From the tournament website:

The Big Apple Softball League is proud to announce the return of the PLAYING FOR LIFE II tournament. Again, as in 1991, all games will be played in Central Park-the crown jewel of New York City. The tournament will consist of 3 divisions. Team trophies will be awarded to the top three teams in each division and individual awards will be given to members of the 1st and 2nd place teams.

Also, as in the last tournament, all net moneys raised will be donated to AIDS related charities. We are proud to announce that this year the wonderful charity organization-"Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids" will be working full-time with us on this tournament. This is done in two parts. A portion of the profits will be donated to a New York based charity and the balance will be divided equally amongst the AIDS related charities selected by visiting teams. By placing an ad in our program, the money contributed will also be divided amongst the charities.

Let New York be a part of your plans for this upcoming softball season. We promise to make it one of your most enjoyable trips to the Big Apple!!!! On behalf of the Big Apple Softball League I would like to wish you the very best of luck during your upcoming season. See you on Fourth of July!!


PLAYING FOR LIFE 2 HOME PAGE

I thought this sounded familiar...and it turns out there was another post about it. So, do you guys know each other? wink

This might be fun to watch.

Oops! Sorry moderators!

Right I was the one who posted this subject.
I am one of the committee chairpersons. I've played against George's team but we never have really gotten aquainted.

Anyway I must admit his promo does look better than mine. We are just excited about this tournament and we would love to see teams as far as Seattle joining us for a fun-flled weekend.

We've got teams from Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Boston, DC, Norfolk, New Haven, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, South Florida, Tampa and the Twin Cities!!! Any Outsporters?

For anyone from New York or out of towners who may be arriving early, my sponsor bar Tys will be having a party on Wednesday July 2 from 8pm til close. There will be food and a 50/50 raffle with other prizes. I'll be working that night, so stop in and introduce yourself!

Well we had our tournament and like any others, it had some ups and downs.

We started with our pre tourmanent party at Tys on Wednesday that was a huge success. Lots of guys from other teams were already in town and came by. We had hot dogs, potato and macaroni salads and cole slaw. We raised almost $300 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and got drunk. Who could ask for anything more!

The softball didn't actually begin until Friday. Summer has finally arrived here, so it was hot as Hell. We managed to win our first game against a really fun team from Atlanta, the Stingrays. Unfortunately the rest of the tournament was clouded by a team from Phoenix that was clearly cheating just to win a silly trophy. The Stingrays walked off the field after 2 innings and down something like 28-0. I don't normally condone quitting, but it was warranted and justified in this case. Next time guys, if you want a trophy that badly, we'll all kick in and buy you one.

The way these things work is teams are divided into A, B, C & D divisions with A being best, D being recreational. There was a team representing Phoenix called the Cheat, er I mean Heat. They should have at least been in C (which they might have won!) and could probably have at least competed in B. Let me put it this way; I am the starting shortstop on the first place D team in NYC and I couldn't start in right field or at catcher for this team. Their #10 batter would bat clean up on any New York D team. Many of them weren't even from Phoenix. They invited some ringers from all over the country. Really kind of sad.

It's this kind of silly win-at-all-costs-regardless-of-others-macho-crap attitude that drove so many gay boys away from "regular" sports and into the gay leagues.

But we met so many other really fun nice people from all over the country that it was still worth while. Really looking forward to seeing my new buddies from Atlanta again. Special shout out to Ray-Ray the Stingray!

Hopefully NAGAA will do something to prevent this kind of blatant cheating and abuse in the future.

[ July 07, 2003, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Hey, George...

I do the softball column/page for Outsports and would like to post the results...plus any pictures...

Lemme know, if you can...

Thanks,

Marc

Is this a team mascot?

The PHX cheating is supposed to be combatted by the NAAGA rating system, but we know that doesn't work very well. I would suggest that either softball goes in the direction of volleyball, where there is on-going monitoring of anomalies, and they will take players or teams off the floor, and/or tournaments retain the flexibility to move teams up or down in competitive brackets. Surely computers have given us the ability to handle communication of ratings nationwide as well as the rejiggering of brackets!!

If this were done, the PHX all-stars would have been a welcome addition to New York's tournament!!

I enjoyed the NY tournament and am glad that our money went to a good cause. I just think it's pathetic how rumors have started about the Phoenix team. Nothing was said about the New Haven Outlaws or San Diego teams. They were just as talented as the Phoenix team. What was the score when the Outlaws played the Stingrays? Why weren't they protested? Here is some advice for the Atlanta Stingrays. Don't bother going to the World Series in DC. Your money should be used for softball clinics and to learn about being good sports on the field.

