dustyshoes wrote:soupy62 wrote:SoftballG wrote:PGF should team up with LL as an open / travel World Series to get the more polished version of fastpitch in front of the masses and garner more attention / support. I also hate seeing softball games on baseball fields but that's jmho.
Thats a great idea! As far as the baseball field comment though they did change that 2 years ago. They brought in someone that pulls out all the sod the week before the tourney and replace the sod the day after the tourney is over.
This idea has been kicked around before on HB and I remember a poster commented that higher level softball doesn't necessarily translate into a better TV product. What makes LL baseball and to a lesser extent LL softball a good tv product is the way they sell it as a small town in anywhere USA is shutting down to follow their team and cheer them on at the world series.
The finals of a high level travel national tournament tends to look like a ghost town, most of the teams have gone home and it's just a few softball mercenaries and their parents left. That's what I've heard they're like anyway, I always seem to be in that crowd that's going home with most of the other teams.
There isnt any reason that PGF or ASA couldnt try to piggyback off little league and show the semi's and final. So that the hometown thing could still be upheld and the travel aspect could be seen. It would open peopel eyes a bit. Last year when we won the Little League World Series many people in our town truely believed that we were the best team in the WORLD... LOL. about the first 300 times i tried to explian what travel ball was after it got old explaining that there is an entire other world of softball. We werent even the best team in IL let alone the WORLD.
But Whoever did it would have to tweak the format. The whole "IF" game would really put a hamper on the idea. There would need to be a scheduled "For all the marbles" game. Maybe call the last 4 in the winners bracket be the final 4. The winner of the loser bracket would be considered 5th, you could even have a 3rd 4th place game but TV would want to be able to play the game as the National Championship, i highly doubt they would do an IF game and think of the issue's if that game did need to happen.
With all that said i doubt it even happens. No way Little League would ever allow another league to be promoted through there ogranization. It would be pretty cool if that could ever get worked out though!