The State Little League Brackets were drawn back in May, before anyone knew who was going to finish where... Each "age group" bracket was drawn with the grea-*test*-('") number allowed to enter per district. Most states are only allowed one per district to enter into a Little League State Tournaments, but since Arkansas is a smaller state we are allowed two teams per district to enter with yearly permission.

With the 7 & 8 yr olds it's different because it's a special tournament and the 3 District Administrators agreed to allow 4 per district to enter into the the tournament this year.

Back in May of 2008 all brackets were drawn. You should have been able to have this information from your DA since then. It was no secret.

The three districts were labeled 1a,1b,1c,d,3a,3b.etc.... They started at the top of the bracket and went down, pulling them out of a hat. Some consider this not fair, but since there are so many travel teams up against what Little League intended an All Star team to be, as in a team not playing as a team together before June 15.

When you put a team that's played 60+ games together up against a team that's been together since June 15, that's not really right either.

So give some suggestions.... to help remedy the situation...
What is fair to all children not just your own?

Oh come on Neabbfan we want to root for the storm, if you promise him this I can't be for them wholeheartedly like I would like to. Just promise him a better hint but I don't know how much more he needs those clues you gave him should give it away.

You can still root for us , I tell you what all of you show up at the ballpark tonight and I bet I will be able to put a name to each one of you.

I think you must have misunderstood Travis in that meeting. He was saying that the 7 & 8 yr old tournament was a special games tournament and Waco had already been called numerous times by your district complaining about the teams that were being allowed to go...as in travel teams. The Regional office does not like this tournament and has said if they get many calls on it, they will cancel the tournament and will not allow it again. Once again ask your DA...he should be able to tell you this also.

Waco will only allow 2 games per day with restrictions on the catcher (which I don't agree with and have stated on many occasions)...Travis was only trying to explain why, when some started grumbling to the effect that your allowed to play more in your home district.

Travis is blunt and to the point, not wishy washy like some...he goes by the rules for everyone, he has nothing to gain. He has been associated with Little League since 1977 without a year off, with his youngest child finishing about 16 years ago. He serves Little League out of love of the game.... He's fair to all...and there is nothing wrong with that.

As far as Moss....He's been in Little League since the 70's also without a break. With his youngest finishing years ago also. He gives his time freely to Little League with nothing to gain. You might not have seen him the rest of the tournament because he was overseeing the District 11/12 tournament being held at White Hall, the rest of the time.

Both of these men have stayed with Little League to make sure all children are treated fairly. They are blunt and to the point, always fair, will do anything to help out any team without regard of who they are or where they're from...just to help the kids. I've watched both of these men work long hours on all of District 3 fields in the past 6+ years.

Sometimes first impressions aren't great...Travis told everyone that cell phones were not allowed on the field during games...mostly because of injury...he was blunt. A person from one of your teams sent him a text message while he was out on the field with the Challenger players...(he was giving the press box directions because we had to change things up a bit from our normal play). The person that sent the text signed into the meeting the day before and put his cell number down...real smart...but did Travis say or do anything to him or the team...no he turned his cheek. This guy may be a real nice person...but first impressions of him to me aren't great.

Why don't you get to know someone, before slamming them....walk in their shoes before judging...sometimes you learn something.

The person that sent the text signed into the meeting the day before and put his cell number down...real smart...but did Travis say or do anything to him or the team...no he turned his cheek. This guy may be a real nice person...but first impressions of him to me aren't great.


Lol, yea he's not the brigh-*test*-('") bulb in the lamp... Priceless.

"Hawg Caller" and "wannaberebel":

I'll make same request of you two that I made to "robo"--Give me a name so that I may respond directly to you.

"robo" apparently has taken my comment to "sportstorm" that he has not had the "sack" to reply as a "threat" and responds with a:

"It's not because I don't have the sack to tell you who I am I just can't do it on here."

My e-mail address if you want to keep your identity on the down low - williamd69@msn.com.

As to my being "anal retensive", a "butt", or a "skunk head", let me respond with -

Hiding behind anonymity of sports boards/"chat room" ID's shows what kind of person you are.

My e-mail address if you want to keep your identity on the down low - williamd69@msn.com.