Anybody playing in D division should not be able to consistently smash the ball over every outfielder's head. The Phoenix team had an entire roster of players like that.

As for the crack that the Atlanta team needs a sportsmanship lesson, that's nonsense. They were a true D team, meaning beginners playing recreational softball. They were there for fun. They had no delusions about winning. And as for the New Haven and San Diego teams being as good, well I'd disagree. But even if I agreed, they didn't run up the score and take every extra base and keep swinging for the fences and so on and so on. I'd say that it is Phoenix that could use the sportsmanship clinic. Why else would the announcer at the awards party have to ask the crowd not to boo before introducing the winners?

As I said, I'm the starting SS on the first place D team in NY. I couldn't even have started anywhere on this team. The disparity can't be that great and still be considered fair.

Well George from NY, I can't speak for the announcer (Mike Rouse) but I am sure it was geared towards those teams (Stingrays)that had issues with teams in general. We had 7 of the original Heat team in NY and Mike, the director of the tournament assisted us in alloting players so that we could participate in the tournament. Our ratings are based on the NAGGAA system so if you or anyone has any issues, talk to your neighbor in NY Mike Rouse.

Like I said, it's the flawed rating system that sets us against each other, and turns what should be an entirely fun event into bad feeling. Something HAS to be done! The women have a better system, and they are more advanced softball-wise than are the men. If it weren't for the women, I'd say that NAAGA should be superseded by a new organization ASAP.

I've played the Aces, and they are ok guys from Tucson who play in a small talent pool where the range of abilities is necessarily wide. They used to play B, so obviously C would have been more appropriate, and should have been done after the pool games. Bringing a team 3000 miles ain't easy, and I don't think they should be the object of wrath.

The system is broken and it is easily manipulated to sneak teams into lower divisions. San Diego breaks its tournament C bracket into Rec and Competitive, so as to diminish the incentive to sneak into D, which as a useful patch. But it all needs to be changed, so as to get rid of the dysfunctional softball culture.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

To George, and all of the friends, including Arizona Friends, we met in NYC.
I am sorry that this response is so late, however, I just became aware of it. A friend called me tonight and mentioned it.
I want to thank Mike Brouse and the many people who helped make the Play for Life Tournament such a success. Just playing softball in Central Park was thrill enough for us!
I also would like to apologize to Arizona's D representing team about some heated words that might have been exchanged from one of
my players. Like wildfire, his attitude ran thru-out the game from frustration to anger, and this seemed epidemic. This same player caused trouble for us off the field, by not meeting a room assignment, and cost more money than we had originally planned per person, because of the change in his agenda upon arriving. But that was the end of a string of mis-behaviors uncommon to a thirty year-old! Two weeks after the NYC trip, our Sharks-Stingrays Council met, and decided not to invite the player back for either the D or C Division Teams we own. Wheras he took the news hard, it still gave him 6 months to find another team before next year's season.
In any case, and like any tournament, there are things a coach hears after the games, and one of the things I heard was that this person called the Phoenix guys some names under their breath, but out of distance from the Umpires. This is something that we have covered in many practices and games, and they do know better. During Atlanta's 2003 Spring Season, the Stingray guys really hadn't had that much experience in losing! So it was good for them in a way. And the whole purpose of our trip was to play some East Coast teams, since the Portland Series in 2002 had many West coast teams. If we were going to win the "D" Division Atlanta Berth, we would have needed that experience. So there was some thought from a coach's viewpoint going into the experience. We would do it again, even if it turned-out the same way.
Plus, that NYC tournament is all about charity, and that is something we really push in the Hotlanta Softball League, so there should be no hard feelings.
And about the crack---the guy from AZ has a right to his opinion, and I want him to know the thought DID occur to me that DC was too big of a challenge for our Stingrays. I had played on the Stingers team in the Portland Series, and since that experience, have taught my guys that to get that far in NAGAAA, you have to be really good. Our secret: we constantly cracked jokes and laughed thru the whole Spring Season...our final placing? SECOND with a 15-5 record. The Woof's Wackers beat us in our very last game. (Season record16-4, winning1st place D-Atl).

Now the kicker---I got to play for Woof's in DC. It was a great time, also. Look out, NYC, we're coming back!

...And Phoenix sounds nice because you look so macho when you're mad, AZ!

xox, -RR.