Perfect Game Super25 super qualifier tournament

Not exactly sure how they chose the teams....but typically in a tourney like that not every team gets to play at the feature field...there just aren't enough games available for that to happen.  Typically it's a "first come-first served" type of thing...meaning the teams that sign up first are usually the teams who get on the feature field.  As far as the championship...it's possible that the field wasn't available??  Using D1 fields is expensive....and anything the school is doing with the field gets priority.  It's possible that the field was available for most of the tourney, but not at the time the championship game was played??

Some tourneys... Will only give the top tier teams the D1 field. Diamondking tournaments gave the top teams in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area the DBU field. The others played at high school fields.  Elimination games today will be played at the high school fields.

To be honest really haven't read description of event but sons team is scheduled to play one in July. Coach was very blunt describing. Just a qualifier for event later in the summer in Jupiter. Looked at teams entered and recognzed some. Not the best of the best; just trying to get in to the bigger tournament. I have no expectation of this being a scouted event.

It gets better. Our semi final game gets delayed because of rain. We wait thirty minutes while other nearby games are getting called because of weather. One of the pg reps finally shows up to say the tournament is cancelled because of weather.  Says the park rep made the call.  Communication was terrible.  I'm not impressed with perfect game organization.

Yeah, they should've stopped the rain.  Geez...

Don't have a problem being rained out.  That is a risk everyone takes.  Standing around waiting while the umpires never came back was a problem.  PG raked in $32,000 on entry fees alone for one she group.  I expect a better run operation.

What's a "one she group?"

"One she group" is stupid phone auto spell for "one age group" . :-)

lionbaseball,

 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience.  

 

You should know that PG doesn't run most of the qualifiers.  We do run the National Championships.  Regional baseball people run most of the qualifiers including the one you played in.

 

That said our name is involved, so if there are complaints we deserve to hear them.  Usually we hear them somewhere other than a message board.  Then again, it does seem like this is the favorite spot for some to complain.  I'm actually shocked by some of the complaints that I never expected to see here about LakePoint.  Guess it goes with the territory. BTW, Our WWBA Championships are advertised/featured as LakePoint, used to be East Cobb, however we use fields all over that are much farther than 45 minutes from each other. 

 

Anyway, I really don't yet know what happened at the tournament you attended.  Reading your complaint it sounds like the umpires never came back to the game that was called off.  We don't own the facilities there so we can't just take over.  Nice addition on the money, do you have any idea what the expenses were?  PG makes very little off Super 25 qualifiers. If you were to make it to the National we will make some money.  

 

Super 25 is set up so teams don't have to travel as far and they are required to keep their rosters throughout.  It is much different than the WWBA or the BCS that PG has been running for many years.

 

Once again, I apologize, I hope this will be your only bad experience with us.  Somehow, I kind of doubt it though.  Sounds like your sons's team is pretty good.

Help me understand:
1) PG doesn't run most of the qualifiers.
2) The PG name is allowed to be used for tournaments that PG doesn't run.
3) You, as a PG rep., don't know what occurred but haven't offered to find out.
4) PG doesn't run most of the qualifiers but makes very "little" off the fact that the PG name is being used.

Btw, 32 teams entered in this age bracket at $1000 each.

Since the PG name is being used it would be nice to follow up your apologies with an investigation of what transpired.  How about calling each of the coaches for the teams entered to get their feedback?

Investigate!! How dare you!

Just give it a rest man.

I guess I don't understand what the beef is.  Most HS age tournaments advertise a certain marque field with several alternative fields.  The way I have seen it done, is the first x teams who register and pay are guaranteed a game at the marque field.  Other than that game, you're subject to traveling all ends of the earth to your games.  Is that your beef?

 

Or is your beef that you waited a whole 30 minutes to be informed that the games would be cancelled because it was raining?  Really. 

You obviously don't understand. 
I'm not holding my breath but if PGStaff takes the time to call some of the coaches of the 16u teams I would bet the responses would be less than flattering.  I know my son's coaches was disappointed.

That's what I said -- I didn't understand.  Seems like your team had it's head in the sand. 

       
       

Why are you commenting on an event and a team you don't understand?  Or do you enjoy showing your ignorance on this topic?

