I'm thinking the poster who brought this thread back to life must have joined and posted before understanding what this board is all about. Greg, this board is about getting kids to college ball. It's about kids talented enough to get there.
I agree, RJM - this sight is geared towards the kid whose goal is to play college ball (or beyond). I get annoyed every time I see people posting tryouts for non-HS age teams.
To Greg65: Travel ball is a tool - it is neither good or bad. It just is. It's parents (and especially unrealistic parents) who steal the joy out of baseball. Parents pick the teams (and therefore the ridiculously intense coaches) so we would be well advised to keep that in perspective, I did. My son's summer team this year was only .500 even though we had the talent to win more games. But we went with an organization that believes in developing players and they would leave pitchers in too long to give them a chance to work out of jams or put a kid in an unfamiliar position so he could learn (often by making mistakes).
As long as my kid WANTS to play (e.g. he's asking me to take him to the cages) and his goal is to play in college or the pros, I will continue to pay for travel ball because it gives him the best opportunity to reach his goals. We played LL until he was 13 but he outgrew it. It does a kid no good to be the best player on a marginal team - he won't get better that way. The talent level of the players aside, the problem with rec ball is that they don't play enough games. In LL we played less than 20 games in a season - in travel ball we played nearly 70. That's a lot more reps and a lot more game situations to be exposed to - reps that my son's competition for a HS/College/Pro roster spot are getting while the rec player is hanging out at Chuckee Cheese with his LL buddies.
BTW - there is a no problem with the Rec League baseball in our town - we have one of the 10 largest LL's in the world here and it keeps growing. There is a place for the kid that loves baseball and just wants to play and it's a great place to be.
To SPYvSPY: I agree with all your statements, sounds like you are a good Dad. Unfortunately, the majority of people in travelball, IMHO, are the "win at any cost" types who are either in it for the money, or living vicariously through their kids. People forget that it's a "game" and you "play" it. At the end, we are all going to be buried in a hole, if you didn't have fun, and didn't teach your kids to have fun, that's your fault. You should always be asking, "is this fun?" and, "is it worth it?"