My team is going to Milwaukee again for the Labor Day tournament, though I won't be playing. Anybody else going to Milwaukee or somewhere else?

My team (of which I am coach) will be in Austin for their third-annual tournament. Austin has rejoined NAGAAA, and is starting up this new tradition. So far it is drawing teams from Houston, Austin, Dallas, and OKC--12 teams entered as I type this.

George - I'll be playing in Milwaukee. Are you going, or just your team?

I'm going with my team but unfortunately I'll be on the DL. I'll be managing only.

George!! I hear ya' man!

I will be bringing back my T-Baggers's to Milwaukee, but I also will only be coaching/managing as I too am on the DL. :-(

I've said it before, but Milwaukee does a GREAT job with their tournament. A real emphasis on FUN and keeping things inexpensive. A perfect mix!

Here are the teams registered for Milwaukee: DairyLand Classic

More teams than last year. SO many from Minneapolis/St. Paul. I'm surprised there are only 3 from Chicago.

My team - The Towel Boys (yes we are sponsored by a bath house) are playing in the Rendez-Vous du Lys tournament in Montreal Labour Day weekend. It usually gets teams from New York, Boston, about 10 from Toronto, Ottawa and other places. I don't see an updated list yet on the tournament website, so I have no idea who is going this year.

That weekend is always a blast in Montreal and this year the entire gay village is going to be one giant multi-sport festival/street party all weekend long with Ste Catherine Street closed to traffic. It is part of the Rendez-Vous Gold edition, leading up to next year's Outgames in Montreal. Here is a link to some of the activities planned over that weekend.

http://www.montreal2006.org/en_rendez-vous...llage_2005.html

Pat

[ August 23, 2005, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Travelpat ]

I forgot to mention on my last post that a couple of Toronto teams are headed to Milwaukee too. (Just had a couple of players book their flights).

I hope they get better weather than the one time I played in the Milwaukee tournament. It was probably about 10 - 12 years ago on a Memorial Day weekend. On the Saturday morning it started to rain at daybreak and the temperature dropped from the mid - 70's to the low 50's within two hours. And there was a fierce cold northerly wind tht kept up all weekend long. And of course nobody on our team had any cold weather clothes. We ended up even 'borrowing' the comforters from our hotel room beds and had them wrapped around us all day at the fields.

In spite of that I do remember we had a lot of fun that weekend though!

Have a good tournament guys!
Pat

If Milwaukee gets weather like they did LAST year, it will be sunny, upper 80's and BEAUTIFUL! Let's hope.

Last Saturday, we completed the Gay World Series of Softball here in SD. Here are the results: Link to story. The victors in the Men's A Division, the LA Vipers, are the latest reincarnation of the Stray Cats. Hope the tournament in Milwaukee is just as fun!

Good story, and had a great time out there -- I could live in San Diego (well, except for the $250,000 studio apartments and the price of gas). Wish my team played a little better in the double elimination portion of the tournament, though we did play well in round robin.

San diego was alot of fun. SO was the tournament. our team finished 7th in the b division and c team placed 1st and fourth. am looking forward to next years series in Ft lauderdale.

I can only imagine that next year's will be a scaled down version. I don't see how most folks will be able to take 2 full weeks off in the middle of the summer (1 for Gay Games or Outgames, and 1 for GWS). It's too bad they couldn't have come up with a way to have the GWS as part of the Gay Games. Oh well, wishful thinking.

Ft. Lauderdale in August = OUCH eek!

[ August 26, 2005, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: softballstud ]

actually there are alot of people from my understanding who would rather participate in different sports other than softball at the games and then come to fl for the softball series. who knows.

If I have to choose between Gay Games and the World Series, I'd go to the World Series. I think that tournament will have better competition because there are limits on how many teams a league can send - most leagues send their top 2 in each division. I'd rather play against the best teams in the country than go to a tournament where any team that can scrape together the entry fee can enter.

Hey Weaselman:
I can see where you are coming from on that, and I agree that the level of play has been better for the most part at the World Series than what it has being at previous Gay Games. And it would not surprise me if the same is true next year in relation to the Gay Games or Outgames.

But as someone who has played in both the Gay World Series twice, NAGVA volleyball a couple of times as well, and been in three Gay Games, there is just no comparison.

