[Alsfastball] FedLock Sucker Punched at Monkton - comments by David Spring
Al Doran
aldoran at pmihrm.com
Mon Jul 5 13:29:20 EDT 2004
From: "David Spring" <gspring at sympatico.ca>
To: "Al Doran" <fastball at pmihrm.com>
Subject: FedLock Sucker Punched at Monkton
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 13:10:03 -0400
Well, Mike--
For a person whose objectivity/fairmindedness I have never had occasion to
question in the past, I have to say that your report on the Monkton
Tournament was poorly done. Very poorly done, in fact. I will concede the
factual validity of some of your complaints, but I protest in the strongest
terms possible your right to accuse the Tournament's director of being
unethical (especially when you can't spell his name right). This is either
sour grapes of the worst order or poorer judgment than I would have
believed you capable of, or both. Pick another word and apologize, please.
David Spring
Cobourg ON
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:fastball at pmihrm.com>)>Mike Groves (by way of Al Doran
<fastball at pmihrm.com>)
To: <mailto:fastball at pmihrm.com>Al's Fastball
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 12:07 PM
Subject: FedLock Sucker Punched at Monkton
"Never promise more than you can perform."
-- Publilius Syrus
The FedLock Falcons journeyed to the village of Monkton, Canada for the
Monkton Fastball Tournament over the weekend of July 2-4, 2004. Monkton is
a tight-knit community approximately 2 hours north-northwest of Toronto's
Pearson airport. The environment is rural once one travels outside the
tiny town. Large working farms roll away from the arrow-straight two-lane
roads that pierce the pastures. Many Amish buggies were continually plying
the shoulders of these same roads as cars & trucks whipped along the pavement.
The weather was superb, with loads of sunshine until dusk on
Saturday. People here were very hospitable and extremely friendly and
helpful to travelers from other locations on the globe. Tournament
Director Brian Bailhy did a magnificent job of pulling together a raft of
volunteers to staff the parking gates, the ice cream stands, the large beer
tent, and the several other snack stations and sundry aspects that go into
running an event of this type.
Monkton has an indoor ice hockey rink located 140 feet from the
ballyard. Within this facility are four changing rooms with shower &
bathroom facilities. Each team was allocated the use of a locker room
prior to, and following, their ballgames. The Monkton folks generously
provided fresh sliced fruits and cold beverages in each locker room for
each team to enjoy. It was a classy touch and much appreciated by all of
the teams.
After beating Heflin in Woodstock and in Amsterdam, FedLock played very
poorly against Heflin. FedLock gave this game away. The line scores &
details have already been reported by others.
Heflin 5
FedLock 0
FedLock locked-up with the tough & classy Bow team for 7 innings of great
fastball. FedLock had a 3-0 lead early on, but Bow battled back, as they
always can, to tie the game 3-3. With 2 outs in the bottom of the seventh
FedLock's Larry Peck hit a solo shot to straightaway centerfield off Frank
Cox to end it in dramatic fashion. These two teams have played some very
good ballgames against each other.
FedLock 4
Bow-Spirit 3
FedLock took on County Materials in the final pool game. FedLock tried to
mail this one in, and once again, discovered the hard way that "that's not
an option."
Materials 8
FedLock 1
See below for other comments on pool play / bracket play.
Organization
"No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from."
--Linus, from the Peanuts cartoon
Poorly done. Very poorly done, in fact. No rule sheets were distributed
to the teams in advance. It was thus a large surprise to teams who
learned, upon arrival, that there would be time limits AND tie
ballgames. As an example, a terrific Friday afternoon ballgame between
Midland & Halifax ended in a 0-0 tie. As well, on Saturday Halifax
intelligently utilized the time limit rules to their advantage in the
Halifax-Calgary contest, much to the frustration & dismay of Calgary
manager Porcelli.
The worst and most flagrant part of the tournament incompetence resulted in
FedLock being deprived of its rightful spot as the number 3 seed in its
pool. FedLock could qualify for bracket-elim play only two ways: if
Heflin won in its final pool game versus Bow, or if Bow beat Heflin by more
than 10 runs. This was because with a three-way tie between FedLock, Bow,
and Heflin, the runs for-against ratio came into effect going into this
final pool game. The tournament "committee" (still not sure who these
people actually were) decided, apparently at some point just prior to the
Bow-Heflin contest that, if Bow won by more than 7 runs, then the score
would be "adjusted" backwards to show only a 7-run triumph. Furthermore,
Heflin was informed that even if it lost to Bow, then Heflin would move on
to the first game of bracket/elim play. At no time did tournament
officials inform FedLock of any of these plans. At no time was this
"adjust the runs total" rule part of any rules or parameters distributed to
the teams.
Heflin, thus, had no reason to put forth any effort into the game, knowing
ahead of time that even if they took a pounding from Bow, they were already
moving on into elims. Thus, Heflin sat their number one pitcher Koert
(given what Heflin knew, it was the smart move on Heflin's
part). FedLock, unaware of any of these behind-the-scenes machinations,
sat patiently by, waiting for the game's results to determine whether
FedLock would play again. Bow pounded out 14 runs in 3 innings. In
another "make-it-up-as-one-wanders-along" scenario, tournament director
Bailhy hastily approached Doc Simmons and asked if three innings was
enough, and could the game be stopped & declared completed. Done.
