Hartley Miller's Slap-Shots August 11th Edition
The organizers of the Canadian Senior Men's Fastpitch Championship, which runs August 27th to September 3rd at the Spruce City Stadium, will agree with the old adage that bigger is not always better.
This year's tournament consists of eight teams: PG Black Bears/ Vancouver/ Stony Plain, Alberta/ Saskatoon/ Jarvis, Ontario/ St. Thomas, Ontario (defending champions) Charlottetown, PEI and Newfoundland. Last year, 13 teams participated in St. Thomas. Obviously, Prince George's location was a factor in attracting five fewer teams.
However, the quality of fastball should improve.
After all, Quebec’s Eastmain Fireballs will not be participating. Thank goodness! Remember the Fireballs? Yes, this was the squad that makes the Bad News Bears look like the New York Yankees. Last year, not only did the Fireballs go 0-8, but they were outscored 81-4 in those games. With results like 8-1, 11-0, 13-0, 14-1, 8-0, 8-1, 7-1, and 12-0 (to PG), Quebec was outclassed. By not having a “weak sister” like Eastmain increases the tournament’s caliber which is better for the fans.
Although the championship should be a success, I'm not thrilled that all eight teams make the playoffs. Who’s calling the shots here, the BCHL (the league where 16 of 17 will qualify for the post season)? Although the top four teams enter a double knockout round, and the last four clubs are placed in a single knockout side, the round robin is devalued. An option to consider is teams 1 and 2 advance to a double knockout, teams 3 to 6 move on to a single knockout, and teams 7 and 8 eliminated. It's easy to ridicule many playoff formulas but when one has a more sensible solution, it justifies the criticism.
On the topic of playoff formats, I thought that the page system was only for curling, but the Canadian Junior Little League (13-14 year olds) Championship decided to go with this format. The page playoff system means that the first place team (after the round robin) plays team two, and team three meets team four. The winner of 1-2 advances to the final while the loser gets another chance in the semi-finals against the winner of the 3-4 game. I like certain aspects of this formula because it places a greater emphasis on the round robin; however, the one area that remains “out of whack” is that there is virtually no advantage to placing first over second, yet there is a major difference between ending up second and third.
The Prince George Canfor Rebels won Provincials after finishing 4th in the round robin. That format was the traditional 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 and the Rebels peaked at the right time knocking off Whiterock-Surrey 6-3 in the semi-finals and then Cypress Park 8-6 in the final. At the Nationals, the Rebels also came 4th after the round robin, but the road to the Canadian title was much more difficult since they had to win three straight playoff games instead of two. (PG ended up in 3rd place at the Nationals in Lethbridge, winning its first playoff game, 9-7 over Quebec, before being eliminated by Calgary 12-2)
I'm not sure there is a perfect system, but this doesn't mean league and tournament organizers should not be taking a close look at all playoff format possibilities and then choosing the one that is best for the teams, players and fans. But whatever the decision, more is not necessarily the merrier.
From the quote rack:
"(Detroit) Tigers closer Todd Jones takes only one pair of underwear--the ones he wears--on road trips. Sounds like he's in dire need of more brief appearances".
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California-
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"It was announced this week that hefty Charles Barkley is considering running for governor of Alabama. It's thought he'd make an excellent roll model."
Calgary contributor Jeff Funnekotter to Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
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"A swing and a prayer."
Richard Oliver of the San Antonio Express-News on Revelationcatalog.com selling
golf balls with Bible verses imprinted on them.
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"A commemorative white elephant is in the mail to all Canadians. Allow six to eight years for delivery."
Bill Lankhof of the Toronto Sun, on the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Olympics.
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"Isn't that a horse's usual condition?"
Mitchell Pote in Tom FitzGerald's syndicated column, on reports that Barbaro is in stable condition.
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And in case you missed it……..
According to Maxim Online, the five worst teammates of all time are 5. Vince Carter; 4. Ricky Williams; 3. Terrell Owens; 2. Bill Romanowski; 1. Isaiah Thomas.
And how was your week?
Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the
PG Free Press. Hartley's e-mail address is hmiller@94xfm.com
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