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TOPIC: game of the week 2009 |
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| Smitty
July 4, 2008
12:24:05 AM
Entry #: 2818037
| i am personally undecided on this topic. this is why: as a manager im undecided losing home field advantages. as a fan, it has to happen because it was a great time having everyone in one place, getting results, talking softball, and website.
everyone had such a good time at jogues on sunday during the patriot/pna game, that several guys have told me we have to do it every week next week. but it has to be an important game.
what do you think?
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| RyMan
July 4, 2008
12:39:58 AM
Entry #: 2818044
| I don't think a game would have to be "important" for it to make a great game of the week. It'll be important BECAUSE its the game of the week. It'll be good for all the teams, no matter the ability level, to have a crowd there. I don't think the teams will matter to the people watching. How much of a great time did everyone have simply because we were hangin out with a bunch of classy people and Smitty? The game was a great bonus. I said a game of the week is a great idea. I'll even commentate
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| Smitty
July 4, 2008
2:27:56 AM
Entry #: 2818096
| but people will only show for certain match ups
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| RyMan
July 4, 2008
8:08:35 AM
Entry #: 2818146
| Then "people" need to swallow their pride and be more supportive of all teams and not just the top teams.
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| Smitty
July 4, 2008
9:19:57 AM
Entry #: 2818182
| how many of the 12:00 games at Foster have you gone to in the last two years Ryman?
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| Ryno
July 4, 2008
10:08:06 AM
Entry #: 2818214
| I agree with Ryman's point but Smitty is right. I am not going to show up there to watch a sleeper when I could be doing 100 other things.
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| hodde
July 4, 2008
10:50:24 AM
Entry #: 2818247
| it was a lot of fun i have to agree. no one goes to foster you cant drink there. it would be nice to change the 1200 oclock games to jogues
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| ANT
July 4, 2008
10:53:49 AM
Entry #: 2818250
| I think it would be easy enough to do in the preseason based on the previous years results and maybe there could be open games at the end so an important game could be added kind of like monday night football does because who wants to watch arizona play the 49ers
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| RyMan
July 4, 2008
11:05:51 AM
Entry #: 2818258
| I have been to zero noon games because I don't have the luxury of weekends off like im sure a lot of people do. Im just sayin I hope a lot of guys would do it to support other teams, the league, and club jogues. I know people have other things they could be doing, and Ryno I'd consider you to be somewhat of an exception due to you living in conn, but im talking about the local guys who would just be hanging out after their games anyways. Maybe the club could add some incentive to get people there (drink specials?). Maybe some new rivalries will form from games being the game of the week. Teams will want to make a good showing in front of the crowd. Its not like it won't be a good time if its not certain teams. Softball is like pizza, even when its bad, its still kinda good.
I just don't see why not to do it. Even if no one shows to watch, no one loses money or anything. Yeah a team might lose home field "advantage" but what about teams that play at the old washington oak that I'd say have more of an advantage on fields that don't blow balls. Club Jogues is like the Wrigley Field of coventry softball, it should be cool to play there. Maybe having games of the week there will give more reason to keep the field up like it was for the 1 pitch. I still think there should be an all star game/homerun derby at the club each season. Its so doable.
Point taken on the 49ers/Cardinals thing. But these teams you're comparing to those teams are guys we know and play against. If you don't know them, you should get to know them. And what better way to get to know them then coming to their game and heckling them!
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| Smitty
July 4, 2008
12:30:53 PM
Entry #: 2818340
| ant..i was thinking the same thing...we can pick the first 10/11 weeks before the season starts. then the last 4/5 weeks could be selected with 2 weeks notice. and no team can lose more than 2 home games unless they agree to it
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| CCFire8
July 4, 2008
2:55:00 PM
Entry #: 2818440
| Speaking on behalf of the CC Fire Team - We have no games this year at Club Jogues, but as a team we were hoping to play there. I know it will be years before we get a crowd like the one that was there on Sunday, but it was a good time just to hang and watch a couple of games and talk to some of the players in the league while having some cold beer.