Also "Hawg Caller" - hope carrying your piece around with your "conceal to carry" made you feel safer in our non-family friendly town.

Storm or rebelmom what time do you guys play tonight If already posted sorry.

Baseballmom, let me just put this out there. The job that Travis and Jeff and Mr. Moss do is a thankless job at best. Yes, they will hear all the negative comments and hardly ever hear the words Thank You. Thank you for all you do for the children of Little League. Thank you for the countless hours that you put into this to make it work Thank you for putting our families before your own. So, I will say it. Thank you.

6:00pm in Monette.

good luck and have a Blast... Win some ball games

Mr. Moss:

I see that you are calling me out again. I am not real sharp but yes I would rather hide my identity at the present time, I am so sure that as soon as I call or email you that you won't go public with it on here, yea right. That being said you convince me that I need to call you by listening to my sincere comments and questions and give me some feedback. I can promise you I am not afraid of putting it all out on the table.

#1 I am sorry for the skunk comment
#2 Go to the other forum under USSSA state tournament and read my response to baseball mom today if you haven't already.
#3 Once that is done, you tell me one thing I have said that isn't true about the way you or Travis represented yourself to us at the tournament?
#4 Address how treating someone and talking down to them is any better than name calling and your role in preparing the field "that day" not over the past 30 years.
#5 Finally what are your plans, if I call you what are we going to talk about, are you wanting to meet in between NEA and Pine Bluff and settle this? Yes I kind of took it that way. You want to call me out for hiding behind a false identity. If I would have come up to you at the tournament and said Mr. Moss you and Travis are really being jerks could you cut us some slack until we get everything figured out this first day? What would you have said? I bet it would have been along the lines of "hit the bricks." The people that know me know this is what I wanted to do but didn't because it wouldn't have turned out well for me and I'm guessing our team.

I respect you and Travis's dedication to Little League over the years and no I don't know either of you personally. Guess what, you don't know me either or some others on here personally and what we contribute either. I know one thing I contributed to your economy for 5 days and don't regret it a bit. I was mad and made a comment about you and Travis and I stand behind what was meant except for the name calling of you, that shouldn't have happened. I am not the one who sent a text message and again being by the book doesn't mean you have to act the way both of you did. I am a black and white sort of guy as well but I do try to treat people the way I want to be treated. You can be in charge without being a jerk and yes I know how to do it. If I was around you all of the time I might feel differently but I am not. So address some of my points and if I feel like we need to talk I will be more than happy to meet you or whatever. This post is right from the gut, the people that know me know that is the way I am, this board is mostly fun for me but sometimes we can say things that hurt peoples feelings I have apologized for the "skunk" comment, now you deal with what I feel are your issues. I look forward to reading your response.

ROBO:

Thanks for last post.

I am going to try to respond to you via e mail through the NEAR Sports board e mail option (keeps your identity out of it).


Most likely the previous one I sent you did not get through because my office computer sometimes hiccups and does not send (tried to send one to NEABBFAN this morning and am not sure it got through).

If you do not receive an e mail from me by tomorrow just let me know through a post on the thread. If you wish to respond to my e mail by posting on the thread it is okay by me.

Again, thanks for the last post.

I look forward to reading your email, I haven't received anything as of yet, but will check back again after while. I understand the computer problem, same thing happened at my work just today. I don't mind responding by email. I look forward to your response.

I have explained this several times, but here goes again. Last season at the 12yo state tournament Travis drew the bracket placement at the tournament banquet with a deck of cards. To stop that we DA's agreed to do a blind draw at the spring state meeting. That way the teams will know before they get there when they will play.

Now, get over it. This is only a issue because we send more than 1 team per District to the tournaments. Should we stop and only send 1?

No, draw the tournament like you always do except throw the cards and the hat away except for those districts that evidently don't play district tournaments. Draw the bracket according to seeds. If a district plays a district and they play themselves into a slot then put them there. If you have a district that doesn't play a tournament then pull the hat back out and draw for seeds for their district only. This makes the tournament still more traditional in the ones either getting the byes or playing lower seeds. I am over it was along time ago, but since you posed the question about only sending one team I thought I would throw in my two cents. This is no different than what the AAA has to do for all sports in high school involving regional and state tournaments every year.