FedLock, seeing the 14-run blowout, knew that the runs for-against ration
had swung in their favor & prepared to warm up for the evening game. Only
at this point, after persistent questioning of Bailhy by FedLock's manager,
did FedLock finally discover that, well, no, "things have changed" and the
14-run win was really only 7 runs and that "the Heflin-Bow game was
actually meaningless from the start and it probably shouldn't have been
played." And thus FedLock was bounced from the circus.
"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
-- Mark Twain
Recommendation: if you're going to put on a tournament of this caliber of
competition, get it right before the competition commences. Talk to Larry
Lynch (Woodstock) or Paul Barnetson (Orillia). In other words, get some
help. And if you can't get it right, once one discovers that one has
butchered something, it's incumbent upon one to make it right. Don't hide
behind bad decisions. Taking a score and re-working it was
shameful. Informing some, but not all, of the teams ahead of time of this
"new policy" was not the correct way. Trying to hush-hush FedLock's
legitimate complaints and then hurrying the conclusion of the Bow-Heflin
game to try to make it "official" and thus irreversible was unethical.
Teams come a long way and spend a lot of money in these events. The
community benefits nicely from the fact that people come out to see top
teams, those people spend money at the park, and the teams themselves give
a nice pop to the local economy with their spending on everything from
beverages, restaurants, local hotels, and ballpark purchases.
The main reason that I began these critiques was to impart some
accountability to organizers of tournaments that were giving Major ball
teams the short-end of the stick. In this case, a mistake was made, a bad
mistake that cost a team the opportunity to compete. Given the chance to
rectify the situation, the organizers did nothing and then tried to sweep
the mess under the rug as fast as possible. The teams and the sponsors
deserve better.
Hotel
Great. Listowel Country Inn, brand new everything, very nice proprietors
(The Timlins), reasonably priced. 20 minutes drive to yard.
Food
Not a lot of choices here. Tim Horton's, anyone?
Travel
Easy to locate & easy to get to. 2 hours drive from Pearson, 2.5 hours
from BUF.
Field
Only one field was utilized. Ballplayers liked the field surface. Dugouts
were excellent and the newly-constructed dugout roofs were
appreciated. Water in dugouts at all times also appreciated by
players. Warmup areas were good. Lights were very bad, with no light
towers in most of the outfield. And the lack of a scoreboard of any kind
had many, many people mystified.
Game Organization
"If you know that a thing is unrighteous, then use all dispatch in putting
an end to it - why wait till next year?"
-- Mencius
Tournament Organization
Thank you to all of the volunteers that made this a pleasant off-the-field
experience.
Attendance
Excellent. Many people packed the stands all around the yard. Most of the
time, no cheering, just very quiet & taking it in. The exception was with
the classy Bow-Spirit third baseman Jody Eidt from nearby Mitchell, Canada,
who received a warm welcome from fans every time at bat. It's a "sign of
the times" that fans felt they had no team to root for, due to the roster
composition of most Major teams in the modern era, and the fact that the
field in Monkton wasn't really "home" for anyone in actuality.
Random Notes
The competition was top-notch. County Materials has emerged from its
hibernation and this team is a big bear that is just loaded with talent
with one goal in mind: to top out at the Fargo ISC World
Tournament. Bow-Spirit is a powerhouse & always plays ferociously, but
stumbled a bit this weekend. Very interesting to watch how the dynamics
within the hitting lineups of Bow & Materials have shifted ever so
slightly, but quite noticeably, by the move of the superb hitter Thomas
Makea from Bow to Materials. The upstate NY-based team known as Heflin
scraps. The Heflin battery of Paul Koert-Chris Shufelt, as I had mentioned
several weeks ago, is starting to pay off for this team, especially as the
talented Frank Perez, John Brunton, Shufelt, and Jordan Taveras start to
hit their strides on offense. Calgary always looks good, and they will be
a factor for everyone to deal with as Peter Porcelli gets his
multi-talented crew up to speed during the coming weeks. Midland continues
to have a bit of a struggle, especially with top pitcher Doug Gillis
hampered with an injury, but Midland's veterans have been there & done
that, so deep experience will tell the tale eventually, and they will be in
the hunt as they always are. Halifax could be one of the
sleeper-neutron-bomb teams at the Worlds. They have outstanding talent &
don't understand the meaning of the word "quit." Sebringville / Hallman
did a terrific job of it in their pool. It's unfortunate that they
apparently will not be going to Fargo. FedLock continues to make great
strides as the team starts to realize its potential. With very good
outings in Woodstock, Amsterdam, and a duke-it-out win over Broken Bow in
Monkton, and with the imminent arrival of top players Gareth Cook and
Darren Davies, the Washington, DC team looks like it has finally shifted
into the higher gear that has been expected of it for so long. And, by
relying on themselves to determine their own fate, instead of for & against
run rations, the Falcons would be better off in tournaments.
The rankings should be interesting reading this week.
"Look upon the errors of others in sorrow, not in anger."
-- Henry Longfellow
Regards,
Michael Groves
<mailto:falcon at fedlock.com>falcon at fedlock.com
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