CCFire8
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| EW33
July 4, 2008
10:15:16 PM
Entry #: 2818673
| I'm sorry but did Ryman just compare club Jogues to Wrigley Field? Are you kidding me?
Club Jogues is a field that Hodde is trying very hard to push as a top field in the leauge.
Let's get one thing straight. The ONLY selling point for club jogues is that you can drink LEGALLY at the field.
There is absolutely no other benefit to playing there. A real stretch would be saying it has a fence. After that you have a field almost completely surrounded by weeds vines, those aggravating bamboo type plants and briar patches. Balls get lost there at a record pace and the field is roughly the size of a little league field.
I know that some people (Hodde) want everyone to go there to show support for the sponsor. Well I agree to a point..... I understand that the bar is nice enough to let us use the field but let’s equate that to someone owning a large yard and letting you play a game there. It's not like they are killing themselves to upgrade it. I say if you want people to go there Hodde then you go to the bar and tell them to put some money into the field.
As far as I know Hodde is putting a lot of effort with Rob Raymond to get the field in decent shape. So unknot your panties Hodde and realize the facts. You are putting work in, Ian is acting like the Coventry equivalent of Don King promoting a game of the week, but the club is doing the same thing they have done.....nothing.
If Club Jogues spent money to move the fence back at home plate to add the much needed distance, did some serious landscaping around the field, and added some lights they could have their own rec league during the week also. That field could become a money maker for them but instead it sits behind the club unused until Sundays where it gets used for 4 hours then forgotten about. That is precisely what should happen with this game of the week idea …… unless the field gets upgraded …. forget about it.
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| RyMan
July 4, 2008
10:58:05 PM
Entry #: 2818700
| I was making the comparison in age only buddy. I agree the field needs a ton of work. I just thought maybe the prospect of having games of the week there would give some incentive to the club to fix it up. Have an open mind here.
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| Uncle Mertog
July 5, 2008
12:58:26 AM
Entry #: 2818746
| Before I give you all of the reasons why a “Game of the Week” is a difficult venture to embark upon, let me preface my comments by saying that I would love to see a game of the week since it is great for the league and does inspire and foster a sense of camaraderie amongst the teams. Last week was a lot of fun and it was great to see a lot of the people from around the league, but there were some very noticeable issues that arose. These are just some of the topics of conversation that have been tossed around as of late.
Having a “Game of the Week’ is far more complicated than anyone can imagine for various reasons.
1. Club Joques is in fact the only field where you can legally drink and watch a game at the same time, since it is private property, thus giving Club Joques a distinct advantage over any of the other fields to host the Game of the Week.
However, the condition of the field, size of the field, and condition of the surrounding landscape make it less than desirable to play on. Balls are lost at an alarming rate, the field is too small and the infield is a mixture of low grade dirt, wood chips and sizeable rocks making play on it less than palatable.
Is Club Joques willing to do the things necessary to upgrade their field? The opportunity to make it the prime location within the league is there. If they moved the fences back or home plate back 50 to 100 feet, cut down all of the brush surrounding the field 25 feet or so, got rid of the trees that overhang the field, and rehabbed the infield, then it would have a chance.
One glaring problem with Club Joques this weekend was the fact that they had a very good turn out and people spent a ton of money on beer, but they were charging 1.25 for a hotdog inside the club, the same hot dog that you can go to Harris and get for free. Is Club Joques willing to put something out for the teams when they show up? I know that Harris and Sunset (last year) put out a spread for everyone who showed up. Some even put pitchers out to draw in business.
Nextly, the ambiance at Harris is much more inviting in as much as there are women to look at, something that Club Joques is sorely lacking. Looking at Hodde in his cut off jean shorts just doesn’t cut for me, sorry Hodde…love you and all but damn! In a word…no eye-candy. Where are the young guys going to go? Not Joques. So Joques will have to compensate by putting out food or free pitchers or something to draw in the crowd. Are they willing to do this? The questions then become….are they willing to upgrade the field and are they willing to do something to bring in the people and more importantly keep the crowds? Charging 1.25 for hotdogs and not having any sort of real menu to choose from hurts them.