Because your "complaints" are silly.  Your issues seem to be that you didn't get to play on the marque field, you had to wait 30 minutes for a rain out, and that you didn't have working score boards. Welcome to HS tournament baseball. 

lionbaseball,

 

Anyone that knows me will know that I will look into this. I certainly don't expect teams to be happy about not finishing the tournament.  I did mention our name being involved, so it is our problem.  I did apologize, but it wasn't PG that did the schedule or called off the games.  It wasn't the director that called off the tournament.  we have had teams wait much longer than 30 minutes to find out when and if play will start.   The Super 25 is similar to other organizations that hold regional and district qualifiers.  Each area has a director.   In this case it is a very good director.  

 

I did check our website and saw all the sites mentioned.  Yes, there was a photo of the Texas A&M stadium.  That seems normal.   

 

People need to understand that there is a very big difference between WWBA, BCS and Super 25.  But even WWBA has some qualifiers for Jupiter that are run by someone other than PG.  Our goal is to identify the best teams and specifically the best players.  It should be very obvious that we do that better than anyone outside of MLB.

 

As I mentioned I almost always hear about complaints.   We didn't get this far by ignoring complaints.   While your complaints might be legitimate, it is the only complaint I have heard so far.   Then again, are you complaining to us or just making sure everyone hears you on a message board.  In other words are you complaining or attacking?

 

Why do I get the feeling there is more involved with your posts?  I don't expect those involved to be happy about all of this and that includes us.  Do you think we want these problems?  Weather always creates disappointment.   

He isnt a pg rep he IS PG and he has been more than fair in answering your post and he told you that he had concerns. You want him to jump right on it because YOU think he should? When you snap your fingers you want others to jump.

You tell people they dont know the situation and not to comment on an open message board, why not just write to him in a dm?

But as usual you are being your disrespectful and  classless self.

You obviously havent done a lot of serious travel ball, dont think its for you.

 

You might literally eat your heart out everytime it rains.

Lion,

You have come on a public forum and made complaints.  Complaints that seem silly as presented from a reader of this public forum.  We were not there so we can only judge what you explained. 

 

First that it was misrepresented about field location.

A second post that a rain delay was communicated poorly and took 30 minutes to call.

A third post that states there's more which included poor umps, scheduling, and communication.

 

PGStaff (I believe founder) apologized and has done some investigating.  Plus tried to explain a little about the business relationship of the tournament organizer/host.  I wouldn't doubt he has gone a step further but yet you still are not satisfied.

 

Your issues are very subjective and can be heard at just about every game if you ask the wrong/right person.  It isn't just by chance that there were 32 teams willing and ready to pay and play at this event.  It's also incredible that PGStaff is readily available to openly discus these issues on an open forum and commend him for his efforts. 

 

 

 

 

 

I still hope PGStaff does the right thing and follow up with some of the coaches that were at the PG tournament last weekend in College Station, Tx.  

 

 bad umpiring (i know of one umpire that came in from Florida) shouldn't occur at a pg event.

 

This is so funny.  Bad umpiring happens in MLB because umpires are human!!!

I'm sure Perfect Game will be greatly distressed that your team is not playing.  I want to thank PGStaff for being willing to assist us as parents over the years with our questions.  This is the second go around for me and he has always been faithful to assist any parents on this board and has always been gracious.  I just don't know any other organization that would be represented on an open forum.  Yes, it costs a lot to play at PG and I have always had to decide what events were financially worth it and when they were worth it.  My youngest is an upcoming freshman who has a lot of ability for his age.  I hope that PGStaff will continue to be open to us parents here on this forum.  Thanks again for your faithfulness in making sure young men get an opportunity to fulfill their dreams.  You were a part of my middle son getting the opportunity to play college baseball at a D1 school and get a great degree.  It has gone full circle since he is now coaching this summer at PG events.  Thanks for already getting my youngest son noticed even at his age.  Having moved to the Midwest, PG allows him to continue to be noticed by Southeast colleges facing good talent.  Thanks PG for all you have done for my family.

Any tournament you play in will cost 700 to 1000+. Anything less then that you'll be playing rec. teams. We played 7 games this weekend ( loosing championship game) We had no water,90 degree

temps, no scoreboards and played on high school fields. That's the life of summer high school ball. Plenty of talented teams play this way in DFW. Wait till July when the temps are 100+ and the grass is dieing.  

