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Post by Danny White on Aug 11, 2006 21:00:07 GMT -5
The recent story in the Bergen Record was a disgrace. There are two leagues in North Jersey with a total of 26 teams. Playing baseball with wood bats, unlike what the colleges do. The players pay themselves for the right to play in these leagues. To have a so called state newspaper do a report on baseball, and because we can't turn back the clock and make it 1972, we are considered has beens.
I guess that means that every writer who writes for The Record, is a failure because they are in Bergen County, and not writing for the Boston Globe, NY Times, or the Washington Post.
Is it wrong to care about something that you do? Is Bergen County better place because these leagues exist? This article was written because a few people at the Record have a agenda against Baseball in North Jersey.
I would encourage everyone to write to the record, write to the company that had ads in the record sports section. Tell them you are not going to buy their product or use there services. Standing by silent should not be the response!
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Post by bobbyk23 on Aug 12, 2006 7:13:17 GMT -5
Danny,
Could you post a link to the article? I couldn't find it.
Bob
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Post by hhascup on Aug 12, 2006 8:47:55 GMT -5
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Post by nukelaloosh on Aug 12, 2006 9:50:58 GMT -5
Im a "Never Was" not a "Has Been"!
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Post by nukelaloosh on Aug 12, 2006 10:00:00 GMT -5
Oh and that article is bullshit right off the bat, Matt Smith didnt get the win in the League championship game! Who wrote this article? Does he know anything? The Ronnies are from Worcester, Mass... Anyone from Massachusetts or dd a minute amount of research would know theres a huge difference....
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Post by nukelaloosh on Aug 12, 2006 10:19:59 GMT -5
Ive never been so incensed by something in print... There isnt coverage like this in Rhode Island and Boston about semi-pro teams... What a f**kin jackass Darren Cooper is... Here is a copy of the open letter I wrote to him...
Hey Jackass:
Let me tell you a little bit about myself, "a seldom used pitcher". I don't know if you checked the site for our team website, ill attach at the bottom, but if you had you would notice that by no means was I seldom used. First off, you got it wrong, Matt Smith did not win the championship game. Secondly, I threw in 3 out of our 6 tournament games, winning two of them. I also led the team in innings pitched this year and would be in consideration with others to be called our ace.... I also beat the Hackensack Troats in my first game down here this summer with a 1-0 shutout... Hardly "seldom used"... I noticed in your bio that you're from Louisiana. I recently moved here from New England, where I had been playing for a long time in amateur leagues there (And Ronnie's Recs are from Worcester, which is not even close to Boston), so I can understand if you don't know the history of the league or where it may or may not be heading. But where in the hell do you get off writing an article like that? I also played this summer in the NJABL, referenced in the above entry. The competition between the two leagues isn't even close. Granted there are lousy teams in each league, but there are about 12 of them in the NJABL, while the Met League has 2-3. As a virtual outsider looking into both leagues this year, I can see that the Met League is the far superior league, with many more ballplayers playing hard for the love of the game. I was at that championship game as well, remember, I was the one that won it. Why didn't you even talk to me after the game and find out a little bit more information prior to writing your article? That was flat out miserable. We go out there for the love of the game and to keep challenging ourselves, why must you slam us? Anytime you want to dig in against 'seldom used' pitcher, and put your pencil where your mouth is, you just give me a call and I'll set you straight, you jackass...
Nate Craven
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Post by sabbadoo10 on Aug 12, 2006 23:00:57 GMT -5
here's a bit of what I sent this moron, along with a CC to his editors. And I ask all of you to do the same.
We shall survive this storm Mr. Cooper, although your comments have made it slightly more difficult for us to do so. Why don't you try to praise guys that have been the glue to this weakening network for the past 5 years. Danny White, Angelo Cifaldi, Henry Hascup - these guys have nothing to gain and only their precious time and money to lose. They want to see good baseball played on our fields. They want to earn the right to travel to Regional tournaments and play new teams. You Mr. Cooper, seem to wish for the opposite. To take the power you have and spit on the efforts that some of our finest coaches and officials have put forth just to keep us together all the while praising the ones that were too weak to try and do the same!
