Giving up weekends at Big League Dreams

[AngelsParent]

Had you known that Cy-Fair and SKSA was scheduling Super Series and other sanctioning tournaments would you still have given up your Big League Dreams weekends?  Seems like the smaller tournament organizations really got played on this one.  The Super Series tournament at SKSA been scheduled for the umpires so it would seem that either they didn't post it themselves or they were told just to not post it so that it wouldn't be known that them and Cy-Fair didn't have to play by the same rules that they are making the smaller tournament hosts play by.  None of the parks have exclusive dates within Houston either other than Cy-Fair!  Seems like maybe those scheduled meetings with the organizations with a "member" of Nations should have happened before the tournament directors "guided" their parks and leagues away from USSSA!

[baba]

Had you known that Cy-Fair and SKSA was scheduling Super Series and other sanctioning tournaments would you still have given up your Big League Dreams weekends? 

You have expressed concern in more than a couple of posts about BABA losing Big League Dream slot"s." I appreciate your concern, but it is misplaced. In fact, as I have stated before. BABA returned one BLD slot to USSSA when we switched to Nations Baseball. One. That slot is this weekend.

Last night (August 18) the USSSA version of that tournament had 18 teams registered, with the stated deadline on the 17th. One team was in a division by itself. Three teams were in a division by themselves. So 14 teams were set to play. Filling BLD requires 33 teams. Last September the BABA BLD tournament had 33 teams. Every BLD tournament we've ever had had 33 teams. We have always filled those slots. So, are we sorry that we lost that tournament? Yes, of course. Is BLD sorry we're not there to fill those slots? Probably so. But that is the nature of doing business and making business choices, and we have no regrets and wouldn't do anything differently if we could go back in time.

Big League Dreams awards tournaments each calendar year. 2009 tournaments will be awarded this year. When USSSA continues to have low-attendance tournaments like this coming weekend, they will be at the bottom of the list for tournament awards, and those who have historically filled the tournaments will be awarded the lion's share; this means Nations Baseball be hosting several tournaments at BLD come January, and BABA will be one of the directors.

As far as hosting Super Series tournaments: Spring Klein is not hosting any Super Series tournaments. They are merely renting their fields. I haven't talked to Cy-Fair, but I imagine it's a similar deal. At any rate, we have no desire host Super Series tournaments, and I don't see the benefit. We have Nations Tournaments scheduled all the way through next July. Not all are posted yet, but we are doing as many tournaments (all Nations) as we, as volunteers, can handle. There is absolutely no reason or advantage to adding a Super Series tournament. I should also point out that no Nations Baseball director was ever told to be exclusively Nations Baseball.

None of the parks have exclusive dates within Houston either other than Cy-Fair!  Seems like maybe those scheduled meetings with the organizations with a "member" of Nations should have happened before the tournament directors "guided" their parks and leagues away from USSSA!

I don't understand what you are trying to say here. Exclusive dates for what? The scheduled meetings with Nations members are for managers and parents. BABA is hosting one this Friday.

Again, you seem very concerned for us that we moved away from USSSA. I have been watching USSSA, and it is doing just what we predicted. Teams are not being reclassed that should be. The rules are not being followed. Class play is out the window. There is not one single 12U Major team at all! Lord knows what caliber of team you'll end up playing when you play a tournament. You can win a WS berth in the fall and not have your roster frozen! It is chaos. Just as predicted. BABA wants no part of it!!! We are a business, and we don't do business like that.

[bbdad]

"I have been watching USSSA, and it is doing just what we predicted. Teams are not being reclassed that should be. The rules are not being followed. Class play is out the window. There is not one single 12U Major team at all! Lord knows what caliber of team you'll end up playing when you play a tournament"

According to Nations, there is only 1 12U Major(Premier) in the division. There 0 9U Premier teams in Nations while there are 8 9U Major teams in USSSA Texas South.  Now, with some teams wanting to play USSSA, Super Series, and Triple Crown; Nations will not always fill up those slots at BLD.  Some of us teams will choose to play USSSA, SS, TC and not Nations.  Just because BABA will host Nations tournaments at BLD does not mean that atleast 33 teams will play in each tournament.  Has it ever crossed anyones mind that maybe the reason BABA's tournaments did so well with USSSA was because they were USSSA sanctioned?  The thing that hurts the Nations tournament organizations in Southeast Houston is that there are smaller USSSA, SS, TC tournaments for teams to stay home in play in.  The northern Houston teams do not have that choice.  Their choices are to travel south to play something other than Nations, or stay home to play with the only option of Nations.  BABA, Laporte, etc., being in the southeast does not have that monoply or support from local teams to succeed like the Cy Fair, SKSA, etc.  BABA if your fall tournaments do not make or lack the participation of last year's USSSA tournaments, would you consider hosting USSSA in the spring or is BABA a Nations organization through and through?  Ultimately the teams will decide whether USSSA or Nations will succeed in the southeast.

[baba]

You are right. Teams will decide which tournaments offer the best product. I'm certain that the answer will be Nations. Time will tell.

