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View Full Version : DEAR MR. LINNEMAN


BackstabberSS
February 14th, 2007, 02:33 PM
Sorry Larks, but I have to post this on your site....Mark needs to know how it is.

Thank you for being ignorant enough to open this can of worms. You have now allowed me to open my big a$$ mouth now that you have called out OUR TEAM....

Now that I KNOW that you read message boards regularly I hope this message finds you well. I posted a month or so ago criticizing the NKY Committee for "Giving a Recommendation" of C to the Ohio Committee. I posted that the vote in Ohio turned out to be unanimously D. You called us and directed me to write a post recanting my previous statement. Well, now that you have called everyone out, its my job to return the favor. What kind of person in a position of authority plays on softball message boards? Get a life! You have much bigger worries in this area than what I post on a message board. Here is an idea to start with. Make Ohio's by laws the same as the rest of the freaking country. No other state requires a bump up for finishing 3rd at Nationals!!! And for the record IT WAS UNANIMOUS since everyone replied to all on the emails!

Secondly, here is a quote from you lovely article: "So while border crossings to avoid a higher classification may be distasteful to both the organizations and teams, no one has ever been successful in submitting any enforceable legislation to stop it. And softball administrators have accepted border jumping as a fact of life."
You want to talk about DISTASTEFUL? How about writing these ignorant article in the first place?! You don't call out specific people and teams in a published article as a person in your position! That is for others to do in editorials. Distasteful? Wow. Pot meet kettle.

Here is another DISTASTEFUL quote from you Mr. Linneman: "Dawg Pack/Greene’s was another matter. This team would ultimately win three events that would warrant an automatic national move-up in 2007, more than any other team in Greater Cincinnati. They were undisputedly the worst classified team in the area. "
Again, you are not some hack reporter writing an editorial. You are in a position of autority. This type of comment shows a complete lack of class and common sense!

SOMEBODY HAS TO BE THE BEST!!! That is a fact! Dawg Pack by no means DOMINATED last year. They won two big tournies and neither of them were blowouts. Somebody has to win!!! Every time a team wins, they are sandbagging by your standards. How did Dawg Pack do at World? Yes, they were the best finishing Cincinnati team, but somebody has to be. They had an above average finish. NOTHING that warrants calling them MISCLASSIFIED.



"Looking at a worst case scenario, wouldn’t it have been better that one or two teams might have had to suffer an injustice, than to have permitted one team to sandbag for an entire season at the expense of an entire program? And when you consider that the Mike Foulks and Backstabbers teams could have appealed their classification after only two tournaments and possibly been reclassified, the need for the two classification boards to work together becomes even more evident. After all, it is obviously better for one or two teams to suffer than dozens locally, and hundreds - if not thousands - nationally.

Did you really just use the word sandbag? How clever of you. And the answer to your question is NO! Teams should not have to start the year and pay money which is obviously all the you care about anyway, to play up with no shot to win.

What you need to do is take your focus off message boards, and put it towards uniforming the rules to match the rest of the country. This article was in very bad judgement on your part sir and you will definately be looked at in a bad light for a long time due to it. I know that every time I step on the field this year, I will be thinking of you (not to mention the a$$clown that tried to have our poker tourney broken up) and unfortunately the team in the other dugout will be paying for it. They can thank you.

Fellas, my silence has been broken and you can all thank this stupid article for it. We are gonna smoke it this year. And my big mouth will be leading us the whole way. WE WILL WIN an NIT and we will light the scoreboard up like a fvcking Christmas tree. Nobody is immune either. Sorry in advance

EXP23
February 14th, 2007, 03:16 PM
What you need to do is take your focus off message boards, and put it towards uniforming the rules to match the rest of the country. This article was in very bad judgement on your part sir and you will definately be looked at in a bad light for a long time due to it. I know that every time I step on the field this year, I will be thinking of you (not to mention the a$$clown that tried to have our poker tourney broken up) and unfortunately the team in the other dugout will be paying for it. They can thank you.