I hope they're proud in Liouisiana - or perhaps their human resource departments are just a little better informed than those at the Record.
Sincerely,
Brian Sabatelli #19
Ramapo Valley Yankees
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Post by paulschwartz on Aug 13, 2006 9:17:10 GMT -5
Yes there wre minor errors made in the story by Darren -- but when you're 5% of the crowd of 18 at a playoff game the details missed can't take away from the story which is the decline of interest in amateur baseball (regretfully) If you look at the stories he wrote on his blog (2 followups to the article in the paper, you'll see that he is not ripping any of the participants simply making the accurate point that the level of interest in amateur baseball is way down.
10 years ago there were about 40-50 teams in this area alone playing high quality baseball and drawing 150-500 fans for playoffs and sometimes more
30 years ago (ancient history) the attendance reached 1500 at some games
But things change
Keep playing because you're not playing for glory or press attention are you?
I think you're playing because you love the game
Good luck
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Post by sabbadoo10 on Aug 13, 2006 10:14:22 GMT -5
AND....if you or Cooper had actually stayed to WATCH the game.....you would have seen an absolute CLASSIC - the same types of games that have been played in this tournament for the last 5 years!
Your paper's story has an agenda - SINK a sinking ship! You're all cowards for jumping on that side of the fence. When all it takes is a little community interest to spark a turnaround. The Record holds that power.
Nobody in this League asked for this press - and yet you balk at our efforts. Had Mr. Cooper actually stayed and seen a couple of more games he would have seen a young Franklin Lakes team with about 80 fans of their OWN! and loud, obnoxious ones to boot!
Bottom line, what does the community gain from Mr. Cooper's article? A league of hardworking ballplayers who love this game is weaker today because of one man's ill-informed words and one newspaper's agenda.
Sleep well assholes - and don't forget to cover our state's overwhelming love of amateur lacrosse!
Brian Sabatelli
briansabatelli@hotmail.com
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Post by nukelaloosh on Aug 13, 2006 11:03:55 GMT -5
Copper wasnt at the final game. He told me. How on earth can you write an article for something portraying that you were there, when you weren't. I took a journalism class in school, and isnt like the first rule that your report the facts as you see first hand or obtain through some verification?
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Post by AHEARN on Aug 13, 2006 11:12:02 GMT -5
who the hell wants to hear from a "seldom used" played on this topic???  ;D |
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Post by stars36 on Aug 13, 2006 11:37:31 GMT -5
I read the article and to me, The Record, had stop covering our league at least for the past 5 years. They stopped putting the scores and standings that probably brought the 150 -300 stectators to the games years ago. Well, I would think that if The Record would have continued covering the scores and standings people would realize that there is still a league. Bad job by The Record, which looks to kill our league. The Star Ledger is more involved in ametuer baseball and The Record should do the same. I would suggest that everyone who cares about changing the outlook of our league write the The Record and complain or throw your two cents in. I will and I believe that if they get enough complaints they may hopefully see that people are interested in the league and did read the article. That will show interest in our league and they may decide to start coverage again and sell more newspapers.
Jorge
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Post by AHEARN on Aug 13, 2006 11:38:38 GMT -5
Paul,
This was my 16th year in this league. The 1st 8 were as a player, the next 4 as a player/manager and the last 4 strictly as a manager & coach.
10 years ago there were NOT 40-50 teams around here. There were 10-12 in the Met League & 12 in the Stan Musial as it was known then. Today in Amateur ball in the area, there are 25 teams playing. While I will agree that the level of play is down from where it was "back in the day", it is still a good league. By the way, even the Met League Finals at Breslin didn't draw more than 50-75 people on their best night!