In fact, after the game was over most people split and went to other venues with more appetizing food. Food seems to be a huge factor in this equation. I myself am married so having pretty women around me is not a major concern since I can only go to the end of my chain and bark now, thus the only thing I look forward to is cold beer and good food. Roch’s and Harris are my clear cut choices to satisfy those two needs.
2. Then there is the issue of sponsorship. Pub, VFW, Roch’s, Harris, Crowe, and
PNA all have their bars that would frown upon teams not showing up at their bars and supporting them in order to spend their time and money at Club Joques. How long will they continue to shell out money to their teams without getting any business for their buck? I know that my loyalty is to Roch’s who pays my sponsorship fees and buys my uniforms, thus I have to go there to support him in exchange.
Thus, the teams like A+, DelPadre, Shamrock, Patriot, CC Fire, Stallyns, Eaton have the luxury of choosing any place they want to go without pissing off their own sponsors, since their sponsors are not affiliated with the bar business. So the question is where do they want to go after the game? I’m assuming it is someplace that has food as well. So there is a chance that you could coax those teams into staying at Joques with the right incentives, the other teams will all be going to their respective sponsors businesses…there is no getting around that issue.
3. Home field advantage?
This is something that each team needs to discuss since the home team will be forfeiting an advantage by giving up their home field to go and play at Joques. Unless your playing at Washington Oak what is the incentive to move to Club Joques? If I’m playing at Nike, Raven Woods, Foster, Hill Farm, or Hunter’s…I as a manager am not giving that up to play at Joques without some serious incentives. Those incentives are non-existent at this point in time and getting people to move their game not only from one field to another but changing their time slot is far too much to ask any team to do without proper incentive.
Most teams chose a field and built a team in accordance to that field, thus moving to a new venue erases that advantage. I personally like Foster because after the 5 home runs have been used, right field is open and keeping the ball in the park isn’t that difficult. Club Joques that advantage is gone since a check swing many times equates to a home run.
So my question is why would a team give up their home field to play at Club Joques unless it provided a strategically advantage? Once again this is not a chamber of commerce for Coventry…it is a softball league and the only purpose of competition is to win. It does sound selfish, but what’s in it for all of these other teams whom give up their field and time slot and are inconvenienced not to mention piss off their sponsors to play a game at Club Joques?
Once again it reverts back to my original point, which is that unless Club Joques was a marquee field where everyone wanted to play, then there is no reason for a team to do this. If I were in fact playing at Washington Oak (the only field in my opinion in worse shape than Joques) then I might consider it.
4. Parody!
Ryman, I know that you think that everyone should come out and support every team equally, but the truth of the matter is…it is not going to happen. There are just certain teams that can draw crowds and others that simply hold no interest. VFW/Moulton is a huge game and I’m sure everyone wants to see that game played out. No one wants to see Rochs/CC Fire or Stallyn’s/A+. Are you going to take the time and go out of your way to see the Browns play the Niners? Not unless one of them is your team. It just has no overall interest for everyone. You want to see the best game possible, and the only teams that will provide this are PNA, VFW, Moulton, Botelho’s! Thus you have the same teams over and over playing the game of the week. You can’t make people want to see a game they have no interest in seeing, unless you do something extremely spectacular to draw them in like having the “Hooter’s Girls” at the game handing out free Red Sox shirts…and that isn’t in the cards my friend.
It would be great to get everyone together on a Sunday, but it just isn’t feasible at this juncture. You could actually do a sponsor of the week thing, where each week a new sponsor could benefit from the game of the week played at their normal location and after the game that said sponsor would host the after game party at their club. Once again you run into the problem of guys who have their own sponsor to support not showing up.
The issue that is does solve is that teams would not have to give up home field advantage, but the problem of sponsorship and time change would still apply. Teams that do not have a bar as a sponsor could show up at Harris, Rochs, Pub, VFW, PNA, and Crowe and rotate them each week. Those sponsors would be responsible for creating a gimmick to get some repeat business by putting out pitchers or appetizers for the teams that showed up to their bar. If not they obviously would not get repeat business.