The Gay World Series or NAGVA are good high level competitions - yes - but with athletes just from a couple of countries, totalling maybe 1500 or so players. Most of those players are people you see all the time at other tournaments in those sports, with comparable backgrounds for the most part - and it is really just one big single sport tournament. The Gay Games or Outgames on the other hand are EVENTS. There are entire cultural and entertainment programs built up around them that bring in not only the 10,000 - 15,000 athletes but tens of thousands of others from around the world to join in. They take part in 30+ different sports, participants at all age levels, from dozens of countries around the world, (Over 90 different countries already have people registered for Montreal), people from all kinds of different cultures, with opening or closing ceremonies before as many as 40,000+ fans in the past in places like Yankee Stadium, Amsterdam Arena, Syndey Football Stadium, BC Place Stadium, and next year Soldier Field, Wrigley Field and Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

It is an event that can create a buzz thorugh the entire city, not just a small area of the gay village and around a few ball diamonds. The entire city can get caught up in all the festivities surrounding the event. Certainly that was the case in Amsterdam and will be in Montreal, and to perhaps a slightly lesser degree but nonetheless still there in Chicago.

It is just completely on a different level. Other friends of mine who between us have played in many World Series and NAGVA volleyball championships, who have also taken part in Gay Games will agree with me on this.

Personally on a scale of 1 - 10, of anything I have done in my gay sports 'career' if I were to rate my Gay Games experiences - they get a '10'. I would be giving either NAGVA or Gay World Series a 7 on that scale. I remember talking to my friend Brett from Chicago just after the opening ceremonies in Amsterdam. Brett had been to some Olympic trials in swimming, yet he was absolutely on cloud nine and could not stop talking about how much his heart was racing for the entire march into the stadium. He said he was just on 'this incredible high'. He said he kept shouting to his friends - 'Just soak this in guys - soak this in - this is our Olympics -you may never have this feeling again!.

That is typical of the reaction of people taking part in the Gay Games and will be the reaction for both the Gay Games and Outgames next year.

If any of you have never been to a Gay Games before - I would say if you can - you have to give either Chicago or Montreal a try next year. You will be blown away! Nothing you have done before in your gay sports life will compare. You can always do another World Series again in 2007. You won't have a chance to do another major multi-sport event like the Outgames or Gay Games until at least 2009, and you won't get the chance to do one on this continent again until at least 2013!

Me - I'll be in Montreal, and anybody who has been reading my entries over on the Schsim Board in the Gay Sports Movement thread will be well aware of that and know my reasons why. But believe me - Chicago or Montreal - either one - GO - you won't regret it.

Pat

Okay, a few things:

1. Yes, anybody who was in San Diego knows that the beautiful weather you encountered there will NOT be what you see when you come to Ft. Lauderdale next August. It's gonna be hot and sticky -- just like it was in DC in '03 and in Dallas in '04 (and, for that matter, what you can expect in Chicago in July '06). UNLIKE DC, however, the fields will NOT be an hour and a half drive from the hotel -- in rush hour, you'll be able to reach any one of the fields in 15 minutes -- less most of the day. It is also the 30th World Series, and we're going to put on a show that'll be worthy of a 30th anniversary.

2. To me, one of the things that makes the World Series such a big event is that my team earned the right to play there. We're gonna put together a team to play the Gay Games in Chicago, and probably a pretty good one. But you can take any eleven players and play in the Gay Games. The World Series berth this year was one we had to win, and that served as a motivator to us when we got there.

I would have to agree with Travelpat 100 percent! Having also played in past GWS (4), as well as past NAGVA tournaments AND having attended past Gay Games, there is simply NO COMPARISON.

Sure, it is nice to earn the right to play with the best and there is no question the GWS are also incredible experiences. But these single sport tournaments happen every year, there's always the year after. You can only attend ONE Gay Games every 4 years. And, as Travelpat mentioned, you cannot beat the buzz, exuberance and excitement a host Gay Games city offers.

Knowing what a great and fun city Ft. Lauderdale is, I have no doubt they will do a fantastic job. But I really don't see how it can avoid being a 'down' year with competition coming from Chicago and Montreal.

Leaving for Milwaukee in a few minutes. Looking forward to a fun time and lots of beer! Hope to see some of you there!

See you in Milwaukee george, wonder if we'll get you in pool play <eg>.

I checked the weather, it is supposed to be sunny and beautiful ALL weekend!

