmon...no coaches from colleges?

There are coaches. JUCO, DIII, etc. The only D1 schools there are playing in the college tourney and are in and out after each game. Why are there not more D1's? Because they are playing their fall ball as well that weekend -or- are in SoCal watching those teams play. Blackballing the Sorcerer's, Lady Magic, Breeze, et al. only means the SoCal teams will not be attending the Robert Ragpala Gold fall "showcase" either. I'd imagine those teams just add an additional weekend in SoCal to their fall schedule.

[watchtonsofsoftball]

Outlftfield....
Yes there are some scouts, I guess I just mean the level. I see D3 and community colleges from around here, a couple of D2 and like the above post said, the colleges doing there fall ball. Yet those teams dont seem to be 'really' looking. I've attended this event enough to know not much materializes from it other than another weekend to play ball. Just call it that though Down south you see genuine interest and at several fields. Im not saying ALL fields down there but I have seen plenty at 16u and 18G at multiple fields. If your playing for a decent team atleast on the way home your excited to see a few checking out your team. My DD's team got 5-8 a tourney coming out and actual interest. Not some community colleges fartin' around the snack bar bullshi*tin with each other and not paying any attention to the games. Alot of times the small timers are checking out games with a ton of girls signed and a shot in hell in landing the couple that are left. Ok , I'm off my soapbox. Im just saying from my experience its a joke and you shouldn't expect your DD to get anything out of it, unless those schools are legitimately on your DD's list. If so, great! Maybe they will migrate over and show some interest. I'd love to hear if anyone has had actual success at this tourney. I've heard plenty of grumbling at this tourney to last me a life time. Think of it this way, why would any top tier college come to stockton of all places? One plane ticket to So. Cal and you can see the best of So. Cal, Nor Cal, AZ and a token WA and OR team. Its bang for the buck and every college is trying to get CA players. Get em all in one place. But I'm sure you all knew this already!

[Old Darter]

I have a STRONG feeling this will back fire on RR and their tournaments from this point forward. RR's CUSTOMERS, other than the Good Ol Boys club (Grapes & Strike Zone), are tired of bully tactics and a lousy product. In the end, the RR tourneys will be for weaker A teams looking for self confidence and B division. The competitive teams will go where they are treated with respect and not just an entry fee$$$$$.

I am surprised that the CC Comets are not supporting their home association and still playing in Stockton.

[downthepipe]

I couldn't agree more, Old Darter. I'll bet the Sacramento tournament organizers have already added the RR TD to their Christmas card list. In a crazy way, he is their biggest benefactor. Amazing!

[NumeroUno]

This is heybucket's third year of existence. This site has brought a lot of positive things to the softball world. Members on Heybucket have helped girls who had their equipment lost or stolen. Members on Heybucket have donated money to families that have lost loved ones without even knowing who these people are. There are a lot a great things that have come from this site but there is also a lot of trash talking. There is nothing wrong with expressing your feelings but when things start getting out of control and posts are getting personal that needs to stop.

The majority of the people are on here for the right reasons but we all need to sit back and think before we post something ugly. I don't think any of you would want your daughters sending texts to their peers and trash talking them so I think we all should practice what we preach and start treating each other with a little more respect. Just because we are on different teams or different organization does not make us enemies. All I ask is try to stay a little bit more positive and before you post something nasty about someone, ask yourself if you would say that to that person face to face. That is my lecture for the day and it might not be a very good one but that's all I have for now

Peace

[Pony Boy]

Just curious now that gate fees and bringing ice chests into a softball complex are so important, are the CA Breeze at their tournament this weekend doing the same? Also, I heard Triple Crown Tournament was $495, bring your own balls, they were charging gate fees, and no ice chests w/ a 4 game guarantee!! So tell me why are you just bashing one organization? Let's be fair across the board. Some things do need to change!! And all the Orginaztions should be accountable to this standard if that's what "WE" want!!

[Heyall]

A few may have turned to bashing the org but my/our beef has always been with not only gate fees and no coolers but also with poor field conditions at best. Sure, Arnaiz has nice fields (although I personally think the place is a death trap), but ever been to Louis? Or Regional out by the airport? They're usually overgrown outfields (measured in inches deep weed) and dusty uneven infields. Most of the time, we're lucky to see chalk on the field more than twice a day and they rarely if ever water. For this, we pay showcase rates and unless the teams are one of the 6 or 8 that are top-tier, attendance by colleges is sparse. The Memorial day event is right in the midst of super-regionals so colleges are up to their earballs in play.

Folks finally resisted and Gary provided an alternative. Over 130 of them have taken advantage of that alternative which I would say is a pretty good mandate. Even bigger than Obama! Now, if other teams want to play in an over-priced showcase of dust and weed they can still do so in the Fall. Apparently though, that's not even possible because in order to play in the Fall, you would have had to play in the Spring. Unless of course, you're from SoCal where there are some sort of "Travel Restrictions" which only allows teams to go south to play and not come north.

As to Triple Crown... who cares what they do? No events in NorCal anyway and what 18 team wants to go to Salinas???