Rules are rules. Follow the rules in the state you are from and should be sanctioned in and quit complaining. I would like to commend Mark for stating the obvious. Everyone knows what I am talking about. You do not place third in D Nationals on luck. It is obvious the talent was there.

Answer this for me. What should a team get bumped for? Winning a world title? Then the team that won it would complain when they get bumped to the next level somebody had to be the highest finishing team in the country that year. Others are afraid to stand up and say it, park managers, tournament directors, U-trip directors, and so on. So Mark has the b@lls to say it and gets slammed. The problem with this is the **** rolls downhill. C teams do it so D teams say, "I am not moving up, did you see what Foulkes got by with?" Then E teams are doing the same, "I am not moving up, do you see what Backstabbers or Dawg Pack got by with?"

The Dirty Birds could complain because they placed third in E State, not nationals and are taking the bump and I haven't heard any complaints from them. The majority of the teams in the area play by the rules but the select few that don't do all the complaining about some great injustice. Trying the squeaky wheel gets the oil approach isn't going to work.

The only thing in this post I can agree with is there needs to be a standard nationwide. Having said that, there isn't, so play by the d@mn rules we are given. I would bet that 95% of the teams are. Until there is the select few other teams will keep doing things the "American way" which is find a loophole in the system.

BackstabberSS
February 14th, 2007, 03:46 PM
Exactly where are we not playing by the rules? We had a KY sponsor last year, thus we played in KY. Would we have done it if Ohio had the same rules as everyone else, probably not. No rules were broken in our move. Now we are back in Ohio. There is no player list in Ohio therefore no reason to consult Kentucky. We have our limit of bump up players and the rest are D players.

You saying that our 3rd place finish at Nationals wasn't luck, and the talent is there to play competitively at the C level is dilusional. Yeah, we had a good run at Nationals two years ago, but that was the only decent finish all season long. If we could compete in C, then we would. Check out a D NIT sometime before you measure the landscape...

Mark is in a position that should not be writing hack editorials. He should be above that. Especially calling out teams by name. Lack of class and common sense.

EXP23
February 14th, 2007, 04:08 PM
Exactly where are we not playing by the rules? We had a KY sponsor last year, thus we played in KY. Would we have done it if Ohio had the same rules as everyone else, probably not. No rules were broken in our move. Now we are back in Ohio. There is no player list in Ohio therefore no reason to consult Kentucky. We have our limit of bump up players and the rest are D players.

You saying that our 3rd place finish at Nationals wasn't luck, and the talent is there to play competitively at the C level is dilusional. Yeah, we had a good run at Nationals two years ago, but that was the only decent finish all season long. If we could compete in C, then we would. Check out a D NIT sometime before you measure the landscape...

Mark is in a position that should not be writing hack editorials. He should be above that. Especially calling out teams by name. Lack of class and common sense.

No not breaking rules, finding loopholes to avoid bump up rules is what Mark was getting at and the majority of players would agree. You were sanctioned in Ohio, and since the rules warranted a bump there was a Ky sanction the following year.

As far as checking out a D NIT, I have played in D NIT's. I have been around the game long enough that I know what the competition at every level is. The reason to consult Ky is due to the fact you were an Ohio team the year before. Whether that was right or wrong is another issue but I would say it is fair at the rate teams jump.

Be honest, anyone that knows anything about softball would know who Mr. Linneman was talking about had he not named names. I know I sure would have even though we are not a D team.

As far as the 3rd place finish meaning the talent was there to play competitively at C being dilusional, you may be right. But I didn't say you could compete at C I simply stated you had the talent to finish where you did at the national tourney. You are undermining your team by downplaying to the point of coming off as almost resenting that finish. I was getting at the fact that Ohio rules warrant a bump for finishing where you did. The following year you can appeal the bump if you are not competitive at C.

Even if Ohio rules were the same as everyone else, I guarantee the same thing would be going on. It would still be going on at the same rate it is now. I am not pointing fingers at Backstabbers or anyone else, it is just fact. We have played Indiana teams that finish 3rd in World and the following year are back in E under a different name with a couple different players. I didn't ask them but imagine if I would have they would have said they couldn't compete in D.