A lot of tournaments give % refund if you haven't played a certain amount of games.( rain)

As for the scouts, they were there, probably watching other teams/ players.

Relax man its summer ball

Lion,

Son's team just played in a small tourney this past weekend with five good teams made up of top HS and several college kids.  No water provided in dugouts or sold, no concessions, didn't know whether we'd be playing 7's or 9's 'til we showed up, no winners awards, umps were ex-players for host site who are not umps and couldn't drill down on some of the finer points, no rules sheets or maps to location, no hotel info, no event shirts, no UIC, etc., etc.  

No one cared.  No one complained.  Awesome baseball all weekend.  Competitive teams.  A few relevant folks watching.  Those are the only things anyone cared about.  I particularly love events like this because it is clear that it's all about the baseball. 

Yes, I realize this was not a PG tourney (and we have done those).  But the point I'm trying to make is that you would probably be way better off not sweating this kind of stuff.  As your son continues moving up, you are likely to be surprised that some of the best and/or most competitive events will lack the "finer things" in regards to the peripherals.  Enjoy the baseball and watching your kid play.  That's what you're really there for, isn't it? 

 

One more anecdotal...  I occasionally work some big youth tournaments around the country for one of the bigger organizations that puts them on.  I am in California and went up to work one in the Pacific Northwest.  I was blown away by how poor the infield playing surfaces were at several of the facilities.  Like playing on gravel (a form of crushed lava rock?).  I was expecting the coaches to go nuts.  Not a word.  It's what they are used to.  They came out and played baseball.  I learned something that week.  Hope you can take something away from this.

 

       
       

(Some parts of quote cut out for brevity)
I agree with your sarcasm.  I'm not expecting any investigation by PG nor love lost that our team, who have won their pool bracket in two tournaments, will not participate in the next pg tournament.
I was fully aware of the cost for tournaments this summer. Just disappointed with what I believe are deceptive practices used by this event utilizing the PG name.  If anyone wants to pm me I can give you a long list of issues with this event including the well known local corrupt small town police force that works at pulling over cars leaving the tournament.  ;o)
What I liked about the tournament was the higher level of competition.

Lionbaseball,

 

Why do you think there will be no investigation? Truth is that has already started.

 

Your team has every right to play where they want.  We certainly don't want to lose teams with talent.

 

So far, myself or our management has only heard one complaint regarding the tournament.  That complaint is yours here on this message board.  Sill we are not ignoring that complaint.

 

i suspect there might have been some mistakes made.  however, some of what you mentioned just doesn't make sense.  Could you send me a message regarding the bad umpires, and the 30 minute wait before calling off the game?  Not sure what umpires from Florida have to do with anything.

 

At some point I hope you can experience a PG event that impresses you.

Well you may need to change the police chief then. 

 Dunno about the rest, but that one's simple. Tell your team's parents to stop driving so damn crazy on the way home.

 

In my opinion, this whole complaint is STUPID and I don't think PG should have to do anything.  I don't even know what PGStaff has to investigate.  List of complaints:

 

1)  Did not play on the college field - My son has played in MULTIPLE tournaments hosted by a college field and was LUCKY to get to play on that field in just a few of the tournaments.  This happens with ALL organizations, not just PG.  It is the way tournament ball is run.  

 

2)  It took 30 minutes for the game to be cancelled.  Man, I would be thanking my lucky stars that they called it that quickly.  I have sat around for hours waiting for tournaments to be called.  Usually, the complaint is that they called the games too quickly, not allowing time for the tournament to be completed.  Here, you're complaining that 30 minutes was too long to wait?????  Don't get that at all.

 

3)  Umpires were bad - Don't even know what to say about that...  Get used to baseball.

 

4)  Local police were pulling people over - Com on man...    How in the world can that even be remotely considered something PG related?

 

Was this your first travel tournament lionbaseball??  Everything you have talked about seem pretty normal to me...  In fact it sounds better than a lot of tournaments I have been involved in.

       
       

Thank you.  I will send you a pm later today as I'm replying using my phone.

Am I the only one sitting here thinking PGStaff is a more patient and better man than I am for his tact and graciousness in his responses. I guess I don't ever need to own a buisness. I wouldn't have the restraint to do the same hahaha.