So it essentially breaks down to this, I like the game of the week thing, but I see far too many problems with it that need to be overcome.
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| Smitty
July 5, 2008
1:33:36 AM
Entry #: 2818754
| ew, mert, well said
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| Ryno
July 5, 2008
9:02:37 AM
Entry #: 2818811
| The really big problem is that you have recently wasted 2 longs rants that could have been in the Planet. When you run out of material again think about what you have just done.
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| ANT
July 5, 2008
11:46:31 AM
Entry #: 2818909
| Mert
While I dont disagree the field is in rough shape and that the club does nothing other than let us use something that otherwise would be left idle. Maybe if they saw the interest in the field they would help out, I would say probably not but do you really believe the other fields you mentioned are much better? Most of the fields have poor infield conditions, grass that is a little neglected and fences that are at this point to small but thats what makes this league what it is. As far as jogues goes I actually think it is one of the more fair for everybody fields, whether you loaded your lineup with lefties or opposite field guys for wash oak or all righties for foster. Let me also say that after playing 4 games at jogues sunday I would have payed 10 dollars for one of those hot dogs, and like you said most probably left and went to their own sponsers afterwards anyways. Finally the old question of if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it etc. Its nice to play with people taking interest and yelling!
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| hodde
July 5, 2008
11:48:44 AM
Entry #: 2818911
| ew and mert im going to next meeting to bring up these issues. we put alot of work in that field but is so hard to keep up with it isnt funny .and to hear people say the field sucks after putting the work into the field that i have that really sucks
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| hodde
July 5, 2008
11:53:02 AM
Entry #: 2818916
| ant it is nice to hear a postive response thanks
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| lb4lb
July 5, 2008
12:08:09 PM
Entry #: 2818927
| dont just say stuff..do stuff. Way too much thought into this one. The venue, the teams playing etc..doesnt matter. Look at all the people that showed up...I missed it but I heard it was a good time.. because of the PEOPLE. Its like having a BBQ in EDUBS backyard. Make it the game of the MONTH. Once a month is more than enough. Its like this: stopped by ERNS house at 10 pm the other night on the way home from ians...ernie was serving up Doritos , warm cans of beer and Dutilly . Had a blast. Prior to that, Ian was serving delicious burgers made from ground filet, pasta salad and Reisling. Served to me on good China...by Kate. And Kate wasnt wearing any shoes. Had a blast. So, good times are made mostly by who you are hanging with. Once a month, good teams, Club Jogues and forget about it. See you there.
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| ANT
July 5, 2008
12:15:46 PM
Entry #: 2818932
| Hodde
I think everyone appreciates the efforts youve made this year, but maintaining a field with a budget of $0 is clearly a difficult undertaking.lb4lb well said I think. The contrast of dutilly and kate is striking and really illustrates your point.
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| Uncle Mertog
July 5, 2008
3:45:51 PM
Entry #: 2819053
| Hodde, no one is blaming you for this, and even you were a little upset with your club for asking for volunteers to cook burgers and hotdogs after all the work you put in. Everyone appreciates your efforts to get things initiated, but it does seem like the Club could give two shits...and as is human nature, expect more from you.
Once again, the major glaring problem is that everyone who plays for a bar has to support their own sponsor, it is the way that it is. There is no getting around that stumbling block.
The chance of luring in teams that have no "home-bar" is your best bet. Once again I point to Harris and Sunset who put out beer and food to lure guys in. It definately seemed to work for Harris.
Don't bang your head against the wall, if Club supports what you are doing and they want to make a go of it then they will do something to help you out. If not, just play your games there and let it go.
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| DJ
July 6, 2008
3:39:07 PM
Entry #: 2819582
| Wow ok so Mert, this may be my first post aimed towards you and it is this No word of a lie, I had just finished reading your lengthy post on this issue. And to my surprise, as though you were pulling a play out of Papa Shango's playbook, I reach to my right nostril for a runny nose catch n' swipe... my nose is f'ing bleeding! Seems like I'm just not ready to handle a true Mert-rant. I bow to the master...
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