At any rate, good luck to all Cincinnati teams in 2007.

Larks
February 14th, 2007, 04:18 PM
Cant you appeal your sanction after playing just two events?

BackstabberSS
February 14th, 2007, 04:56 PM
yep, but why would we want to pay the cash to play in two events that we have no shot to win.....especially when we are LEGALLY a D team! We have never won anything, we legally added to our roster and it was like he did everything he could to bump us.

Being a reporter and director is a conflict of interest. As a professional, I would never call individuals out in a published article. Maybe thats just me...

Blitz5
February 14th, 2007, 06:14 PM
Why would you play in two tournaments you have no shot to win? Call me crazy, but we have played in many many tournaments we had no shot of winning...TO GET BETTER. Check out our schedule this year and you will see that there is at least 4 tournaments (some with travel involved) we have little or no chance to win. Why do we do this? To get better. Work on your game by playing better talent and I think this whole topic would be a moot point next year this time.

Good luck to you this year.

BackstabberSS
February 14th, 2007, 06:22 PM
I agree with you to a degree. We should be able to pick where we play up to get better, not be forced to...

28SS
February 14th, 2007, 06:59 PM
If you WILL win an NIT & you WILL light up the score board, then why all the whining & moaning? Nice touch throwing in the F-word too. We all needed that. A real class act.

TBI24
February 14th, 2007, 07:08 PM
sandbagging is a part of this game and will never go away. mike you are right, somebody has to be the best and last year it was dawg pack and i was always happy to play them because in order to be the best you have to beat the best. when most teams was crying bout playing them i was happy to see them, thats how you get the respect. mfab got their respect by beating very good teams not by sandbagging and I'm not saying backstabbers or sandbagging. personally everybody puts their pants on the same way, one leg at a time so will everybody stop all the crying and do what you need to do to make your team better or just go play rec ball!!!!!

BackstabberSS
February 14th, 2007, 10:55 PM
If you WILL win an NIT & you WILL light up the score board, then why all the whining & moaning? Nice touch throwing in the F-word too. We all needed that. A real class act.

yawn.

Bignasty13
February 15th, 2007, 04:58 PM
eastsider needs his diaper changed

BackstabberSS
February 15th, 2007, 05:07 PM
Weak. Try again...

UFreak
February 15th, 2007, 05:20 PM
...well if I'm confused, everybody must be!....

EXP23
February 15th, 2007, 05:29 PM
That's it. As soon as they start an E recreational world I am going to Kentucky and sanctioning E rec.

BackstabberSS
February 15th, 2007, 11:14 PM
That's it. As soon as they start an E recreational world I am going to Kentucky and sanctioning E rec.


You'd have a better shot...

EXP23
February 16th, 2007, 09:57 AM
You'd have a better shot...

Ouch.....that really hurt...I am not going to get drug into a fifth grade, "my dad can beat up your dad" conversation.

Just making a point that it is what a select few decide to do when they can't win everything at the level they are required by rule to play at.

OldSoftball
February 21st, 2007, 05:23 PM
"yep, but why would we want to pay the cash to play in two events that we have no shot to win"


I think a better question would be, why should teams be forced to play teams that alledgedly border jump to avoid higher classification? Those are the teams I'm concerned about.

To me it seems simple. A "gentlemans" agreement between bordering states to honor each others classifications. No rule needed. If KY feels you're a C team, then Ohio feels the same way and vice versa. There should be no reason why classification advice couldn't be shared by bordering states.

Ohio's rules might be silly/wrong as far as bump ups are concerned but they are rules. They should be followed. There is an appeals process for teams who feel unfairly treated.

Cappy
February 22nd, 2007, 01:09 AM
if there is a problems with the usssa rules then go play in the asa, nsa, nra, or whatever.

usssatpe45
February 23rd, 2007, 12:20 AM
What is nra, It is tough to players and sponsers happy you do what you have to.

28SS
February 23rd, 2007, 07:28 AM
What is nra, It is tough to players and sponsers happy you do what you have to.



huh?