Back when the Met League was around all the colleges HAD TO send their players to one of the 2 leagues in North Jersey. Now they have the ACCBL, ACEBL, The New England League and many others to choose from. There are also many more players that are playing Independant ball nows that didn't have that opportunity back then.
The Record stopped covering summer league baseball in this area years ago. Players, Coaches & Fans used to love opening the paper every summer morning to see box scores, now, we get golf reports, fishing & poker stories instead. Why the paper stopped covering ALL levels of summer baseball I don't know. For some reason MR. Cooper decided to do a story on adult summer ball all of a sudden. There was no reason to degrade the league and some of its players in his story.
Why were there "only 18 people" at the game he attended? With the exception for the players families & friends, who knows when the games are if they aren't in the paper? What I can't understand for the life of me, is your top sportswriter, Bob Klapisch, is a player in this league and the league can't get a blip in the back of the paper. Oh wait, the Troasts get a write up every year when they get to a regional tournament, but the other 4 teams in the league that advanced to a regional get squat? Guess they can only fit coverage in for the league when they want, for who they want?
I have no problem with Mr. Cooper saying that the league isn't what is used to be. I agree. I was even quoted in his article as saying that this is a vital off season for the league, and it is. The problem I had was him comparing the leagues from years ago to this one now, without bringing out all the facts. There are 25 teams now, not 9. There are 2 seperate leagues in the area. There are also many more college leagues that players play in now, than there were when I started in this league in 1991.
And Mr. Cooper can write all he wants NOW, in his blog, that not many people see, that people care about the league and say good things now, bottom line is he portrayed the league to be in shambles in his article, when it isn't.
Maybe next time instead of writing an article degrading the league, an article on the positive side may help the league get stonger and more noticed again by people outside the league. Maybe a little more research and actual effort to watch more than 1 game will make him see there is still great talent and great people playing and making this league work.
Ed Ahearn
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Post by brewcrew on Aug 13, 2006 13:56:28 GMT -5
I can't agree more Ed. I as newcomer to the league 4 years in. Can say anything bad about this league .Even though we need to add more teams ,we as a league are much more better than any other league that I know.Before I entered this league we played in a bull*** league that we couldn't get players to show up none the less umpire's. Jersey City's entry into the league has made us a better team with the level of competition we've face especially with how young my team is . We give it our all when we play. This guy needs to really come to some of the games and really see what we are all about instead of hiding behind a pencil and paper. I myself send as many games that I can to our local paper with no problem. Also they would send a photographer to take pictures.I do this for the team and for our league.
JERSEY CITY BREWERS MGR. MILTON RODRIGUEZ
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Post by bobbyk23 on Aug 13, 2006 14:19:40 GMT -5
Paul,
Here are a few points I'd like to make:
1. Attendance is down at games in part because the schedule isn't in the paper every day. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy, not accurate journalism.
You must attend more than one game to get an accurate guage of the state of the league. If the article was just filler, do us a favor and leave it out! In the alternative, if Mr. Cooper is going to take the time to write on his blog about the league, why not have him just cover some games next year??
2. The Hackensack Troasts are a very good ballclub......how could they not when they are a result of 3 of arguably the best teams from the area merging. Let's not forget they are the Hackensack Troasts, the Teaneck/Fair Lawn Merchants and the Ridgefied Park Orioles. Part of the reason the league is less competitive is because we allowed the best teams to keep merging.
Seeing Jon Vatcher wearing a Troasts uniform was like seeing Ed Aheard in Yankee pinstripes.......BLASPHEMY!
3. Ed Ahearn made an excellent point......the "top" players are now playing independent ball.
Why wouldn't the Record want to support local amateur baseball? It may help more college kids play in the league. Attending one game gives no insight as to what is going on in the league. When I played for the Merchants, I certainly remember playing the Troasts and having a paid attendance of about 6, and I'm counting Mr. Cavallo twice because he was so damn loud.
As someone who was an integral part of the league for a long time, why not help the league? It may even help increase circulation incrementally.
Bob Khalil #23
Teaneck Stars
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;D