[AngelsParent]

Again you are a very good and gracious Director and I think that whatever Sanctioning has you is at an advantage.  However, you just stated that you would have liked to have had the weekend but you gave it up because it was a USSSA weekend.  Why not just do the BLD's tournament as a USSSA sanctioned tournament then add in your Nations tournaments.  If you were still hosting that tournament I think that it would have gotten the teams needed to fill-up.  It just seems crazy to give up the weekend when you just stated that you didn't have to.  It couldn't be a dislike of BLD's as you also stated that you will be attempting to get dates in 2009 with Nations.  So, if Cy-Fair and SKSA returns to USSSA and all their AA teams return to USSSA I don't think that Nations will survive and if that happens where will that leave "the little guy".  Cy-Fair and SKSA will always be OK as they can sustain within themselves with all their league teams.  Im not a fan of Nations at all but I am pulling for you and BABA.  Good Luck!

[baba]

Thanks for the compliments. I appreciate your support.

I didn't give the whole story when I said that we were never asked to do Nations exclusively. that part is true, but I left out the fact that under USSSA, you have to do USSSA exclusively--that is where that practice came from. If I wanted to "keep" that USSSA BLD tournament, I would not be able to do any other tournaments for any other sanctions, including Nations--because USSSA will not allow it.

BABA doesn't want to be associated with USSSA at this point. The organization is going in a direction that we don't want to follow. We will hold true to our values--BABA is known for that. BABA's charter is to bring quality baseball to area teams, and that is just what we are going to do.

Also, I'm not sure where you are getting the idea that Cy-Fair and SKSA are going back USSSA. That is unfounded. In fact, I just spoke with Keith Durrett (Spring Klein president) this morning, and they are firmly Nations Baseball.

Can you give me any particular reasons why you don't like Nations Baseball? Have you played in any Nations Baseball events or had any personal experiences with the organization? Just curious as to why you are so against them.

[Alvin Express 13AAA]

Too much misinformation from where I sit. Maybe this will help.
I attended the Nations meeting. Not once was I asked to host Nations tournaments only. Was it implied? Sure. Just as the below caption on this very message board implies one thing, but could not be further from the truth.

"Nations Baseball
Questions and comments about Nations Baseball, the organization effectively replacing USSSA in this and other areas"

Every sanctioning body out there would like us to hold their tournaments exclusively. Not one of them, not even USSSA as mentioned in the previous post requires it. They all prefer us not, but not one will tell you no. Don't believe it? Check out Texas Elite. www.texaselitebaseball.com/. They are not a sanctioning body but rather an organization that hosts tournaments for multiple sanctioning bodies including USSSA, Fletcher and now Nations.

The truth is anyone that decided to host Nations only, USSSA only, or anything else only did so because that was their personal or organizational conviction. My organization was asked to host the dates at BLD vacated by those who chose to host Nations only. I agreed because my conviction was to continue hosting USSSA. Shortly after my name appeared on the tournament, I received a call from Ron. I explained my rationale to him. He not only supported my decision to host them but again offered dates with Nations. USSSA made the same offer, and I'm sure if any of the Nations only complexes wanted to commit to a USSSA tournament they would be receptive.

I can also tell you with some certainty, as I already experienced it this season is that first and foremost it is the teams that make it go. Secondly Directors in many cases know one another very well and except for directors with the us v.s. them mentality, they work together on some level to help each other's events. Bashing one sanctioning body or another doesn't help any director, just as the above caption for this forum will not help USSSA or Nations. Teams that believe Nations is effectively replacing USSSA are now misinformed & confused which does USSSA no good. Those that do not believe it view that statement as arrogant and an outright untruth to meant to confuse, which does not help Nations reputation.

One last point. If we're going to compare this year's BLD Fall Kick Off tournament to a tournament from last year, let's compare it with one from the same weekend, not one held in September of last year. Stephen ran the USSSA Opening Season tounament on 8/17/2007. There were 21 teams total. 12U's had a 3 team event, 10U's had a 3 team event and the 9U's had a 2 team event. By comparison this event has 20 teams with registration ending in the morning. So it may be a few more or a few less, but pretty consistent with last year. Not too bad considering all the confusion this year.

Regards,
David

[baba]

David,

That is a well-stated response, and some of what is say is true, however, a lot is not. First, at this point, we are not interested in what is good for USSSA. Do we still wish well for individual tournament directors? Absolutely. For USSSA as an organization? Not really. However, we respect your right to host tournaments under whatever sanction you choose and for teams to play in whatever tournaments they choose. It is all about choices.

Second, USSSA absolutely does NOT allow Nations directors to host USSSA tournaments. When BABA posted its Nations tournaments, we immediately had our USSSA director's access removed, and we were not even able to input the remainder of the scores from our USSSA summer league that was still in progress! (USSSA really left those teams in the cold!) They did not contact us first. They did not ask us if we wanted to do both. They just removed the access. Go ahead and list a Nations tournament on your site and see how many BLD slots you keep after that!

For this weekend, I'm glad you got a couple more teams in your BLD tournament. Good luck to you with that!

[Alvin Express 13AAA]

Everything I said was absolutely true in my case. No lies. Nothing misleading. Gospel. And there were tournaments posted by a director in both sanctions as recently as a few days ago where neither sanction had issues with it. I don't want to involve the director in this discussion but the director recently asked for them to be removed from one of the sites, and not because they were pressured or told to do so by either one.

I don't doubt it happened to you as you say, just that it's not some unilateral across the board policy.

Either way, all my son cares about are 2 white lines, 4 bases, & 9 guys trying to rob him of a hit. If that's what is important to him, that's what is important to me.