Lion, You might want to reconsider sending a PM. If I were you I'd wish to remain anonymous. While you may have legitimate gripes what I've read appears to be petty. If I'd gone to a public forum to rant & rave think I'd take the opportunity now to take a deep breath and rethink. I would not want my name to be known and the potential conquences that come to my son as a result. For my son's sake I'd move on and not be "one of those parents". In a couple of years you and your son may be wondering why he has the talent but no takers. Coaches do take the parents into consideration. I hope you take this in the spirit intended.

I believe I am the only person associated with PG that is a member of theHSBBW.  That is because of all the great people that are involved here over the years.  I truly enjoy this site much more when the discussions are about something other than PG. I do enjoy hearing good suggestions from people that can make PG better.  More than once there have been people come on here with crazy accusations that were simply untrue BS.  Julie once discovered that a negative PG thread was started and continued by one of our competitors claiming he was a parent.

 

All that said, against my better judgement, I feel the need to respond at certain times.

 

So regarding this thread, I went to the people that are capable of getting answers.  I copied all of the complaints and sent them to them. Here is the latest response from the National Super 25 director to our PG National Director.

 

AND after reading PGs post, this whole thread is even more ridiculous.  

 

Look, my kid is beyond PG, I am not trying to butter PG up in any way whatsoever.  But I would not blame PGStaff for not coming on here anymore.  I agree with the above in that Jerry goes WAY, WAY out of his way to field some of these inane complaints.  I have seen him be more than reasonable in accommodating reasonable ideas for improvement, but I really think some people have come on here and TOTALLY taken advantage of his willingness to address issues.

 

PGStaff has a wealth of baseball knowledge after running PG since it's been around (not even sure how long it's been), having raised two sons thru college baseball and into the pros (at least one of them) and having been a college coach himself.  Even if he wasn't the founder of Perfect Game, his baseball knowledge probably surpasses most everyone on this site.  I have even seen him delve into the PG data base to add hard numbers to baseball discussions.  Something no one here could do.  It would be a shame for him to get a foul taste in his mouth about HSBBW because of a lot of this nit-picking, mind numbing, cheapskate complaining about his baseball organization.  Jerry does not get on here and selfishly promote his organization.  He has said on more than one occasion "If you don't want to enter PG events, then don't.  They are not for everyone."  Yet he hangs around to add to the discussions and respond to some crazy accusations - I also would not be as patient as him.

 

Jerry, I don't know you, other than reading your posts on this board over the last 8 years.  Personally, I appreciate your contributions.  I don't always agree, but you are always sincere in your responses.  I hope you don't get soft skinned about this stuff and fade away.  

Wow.

 

Lion, that's got to be enough for you.  If not, I don't know what else anybody could do for you and yours.  Good luck with your son's travel season.

I have a much more important question for PG Staff:

 

Which CWS team were you pulling for last night?

 

UVA, with its Iowa-bred head coach, Creighton alum and model for the iconic statue?

 

Or Florida, with its tall, lanky Iowa pitcher?

 

  THESE are the decisions that should keep you up at night. 

 

In fact, that one kept ME up past 1 a.m. EST.

Thanks bballman, 

 

As long as there are people like you around, I will be here until the end.

 

Had to laugh because there was a time that I decided to end my relationship with this site. I received a lot of emails from nice folks asking for a change of mind.  Also got a few from some old timers saying I was being selfish and just being a big baby.  After reading those, and realizing they were right I decided this was a bigger deal than I ever realized.

 

The one thing I wish people would understand is that I HATE business.  I love baseball and the kids who play the game. That is the motivation. There are no big shots at PG, least of all, me.  I suppose I could have been very wealthy by now if that were the goal, but we keep setting a new record every year spending money in order to improve what we do. That makes me happy!  I also realize we are far from perfect, we make mistakes, we just never make those mistakes on purpose.

 

Odd as it might seem, some of my friends were once my enemy. I'm kind of proud of that.

Midlo,

 

I truly don't have a favorite.  It is just a lot of fun watching all those kids we once saw when they were a few years younger. The thing that stands out each year is how important these head coaches and their staff are.  And it is no surprise to anyone that has known them for a long time.

 

Have to admit, it would be huge for the state of Iowa baseball if that big lefty ends up being the first pick next year.

Nice pivot, Midlo.