CONFESSIONS OF A ‘ROOKIE’ FAN ATTENDING HIS FIRST I.S.C. WORLD TOURNAMENT

[fastball]

CONFESSIONS OF A ‘ROOKIE’ FAN ATTENDING HIS FIRST I.S.C. WORLD
TOURNAMENT

Ken Knight – Centerville, Ohio,

Author’s note:  The following is taken from an interview with
Mr. Knight, 64, following his attendance at the ISC World Tournament
in Eau Claire in 2005.  Ken Knight’s life revolved around sports.
 An all-star performer in high school in both basketball and
baseball; a high school basketball coach in Simi Valley, California;
for nearly 25 years he was Director of Intramural and Recreational
Sports at Wright State University in Ohio.


I liked it!  I liked it a lot.  I knew a fair amount about the
game before coming to Eau Claire for my first I.S.C. World Tournament
since I had played a lot of fastpitch during my years as an intramural
sports director.  But I confess I had never faced the kind of
pitching that the top teams in ISC competition have.

So let me share my “rookie” observations of the sport at this
level; of a tournament of this quality; and of the game as it
is played by the I.S.C.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:  The layout, the playing fields, the facilities
for the tournament were all great.  Physical facilities were
excellent; the park was clean; parking was easy.

When you hear the term “World Tournament” you immediately expect
the quality of teams and players to be the “best in the world.”
I got what I expected here.  I have no doubt that the teams and
players I watched were as good as it currently gets in the sport.
 The tournament seemed to have a really positive influence on
the Eau Claire community.  I got lots of questions and comments
around the community about being there for the tournament.  People
seemed genuinely pleased to have the event in town (though as
I will note later, there were too few of them who ventured into
the park to watch the games.)

I quickly realized that a good pitcher dominates this game at
least as much as a mobile big man can dominate a college basketball
game.  And I noted a pretty wide range of abilities among pitchers
- - the position players seemed to be a lot more equal in abilities
than were the pitchers.  While a Roger Clemons is tough to beat
in a baseball game, it can happen at any time.  But it seemed
to me that in fastball a top-drawer pitcher is a lot tougher
to beat than it is in baseball.

UMPIRING:  I thought the “blue” did a great job.  They were well
in control of the games; they did well at communicating with
each other.  They seemed always in position to make calls, and
their judgment seemed near perfect - - at least from my positions
observing as a fan.  I’m sure my background as an Intramural
Sports Director made we watch for this almost instinctively.

HIGHLIGHTS:  I found everyone so friendly.  That included the
locals, the concession people; the fans; ballplayers; the ISC
commissioners and their families, just EVERYONE. The spirit of
old friendships and good feelings was everywhere.  I guess that
shouldn’t have been a surprise. I had spent nearly 30 years working
sports camps in northern Wisconsin, so I was just finding folks
from this area as warm and friendly as ever.  I found the fans
to be so very knowledgeable of the sport and eager to talk about
the current games as well as those great games and stars of the
past.

I enjoyed meeting and chatting with Hall of Famers Bill Boyer
and Mark Smith - - really down-to-earth guys who love to talk
about the game.  I had a long conversation with Mark Smith, and
it was a great experience.  Here was a guy from New Athens, Ohio,
(me) and a guy from Nova Scotia (Mark) getting to compare memories
of a time when they had both been in the same area of Southern
California - - Mark pitching for Camarillo and me teaching/coaching
in Simi Valley.  What a fun experience for me that evening at
the old ballpark!

I greatly enjoyed my interesting ballpark conversations with
Canadian Bruce Simpson and long-time ISC Commissioner Jim Allen.
 You sure get an earful of sage observations and strong opinions
from Bruce and Jim.

I was amazed at the schedule - - - to find that games might actually
be running as much as 20 hours of the day - - from 8 A.M. until
the wee hours of the next morning, only to start up at 8 again!

The grounds crews really busting their butts to keep the fields
in top condition and get things moving into the next game.  What
a joy to watch for an old Intramural Sports Director like me.

FORMAT:  It was good to see the top teams hammering on each other
during the pool play.  I just wish there could have been more
games like those. I know it is hard to make that happen all of
the time, and I know that because of the format those games didn’t
mean as much to the teams as they would at the end of the tournament.
 I would have hated to see a bunch of run-rule games.

NEGATIVES:

Many of the games I watched took just too long to play.  Most
of that was caused by pitchers taking too long to throw.  Sometimes
I felt like I was watching a major league baseball game - - or
a game that was simply never going to end - - but maybe that
is just the nature of the game as it is played today.

I was disappointed at the number of local fans attending - -
particularly in the earlier days of the tournament.  It often
seemed that the crowd was made up of little more than people
associated with the teams involved in the game - - or in the
tournament


I.S.C.- II TOURNAMENT:  

I can certainly see a place for it and how well it fits into
the overall organization of the ISC.  I got to see parts of two
days of that competition.  It is a very nice event and it will
only get better as it matures.  I could see a big difference
in the level of playing skills - - particularly in the pitching.
 It seemed to be well-organized and smoothly run - - the fields,
the umpiring, and everything about it was impressive.  A good
show!

WOULD I COME BACK?  SOME PARTING REFLECTIONS:

Sure I would come back- - although I probably wouldn’t come for
the whole nine days.  I think I would try to catch the last three
days when the games would be more meaningful - - and it looked
like there were some people doing just that in Eau Claire.

It was exciting to watch the very best of the best in action.
 I just wish there was more parity throughout the field of teams
in the tournament.

I’m sure that as I watched those games from the perspective of
a guy who has been around sports for many years, I realized that
in my more limited experience playing fastpitch, the players
- - and particularly the pitchers I faced - - were a long way
from being world class.

Overall, a good show - - and I enjoyed myself.  Glad to have
been a part of it.

Author’s note:  Sadly, Ken Knight will not return to watch another
I.S.C. World Tournament.  On Thanksgiving Day, 2005, he died
following a sudden illness.  He is greatly missed by his family
and many friends including the author who knew him from the time
Ken was a teen in the hills of eastern Ohio.  One of Ken’s highlights
of the Eau Claire tournament was winning one of the largest 50/50
drawings of the week (several hundred dollars).  Probably no
one noticed that after collecting his cash prize, he hunted up
the little girl who had sold him his winning tickets and shared
a sizeable part of his winnings with her - - that kind of guy!

By:  Gordon Wise - - - ISC Information Officer
July 12, 2006
sgwise(at)woh.rr.com
http://www.iscfastpitch.com 

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