OCTOBER 30 2007 UPDATE

COMMITMENTS

Ashleigh Viers-Gordillo, SoCal Sliderz Gold, ‘08 1^st, to Boise State University.

Jessica Coan '08 (P) of East Cobb Bulletts Gold to Georgia Tech

Reagan Page '08 (INF) of Atlanta Travelers Elite to Georgetown University

Katherine Martin '08 (1B) of Atlanta Travelers Elite to North Georgia

Kerri Nidiffer '08 (P) of Atlanta Travelers Elite to Mercer

Sarah Stukes '08 (SS) of Atlanta Travelers Elite to Mercer

Erin O'Shea '08 (P) of Atlanta Travelers Elite to Elon

Illinois Chill commitments

Daniela Torres (3B/SS), Miami (OH)
Chelsea Mayer (P), Texas El Paso
Pam Nicholson (P/OF), South Dakota St.

All American Sports Academy 18-Gold

Tanya Holguin - (2009 Graduate) Has verbally Committed to San Diego State University

CLOSING THE 4 WEEK WINDOW

The coming weekend includes the Batbuster/Surf City pre-Thanksgiving tournament – 205 teams at nine sites – and more than 100 teams at the Ronald McDonald, playing at three complexes.  There are a few smaller tournaments as well, like the TNT tournament noted below, the Fall Classic in Sterling, VA, and the Tennessee tournament in Murfreesboro (which will attract many SEC and other sector colleges).

While the NFCA inspired and NCAA mandated fall recruiting calendar has another weekend to run, the preliminary verdict is that it has been a disaster!

To be sure, NFCA power brokers who impositioned this calendar on travel ball will say that they are not responsible for the rain which wiped out the first Surf City tournament, nor the fires which blocked out the America’s Finest City tournament, or the rains which cancelled two of three days of the Rising Stars.

But, the fact that these tournaments, whether conducted or not, had grown to such great proportions, is a direct result of this impossibly bad decision – bad for travel ball, and bad for the college recruiters.  How can any college hope to see players at nine different sites this weekend?  The desire by certain big schools to minimize the competition in D1 has resulted in a number of D1 schools being denied adequate opportunity.

Before their intervention, there would have been 21 tournaments spread across 12 weeks – with no requirement that any D1 school attend all, or in fact, any of the 21.  But, for the travel ball community, the more diverse schedule offered repeat opportunities for players to be seen, if not at a big tournament that was rained out, then at a smaller tournament earlier or later in the fall.

Consider the opportunity costs.  There are opportunity costs involved in all human endeavor, ie, the benefit of the decision made compared to the foregone benefits available from other options not taken.  From a cost-benefit perspective, the 4-week window is ludicrous.

More than 400 teams signed up for Surf City 1, AFC and Rising Stars.  The anticipation was for three recruiting days per tournament, or 3600 individual recruiting opportunities, multiplied by however many games were played by each team.  Most tournaments these days give a 6-game guarantee.

Assume that a team spends $10,000 per tournament; that team has bought nine recruiting days and spent $30,000 to attend three tournaments, and the entire field of teams has ponied up $4 million.  In effect, each team has spent $3,333 to buy each of nine recruiting days at three tournaments, ie, a day on which the players are theoretically available to be seen.  In effect, a team entered in these three tournaments has incurred a loss of $26,667 as the opportunity cost of the recruiting days lost to rain, wind and fire.

But, were it not for the 4-week window, those teams could minimize that opportunity cost by attending smaller, regional tournaments, which always drew a fair share of college coaches.  Instead, those smaller tournaments have felt compelled by the NFCA/NCAA decision to reschedule into the same four week window.

Moreover, the actual opportunity costs are much higher – because these major tournaments would have been conducted at a more manageable size were it not for the fact that every team was compelled to play in these over-crowded tournaments by the window.  In the actual event, team after team found themselves playing on outlier fields with few if any college scouts present.

The language attached to the NCAA decision memo spoke of educational enhancement, ie, players would be attending classes instead of playing at tournaments throughout the fall.  Nonsense!  The girls play travel ball for the same reason that colleges practice every day and many of them play fall ball.  Players love the sport; they are competing for starting berths when the competitive season starts; they want to be in condition.

However, instead of enhancing educational opportunity, the window diminished it.  Parent after parent was screaming mad because, in order to satisfy the demands of what they perceive as a selfish move by certain big schools to minimize their competition, these players on most of these 400 teams will have missed two days of school for three consecutive weeks.  If each team averages 18 players (an ASA roster), these 400 teams missed 14,400 days of school. – and there is a final weekend yet to be played.  Under the old schedule, many of these teams would have played perhaps two large tournaments and played other tournaments closer to home, minimizing lost school days.

Perhaps all of this satisfies some agenda for the schools which promoted the window.  NFCA adamantly refuses to say who actually voted in favor when it conducted a poll through its conference committee.  Although there is no provision in NFCA bylaws for secret ballots, NFCA maintains the list is secret.  Coach Carol Hutchins of Michigan introduced the resolution at NFCA and by all accounts has been its most vociferous advocate.  But, obviously, Hutchins is not alone. Oregon State’s Kirk Walker has offered resolutions in recent years to minimize college recruiting.  However, as many smaller school coaches have said to SPY, the big schools believed to have been behind this move are natural magnets – they don’t need the recruiting opportunities of many if not most D1 schools.  Thus, the widespread belief is that this window serves very narrow interests.