Even though I won't get to play (damn injured leg!), I'm still getting excited about taking my team up. Quite a few more teams than last year, should be a blast.

So were you the guy I challenged to a crutch fight on Sunday?

It was a tough weekend for me trying to get around on crutched all weekend. One of my key players was injured in the first inning of our first game on Saturday, so I missed all the games because I had to take him to the hospital. We did play you, but I wasn't there. I was suppossed to be the manager of the team but since we had the bare minimum number of players, I was forced into ambulette service!

Anyway, another terrific tournament in Milwaukee! I've been playing gay softball for a long time and have probably been to 15-20 tournaments and Milwaukee is the best far and away!

George, I came looking for you on Saturday morning. I chatted with Billy for a little bit (I played with him at the Tampa tourney in '04), and he told me about the hospital trip. I hope your player is doing alright - I never did hear what exactly happened. Hope you all had fun anyway.

In the first inning of our first game against a team from Minneapolis, my left fielder was running to second base. Either the SS or 3B threw to second base for the force out and the ball hit my guy in the side of the face, breaking his jaw. It was obviously an accident, but it just sucked the life out of my team for the rest of the day. He ended up going home early Sunday morning and is going to see his doctor here at home and may have to have his jaw wired shut. Players from other teams were so nice. So many came over and asked us how our injured teammate was doing. Sportsmanship was all around Milwaukee.

We had the bare minimum number of people but we still played pretty well. But our first game of the elimination round we played against the Out N About team which consisted of mostly lesbians. While some of the players were very nice, mostly they were a vile collection of foul mouthed pigs. I'm no prude, but they were cursing and swearing like I've never heard. A few of them had kids with them and they were still carrying on. It was unbelievable. In our league, if the umpire hears us say f**k, we are given a warning and can eventually be ejected.

We won the game and a number of them wouldn't even come out and shake hands after the game. Brian, the tourney director, really let them have it and apologized profusely to us. The next morning, the owner of the bar (Bev I think?) made of point of coming over as well and she could not have been any nicer. It was the one blemish on an otherwise great weekend of sportsmanship. As a show of sportmanship and friendship, I decided we would go back to her bar for Sunday brunch. While I was bummed we were finished early enough to go to brunch, we still had a fine time!

[ September 06, 2005, 07:20 AM: Message edited by: George_Twinsfan ]

George,

We saw that play when your teammate got hit in the face, it looked and sounded just horrible! The ball hit him so hard, and the way he went down and stayed down we figured it was not good. Please give him our best and let us know how he is doing.

We know all about nasty injuries. This has been the worst season for us as far as really bad injuries go. In fact the guy you probably had a ‘crutch’ fight with is Mike, our starting left-fielder and clean-up hitter – he broke his ankle sliding into 2nd at the Toronto tourney in July. We came to Milwaukee with 4 injured starters from our regular team (and the team that won in all in Milwaukee last year), and key positions too….left field, shortstop, left-center and pitcher! Fortunately I was able to get rid of my crutches two weeks ago, but still hobbling around quite a bit.

We played you guys in pool play the game after you left for the hospital, and just barely won. I was restricted to coaching/managing duties but still had a good time, even though I couldn’t play. Considering we were missing a big chunk of our team, we still managed to do pretty well – we won 4 games and only lost to the eventual champions in the winner’s bracket by just one run. You are right though, Milwaukee puts on one of the best tournaments around. They had nearly 40 teams this year (they had 23, I believe, last year). I think this is due largely to word of mouth from returning teams that know what a great job they do.

Weasleman…which MSP team do you play with?

George-I hope your teammate is doin' alright. I took a line drive to the face this spring, so I know how much it hurts. I was lucky I didn't break anything, but it took awhile before I wasn't afraid of the ball. BTW, you beat my old team (the Slammers) on Sunday am - or at least you were ahead when I quit watching to get ready for my game.

ChiAthlete - I played for the Racers in Milwaukee and Chicago. I'm just a pick-up player though, my regular team didn't go to either tournament. Next year we'll be more organized and probably go to one of them.

Yeah we won the game against the Slammers. They invoked the mercy rule. But then we lost our next game to Milwaukee's M&M team.

We picked up a player from Milwaukee (Chris, a bartender from Triangle) and Marcus from Chicago. They were both terrific players and even nicer guys. I just wish I had been around the first day to really see them play and get to know them better.