Come on in, pull up a chair and grab a drink and throw 6 or 7 chicken wangs on yo plates fellaz. I hope that everybody is doing well and is in as good-a-mood as I am to fellowship and tell a few lies...
That was a pretty good weekend o'baseball huh! Besides the fact that the remaining tiers of the bracket shall forever remain blank, did any of you see anything this weekend that qualified as "Disappointing", "Impressive" or "Surprising"? Personally, I can't say that "someone's" team losing to the Roadrunners, was necessarily "Surprising". They're a really good team. HOWEVA, the fact that they could be shutout by double digits WAS. As loaded as they are, I would have gladly conceded that they would score at least 1 run against ANY team. I'm a bit puzzled by that one.
Also, I may have missed it but, when was the last time someone in here showed love to the Powder Springs Indians? In spite of the fact that some may argue that they had a "not-so-difficult pool schedule", their being seeded as the #2 team overall heading into bracket play says something about their pitching/defense and ability to score runs. Heck, they were seeded TWICE AS HIGH as we were so, we certainly can't discount or disparage their performance(s) by any means.
While on the subject of our seeding, and in the spirit of full disclosure, Team Combat could have been seeded higher than us too. They played well but, were somewhat handicapped by absenteeism and uncharacteristically slow starts by a couple of their great talents. But hey! ... That's kinda how it goes sometimes in this AWESOME sport that ebbs and flows and is full of peaks and valleys. And... WE'LL TAKE IT BUDDY! But it's also noteworthy to mention that we, too, had some very uncharacteristic defensive miscues, uncustomary lacks of plate generalship and were missing some key components to our roster.
Another real "surprise" to ME was results put up by our "little brother" team. I'll raise my hand as someone who thought they'd fair much better than they did. Being shutout once (against the #1 overall seed and a really good baseball team) A team of their caliber going 0 for 4 is kinds perplexing pour moi.
All in all, I think that the tourney was pretty competitive. With but ONE exception, I believe that the teams that were "supposed" and/or "expected" to do well, --Did! Some others had statement-making performances that bolstered their team's seaworthiness in the eyes of public opinion. I won't name my ONE exception but, I WILL give you a very difficult-to-decipher hint: Their name rhymes with Rome Ate Grits... They lost to 2 really good teams but, isn't one of the characteristics of a great team that they frequently BEAT some of the really good teams? Or am I off-kilter on that one?
**With regard to OUR team... While I'm certain that our roster is replete with talent, I will NEVER initiate or be goaded into the hype or ranking stuff. I enjoy it immensely but, If you want the hype, or wish to rank us, watch our practices, come to our games; then YOU can have fun with all that! At the end of the day, it's the championship "Ws" that count to us.**
Lastly, for those of you that are playing this upcoming weekend, good luck and play safely. To the others, rest up. practice and let's do it again in the TC Easter Shootout at East Cobb in 2 weeks. |
TC Elite Invitational Footnotes, Lies & Analysis
Posted - 03/22/2015 : 12:39:23