At the coming NFCA convention, SPY will attempt to introduce two resolutions.  The first will implore NCAA to prohibit verbal commitments before a player completes her sophomore year of highschool.  The second will seek the repeal of the window by asking NCAA to vacate its previous decision.  If that motion reaches the NFCA floor, perhaps then we will know who supports this farce.  RFH

MORE RISING STARS RESULTS

AASA  1           Miami-Dade JC  6

Caitlin Girard (08)   1-2

AASA  6           Davie Power-Black  0

Bailey Micetich  (08)  1 hitter

Courtney Ceo (2010)   2-3, 2 runs

Katie Turner  (09)   2-2, 2 RBI’s

Tanya Holguin (09)   2-2, 2 RBI’s

AASA   5          NC Triangle Lightning  0

Tanya Holguin (09) & Mickell Escobar (09) combined 2-hitter

Stesha Brazil (2010)  1-2, 2B and 2 RBI’s

Kayla Oneill  (08)   1-2 RBI

Carly Corthell (2010)  1-2 RBI

JJ Wagoner  (09)  1-1

Explanation:  The Davie Power vs Arizona Storm Beach score was actually Storm 3, Davie Power 0...The Power homerun came at the top of the last inning which tied the game. Time expired before Storm had a chance to bat, so the score reverted back to 3-0...

A COMPLAINT ABOUT RISING STARS

SPY published several pro and con views on Surf City.  The following complaint about Rising Stars was echoed by several readers, some of whom think Rising Stars should refund their money in proportion to the number of games missed.  SPY makes no apology for not visiting other fields, after spending about $1,000 just to be at Rising Stars after San Diego was burned out.  SPY covered Bamford games from 10am, when they started Saturday, until rains washed out the final games.

Mr. Hesse, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading your softball articles each day.  Your "editorials" are great, too, and I really like your side stories about some of your past experiences.  You have a very interesting life!!

Since your site is seen by so many people, I thought maybe you could mention this.  There may be some that disagree with this, but I think there are many more who would agree.  My daughter's team attended the Rising Stars showcase this past weekend.  We traveled from the west coast, so it was quite an investment.  The girls wrote the college coaches, sent their schedules, asked them to please come watch them play.  The team played at one of the "satellite" fields.  There were few college coaches to be seen.  When we drove over to the Bamford fields, the place was crawling with recruiters.  On Sunday, when the Bamford games were canceled, we saw quite a few more coaches at our field, I guess because there was nowhere else to go.

At Rising Stars, a team is scheduled at one field for the entire weekend.  If  you are lucky enough to get the Bamford location, you are a winner!  You get seen all weekend long.  I heard there were quite a few recruiters at the Piccolo fields, but I don't know that for sure.  You yourself stayed at the Bamford and never went to any of the satellite fields.  Who can blame you or the recruiters?  With 15 fields at one location, what incentive is there to go anywhere else? 

But what about the players at all the other fields?  Even though they did what everyone says to do, the recruiters don't show up.  This happens all the time at showcases.  If you don't get the #1 location, you often don't get seen.  It's just a fact that most recruiters won't stray from the main showcase fields.  So why not spread the teams around at the #1 location??  Batbusters at least try to do this, by rotating teams to different fields on Saturday & Sunday.  Why can't Rising Stars do this?  With 15 fields and probably 8 games per field each day, surely they could get almost all 200+ teams at least 2 games at the Bamford complex, and probably 3 games if you throw in the Friday games.  Wouldn't this be more equitable than just having 91 teams be seen all weekend long at Bamford?

There are a lot of teams that spent a lot of money to get to Florida last weekend, and as far as recruiting, it was almost a bust.  Perhaps the Rising Stars showcase organizers can take this into account when scheduling the January games.  Are these showcases really for the girls, or is it all about the money?  The Batbusters showcases have become so big, that they are really only scrimmages for most of the teams, unless you get some games at HB Sports Complex.  Same goes for Rising Stars.  It's not worth the money unless you get at least some games at the best fields. 

Sorry for rambling, and I hope this makes sense & I've gotten my point across.  Bottom line - let as many teams as possible play at Bamford.  They have 2.5 days to get teams some games at Bamford.  Surely this is possible.  Maybe some of the teams that have been going to Rising Stars for years will be upset that they don't play all their games at Bamford, but isn't all this for ALL the girls????

Thanks for listening.

A Softball Mom

TNT TOURNAMENT THIS WEEKEND

THINGS THEY ARE A’CHANGING

Contemplate: Joe Torre manages the Dodgers and takes Don Mattingly with him.  Then, the Bums pick up A-Rod’s contract.  Can Mariano and Jorge be far behind?

THE EVE OF ALL HALLOWS

As tomorrow night is properly known, precedes All Saints Day on November 1, and All Souls Day on November 2.  This year, I will be remembering from among the notables who have died in the last two months: Deborah Kerr, Joey Bishop, Vincent DeDomenico (who gave Boomers rice-a-roni to raise their kids), Max McGee of Packer Super Bowl fame; Pavarotti (the greatest tenor of all), Porter Wagoner, Teresa Brewer, actor Lonny Chapman (an Oklahoman who made it as a character actor on Broadway, in TV and in the movies), French mercenary Bob Denard, the Flying Tiger David Lee “Tex” Hill (my boyhood hero), the great race horse John Henry, actor George Grizzard, Miss Moneypenny Lois Maxwell, Marcel Marceaux, Jane Wyman, Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn a very gracious lady from Washington, and Dan Keating, the last surviving IRA member to fight in the Irish war of independence.  And, of course so many others of note, as well as members of my own family.   (Ed Rector, Tex Hill, Johnny Petac and the other daring pilots who flew for the American Volunteer Group, or Flying Tigers, achieved mythic status during and after WWII and inspired my learning to fly; every Sunday during the war and afterwards we anxiously scoured the comics for the latest exploits of Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon and other flyers.)

SCARY STATS

TSA screeners at LAX missed 75% of simulated explosive; O’Hare’s TSA screeners missed 60%; but, private screeners caught 80% of fake bombs at San Francisco.

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