Little League Softball Topic

AlCheez
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Specifics of actual human recovery ability aside, it's also not comparable because, while times do (generally, there are always exceptions) decrease from prelims to finals, I would attribute that more to the best athletes going out and then taking their foot off the gas towards the end once it's clear that they are moving on than them saying "I'll just go at 90% for this one and assume it'll get me through."

And since there is nothing at stake but advancement in that situation, not running the absolute best time you can in a heat only impacts you - unless you're dumb enough to slow up enough so as to not qualify, in which case you've just screwed yourself over while giving someone else a gift.  
8/24/2015 10:11 AM
MikeT23
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There's that too.   Going 90% and qualifying for the next heat doesn't put someone else in and keep someone else out.  They're going head to head to get that spot you might be giving up. 

8/24/2015 10:15 AM
seamar_116
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Al...Interesting story in the Seattle Times today with an interview from Cody Webster...he was the 12-y/o pitcher who led Kirkland LL to a win over Taiwan in 1983. He's not quick to blame the coach, but he does blame the tie-breaker system. Again, any system that rewards less than best effort is flawed. Here's a link to the story. LL gets $60 million from ESPN. I wonder where that many goes?
8/24/2015 6:32 PM
AlCheez
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Good grief, why does everything have to be so binary?

The tiebreaking system can be flawed AND it can still be wrong to throw a game in an attempt to manipulate them.  And I'm not really sure that I buy that the system "rewarded" losing.  They gave up the top seed in their pool to do this - I don't know that you can account for one team's willingness to take a step back to harm another team in a tiebreak system.  3 way ties in this kind of situation are a ***** - the only good way to break them is to play them off and if you're going to do that fairly it screws with the schedule.

Can you just say you're cool with throwing games so I can have one final laugh at you and move on?

8/25/2015 7:13 AM (edited)
AlCheez
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I like that you threw shade at Little League there though.  I agree, it's hard to imagine what a massive, international organization could legitimately do with a whopping 8 million dollars a year.
8/25/2015 7:19 AM
bronxcheer
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ESPN, MLB, SHOULD BUY WOODEN BATS FOR EVERY BASEBALL LEAGUE IN AMERICA. THEN BUILD AND UPKEEP BALLFIELDS TOO

GREEDY BASTARDS
8/25/2015 7:26 AM
seamar_116
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Posted by AlCheez on 8/25/2015 7:13:00 AM (view original):

Good grief, why does everything have to be so binary?

The tiebreaking system can be flawed AND it can still be wrong to throw a game in an attempt to manipulate them.  And I'm not really sure that I buy that the system "rewarded" losing.  They gave up the top seed in their pool to do this - I don't know that you can account for one team's willingness to take a step back to harm another team in a tiebreak system.  3 way ties in this kind of situation are a ***** - the only good way to break them is to play them off and if you're going to do that fairly it screws with the schedule.

Can you just say you're cool with throwing games so I can have one final laugh at you and move on?

Al...I'm totally not cool with throwing games...just wanted to point out that the tie-breaker protocols create situations like these. And the coach in question should have just let his least experienced pitcher get some work in, rested his starters (tough to do with a 14 player roster, I know) and let come what may. I agree that trying to manipulate the system to engineer a certain match-up was wrong. How about let a kid work on switch-hitting? Would that have been wrong? Or work on drag bunts?
8/25/2015 8:19 PM
MikeT23
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Posted by seamar_116 on 8/23/2015 10:06:00 PM (view original):
The Iowa team should not have put themselves in a position where the tie-breaker mattered. Bottom line, any team that gets hosed by the workings of a tie-breaker system only has themselves to blame. Win all your games and the tie-breaker is not a factor (at least when head-to-head play has occurred in the pool play). And I say that as a coach that has gotten hosed by the tie-breaker system in the past. Things can get real crazy when point-differential is one of the criteria used...i.e need to win by 7+ or lose by 12+ in order to advance....seriously...those scenarios exist. If I'm a coach and my kids have worked hard, played hard, played fair...why would I not want to give them the opportunity to continue to advance? I didn't create the rules (in fact have lobbied hard to change them to avoid this very scenario).

 

"why would I not want to give them the opportunity to continue to advance? I didn't create the rules (in fact have lobbied hard to change them to avoid this very scenario)."


Sure sounds like you're very cool with throwing games to give your team the opportunity to continue to advance.    Can't have it both ways.

8/25/2015 8:57 PM
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